I am going to be a little petty for a moment. Another blogger and I were chatting about how authors expect so much from bloggers but never shout out our blogs for posting, reviewing, or even saying thank you for going above and beyond for free to pimp their books. Its so interesting because you see so many authors who say they rely on reviews for various reasons well bloggers rely on shout outs as well. Lets be real here most bloggers do it for free sure we get an occasional free book BUT I have always paid for my books so for me its because its something or did enjoy doing. I cannot speak for many bloggers but for those of us who do review diverse( there is that word again) books and to be clear its few of us its alot of work and to not even get a thank you?! What fool would continue to go hard for another person who doesn't have the common courtesy to extend gratitude?
I cannot tell you the many times I have authors in my inbox asking for a spotlight or to share a book release ( which I am fine with) but these same authors never even acknowledge the post or even support us. But you want us to continue to support you? I always say I read across genres and yes I love AA and IR works but majority of my posts are mainstream and that's because when these promotional groups reach out its professional, the posts are in HTML format and the support is visible. Not that all IR and AA authors do this ( I have some AA and IR authors who do support but that list is so very small and they only support when you are doing something for them) and this is to not call anyone out so please don't take offense this is just one persons experience. And on the flip side you have mainstream authors who take advantage. Another thing that really annoys me is that if you are going to send an arc please notify bloggers that you are. Its nothing like opening your Kindle and seeing a random book up there that you didn't request. I love reading but its the other mess that goes along with it that causes burnout and most authors don't realize those ride or die bloggers that once went above and beyond aren't doing that anymore. The few bloggers of color who I have spoken with aren't reviewing and taking breaks and that's sad because the little representation is slowly dwindling down. So what do we do? Somehow a shift occurred and bloggers of color have been demonized ( if you speak out against the sheep/fan girls) or they just aren't reviewing like they used to. And the same could be said for some authors those old school IR authors aren't in their glory days anymore the market has become flooded with fetish type stuff or you have some really great newbies doing their things and most cant compete.
One last thing please market your books accordingly!!! Don't bill a book as romance and it is anything but. Or the book is urban literature and you are marketing to mainstream readers. You have to know and grow your audience.
Again this is just my opinion and experience.
