March 22nd, 2012 
Vicky 
Hello bookaholics! As some of you might have already noticed, I’ve had a poll set up on my blog for about a week now and I’ve been collecting your votes on what you’d like to see more of on my blog ever since. Many of you said that you’d like to see more giveaways, but what surprised me the most was that almost 20 people voted for ‘blogging tips’. In addition to this, some of you have emailed me in the past few weeks asking for advice on social networking, blogging, and book reviews. So I thought about it and decided to start a new feature on my blog, namely Blogging Know-How. If you guys support me and this whole idea then I might make it a weekly feature on Books, Biscuits, and Tea – because… well, why not? 
How it’s going to work? Each week (or every two weeks, it depends on you) I will try to answer some of your blogging/reading/reviewing/social networking related questions here on my blog. If there’s anything you’ve been wondering about, you can’t figure out or just want me to help you out with, you can send it to me via email or the little contact form I’ll post at the end of these posts. You can stay anonymous if you want to, of course. Easy peasy, right? If you’d like me to keep this up then I’ll post my Blogging Know-How answers on Thursdays.
How do you get publishers to notice your blog and send you their ARC’s?- Kimba @ Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
That’s a great question, Kimba! I’ve been thinking about this a lot when I started blogging. I kept seeing people’s IMMs and I was sitting here completely baffled and clueless about this whole ARC business.
I do have to say, though, that I’ve only been blogging for six months so I’m definitely not a pro or an established blogger, if you want to put it this way. I’ve learned a lot of things about this industry – and about blogging in general – in these six months but there are many things that I’m probably unaware of or I have no clue about whatsoever. That being said, I think the most important things to keep in mind here are:
1. Experience: In the first 1-2 months after you started your blog, you’ll need to learn how to fit in the “blogger society”, to interact with other people and to build up your blog. Find a consistent pattern for your reviews: decide what info you’d like to include in your reviews or whether you’d like to keep them short or you prefer longer posts, and so on. Most people say that you need to have at least a 6 month experience before you can start requesting ARCs and in a way I do see their point. When I first requested an ARC I think Books, Biscuits, and Tea was about 3 and a half month old – I did get a response back then but it was a smaller publisher – I didn’t even dare contacting a bigger company.
2. Be consistent: Make sure to build up a routine – it’s always good if you have a schedule on your blog. Do let your readers know when you’re going to post what (for example if you take part in weekly events or “memes”) and tell them if you’re going away too.
3. Readership: If you ask me what publishers are looking for in a blog, I’d say the combination of these two I just mentioned, plus a steady readership. I don’t think the number of your followers counts as much as a, your experience, b, consistency and c, the number of people who actually do read your blog. Just think about it: you can host tons of giveaways a month and have 3000 followers – but what’s the point if there’s only a handful of people who read your blog and comment on your posts? Whereas there are blogs who only have 3-400 followers but their readers are following them because they’re actually interested in their posts and not because they had to. Try to interact with fellow bloggers, visit them and leave them comments so that they can visit you back and return the favour.
How do publishers notice you?
Well, you’ll have to take the first step. Once you have enough experience, traffic, followers and a consistent blogging pattern, you can go ahead and contact them. Unless you’ve been blogging for a long time and you’ve contacted them before, they won’t send you ARCs – you’ll have to request them. Go on the publisher’s website, check out their catalogue and send them a request. Tell them who you are and tell them a little bit about your blog and why you’re interested in reading that particular title. Most importantly, be nice and patient. Just imagine how many emails they must have to go through each day – so naturally, it takes a while until they get back to you. My advice would be to start with smaller companies first and contacting bigger ones later on. Requesting ARCs usually gets easier once you’ve made personal contacts with some publishers – if you post your reviews on time and let them know your post is up then they’ll know you and remember you soon enough. Starting out is the tricky bit 
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What amazing idea, Vicky. I am always looking to know things.
Thank you so much Carly!
I hope you’ll keep enjoying my posts 
Thank you so much Carly! 
I hope you’ll keep enjoying my posts 
Ooh great post. Thanks a lot for the info. I guess location is also important when requesting ARCs and I lose out on that.
I agree, absolutely. Unfortunately, US publishers don’t send ARCs to Europe (and I don’t blame them) , for example.
Awesome!!! GREAT idea and article!!! LOVE it!!!
After you DO get the ARC, make sure you follow through and post the review within 30 days!!! If I may add that!! Sometimes a publisher will get your name, and you’ll get 10 books at one time, which happened to me. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from them for a while. They WILL come back around!!! There was NO WAY I could get all 10 books read and posted in less than a month, as I had other books I promised to post first. I HAD to do those first. I hoped the PUblisher understood. I didn’t hear from them for about 6 months, but they came back around then!!!
Hope that helps!!!
Thanks!!
Laurie Carlson
http://www.lauriehere.blogspot.se/
laurieisreading at gmail dot com
Great idea. I look forward to more posts.
Thank you! x
Great info. Thanks so much for sharing with those of us just starting out!
Thanks so much, Megan!
The next post is going up on Friday x
Great new feature!
Thanks Chrystal!
There’s more to come today so stay tuned! x
Bahaha you are well on your way with your awesome blog! I did my first discussion post about ARCs and Review Copies and I covered all that crap. I love discussion posts, they’re so fun!!!
Thank you!
I know, right? I love discussion posts and the fact that so many people respond to them – it’s always nice to hear what other people think. 
And they’re fun!!
I really enjoyed your post! I already added a question on the form, I can’t wait to read your answer sometime. This post was very informative. Thanks!
Thanks Rachel! I’ll answer yours next week
x
Great idea Vicky! I think there are always questions that need to be asked about this crazy thing called book blogging!
Thanks Christy!
What a great post! Thanks! I know what you mean about the followers for giveaways versus followers for content. I’ve been blogging for a year and a half consistently, but I only just reached a hundred followers (because I participated in some giveaway hops).
The one thing I won’t do is require people to follow my blog to enter a giveaway (unless it’s a follower giveaway), because I don’t just want them to follow me; I want them to read my posts.
I only have one publisher sending me print copies. Penguin actually contacted me. Not really sure how they found me, but they’ve given me pretty great support since I had only like 35 followers, so I’m really not sure what the logic of it is.
Thanks so much, Christina!
Exactly! I’ve seen people with 80-100 followers and many comments – it was obvious that those people do read the blog posts and comment on them regularly. Whereas there are people with 1500 followers and barely any comments.
Hm, maybe they’ve read your reviews on Goodreads and then they checked out your blog and contacted you? I don’t know – but that’s why I’m saying that even though followers do count, I’m pretty sure experience, traffic and a the number of people who actually do read your blog and comment on your posts are more important. At least that has been my impression so far
Great comment!
Fab feature. Please continue to run it!
I have a question that is related to your post so I hope you don’t mind if I post it here.
How much traffic is enough traffic to consider requesting ARC’s from publishers? I have tons of reviewing experience but have only recently starting blogging. My blog gets about 40 – 50 hits a day and is starting to pick up a little every week but it’s difficult to get people to visits because there are so many blogs around. TIA, Laurie
Thank you so much Laurie! What publishers are interested in is unique visits – I think if you have about… 100 (or more) unique visits per day, that’s already good enough. I know it’s tough but you’ll get there – be consistent in your posting, make sure to follow some blogs and go out there and socialize. That’s very important – what I’ve learned in these past few months is that you need to comment on other people’s posts a lot. It’s a lot of work but it’ll be worth it.
Great new feature Vicky!! ♥Melissa
Thank you so much! ♥
his is a really great feature. If you don’t mind reviewing indie/self published books, this is a good site to join: http://indiebookreviewer.wordpress.com/
Also, you can put a review policy on your blog too. People managed to find mine even when my blog was barely a month old. I have many requests from authors of indie/self published books.
And here is another way to get arcs (ebook format) to review: netgalley.com. Some publishers are good with approving most requests and I think some might put you on an auto approve list or just approve your requests if you have completed a review for the arc you requested. I got approved for a number of requests (too many for me since I went slap happy with requesting) even before I had a blog (I did and still review books on goodreads).
Yes, I absolutely agree with you Nat! When I started my blog, I was approached by some indie authors – it’s a great way to start out. And of course, Netgalley is great too!
Great feature! The ‘Be Consistent’ is great! Also, I put what I’ll do on a Calender, so it’s easier!
Thank you!
Yup, I started using a calendar + TBR list a few weeks ago and it really helps! 
I really like this feature Vicky!
Thank you so much Jenny!
I think it’s important to remember that numbers do count, though. Publishers are looking for people who can market their books your follower, unique visitor, and email subscriber count is going to matter. Also, I think a lot of people start blogs for ARCs because they think that just because they have a book blog publishers are going to flock to them or something, and it’s not like that at all. I’ve just hit the one year mark and I’m BARELY getting in with publishers. It does get a lot easier once you’ve worked with them a few times, but it’s important to remember that gaining the privilege of ARCs takes a lot of time and effort.
Great comment Anna and definitely! I didn’t want to go into details about how to request ARCs (and the whole issue of people starting blogging just to get ARCs) but you’re absolutely right! That’s why I said that traffic counts – you need to have a decent amount of unique visits or else they’re not going to bother with your blog.
And same here, I’ve only been blogging for half a year and I’m very lucky to be able to say that I got ARCs from about 4 publishers – and I know I don’t have a chance with “big wigs” like S&S or Bloomsbury.
Thanks for sharing this useful info! As a newbie blogger I look so jealously at all the lovely ARCs people get in the mail… I’ll have to file this post away for a few months’ time when I want to start requesting
Thank you Angelya!
If you have any questions about ARCs, you can still email me later and I’ll try to help you. x
This is a great feature! I look forward to finding out more about what you’ve learned about blogging.
Thanks Colleen!
Neat…i will try to think of some questions
I love the feature! Thanks for sharing your blogging know-how!
)
Thank you Kristen!
)
Great post and very informative. I am looking forward to this feature! (heck, I clicked on the post you made today but it no longer existed!!)
The one thing I will add is that ARCs from publishers are hit and miss. I have had my blog less than a month.. have 95 followers.. and over 350 unique hits (not daily, just in general) and I’ve already started receiving them from a couple of publishers. If you post insightful reviews, have a “decent” following, send professional contact emails to publishers, and get your name out there.. I don’t think publishers mind going out on a limb for you.
Even if you don’t have 1000+ followers, get your name out there… post on twitter, facebook, goodreads, your blog, other peoples blogs, interact with authors, this will get you noticed and help you when there is a book that you are DYING to read and review.
I know, I didn’t want to post it yet but it went live instead of being scheduled
It goes up in a few hours, so make sure to check my blog later 
And I absolutely agree with you on that! Great post Cassandra!
Ahhh that makes sense, I’ve had it happen.. hate that! I will have to check back in the morning because I’m going to bed but I’m looking forward to it!!!
thinking of question now
All righty.
This is awesome! Just what I needed to read! Thanks for doing this!
Hehe, you’re v. welcome Christy
I love this weekly column your doing!! I am sure going to be checking every week to see what else is new. Thank you so much!
Thanks for the post. I really needed some information on how to get noticed by publishers. I didn’t blog a lot over the last 2 months since I was so busy with school and badminton. But I’m trying to write more reviews now. Thank you so much!
Just read this!!! This helped me a lot!! Thanks a lot for the help Vicky:)
Thanks for this post! Its very helpful!
I have been worrying about this stuff too. I have been blogging for at least 5 months I think and haven’t gotten much on my blog but thanks for this.
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