Book reviews and promos from an ezine just for Texas!

“I’ve always been a bookworm,” Kristine Hall confessed to a room full of authors at this month’s Dallas-area meeting of Mystery Writers of America. The new head of Lone Star Literary Life, Hall began her own literary life as an assistant in school libraries, gained a degree in library science, then started actively blogging about books, first on her own, then for Lone Star Literary Life, an online magazine dedicated to books written about Texas and by Texas authors.

What wasn’t there to love about book blogging? “You get free books! You get to read them and say what you like about them!”

She liked working for Lone Star Literary Life so much, she recently took over ownership of the magazine whose mission statement is "connecting readers with Texas books, Texas writers, and all things literary in Texas," including organizing blog tours of books and giving them more "real estate" on its pages.

As reviews in print publications get fewer and farther between, book review bloggers have increasingly taken over as significant sources of publicity for new volumes. "But although publicists often advertise blog tours – simultaneous exposure across multiple blogs – "it's a hit or miss thing because I can't make you write anything on your blog," Hall said.

Except that she can. Because she pays bloggers to review books. Probably not as much as they’re worth, she admitted, although most blog reviewers are avid readers who would work for love alone. 

Kristine Hall

Just as Lone Star Literary Life’s books and authors are about or from Texas (or at least have some connection to the state), its bloggers (now numbering 35 regulars) are also Texas-based. From these, authors can expect to receive a minimum of four reviews, and sometimes as many as seven or eight, at a cost to the author varying between $150 to just under $400.

Does payment guarantee good reviews? Sorry, there’s no buying of love from blog reviews, not even from having Lone Star Literary Life sending bloggers cover information, author biographies, and pictures.  

“These are honest reviews. You are not going to get all 5-stars or even all 4- to 5-stars,” Hall cautioned.

However, if reviews are consistently below the 4- to 5-star level, Hall will contact authors about how to handle less than favorable feedback with constructive criticism. 

“The place to spend money is on editing. . . (Although) a lot of people don’t notice (errors), and if they do notice, they don’t care because they’re interested in the story, (but) at least you can have a piece you can be proud of.” 

“I can’t guarantee sales, but I can guarantee exposure,” Hall said. 

Nor does buying a blog tour free authors from responsibility to act on their own behalf.

“A good author is going to be interactive. Go to those blogs, comment, and share on social media. . . Book bloggers are really enthusiastic about supporting authors. We’re all book nerds, so any attention from our authors is golden.”

And don’t judge a blog by its number of followers, Hall cautioned, but by the number of its page views.

Many of those who blog for Lone Star Literary Life have advanced academic degrees. All are required to post “notable and quotable” reviews to Amazon and at least two other outlets, such as Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Litsy, LinkedIn, and more. 

While much of the magazine is still a work in progress, one of Hall’s greatest prides is its “crown jewel” – the Bookish Texas page she heralds as “the most comprehensive listings of books and author events, festivals, readings, lectures, and signings” in the state, with new content out every Sunday morning.

The only downside now that Lone Star Literary Life is her fulltime life, Hall says? “I don’t have time to read (but) I’m really getting into audio books!”