Wednesday, 30 May 2012

A Slightly Bemused Book Haul Post...

Because sometimes something happens and the schedule has to take a back seat for a day.

I never comment on big internet hoo-hahs, as I'm always really late to them, but I have been following the misadventures of the self published small press guy who has 92K Twitter followers and outsells big name authors on a regular basis, or something like that. I won't say too much there other than if you listen really carefully to the gales of laughter, still floating around the internet, you'll hear my chuckles there too :o)

There's been a lot of interesting discussion arising out of all this, namely what self-pubbers can do to get their books reviewed by the likes of us (not something that I do as it happens, read my Review Policy). The comment that really struck a chord with me was from a blogger (sorry, I've forgotten your name...) who gets review requests from self-pubbers who clearly haven't bothered to check what this guy actually reviews. I get those emails too and they get deleted without a reply.
It's not just the self-pubbers though, look what was waiting for me when I got home last night (sent by a publisher who shall remain nameless but who has dealt with me in the past and really ought to know better...)


...

I love Paris (and the 'Hidden Gardens' book will come with me next time I visit) but I've got no idea why I was sent these books for the blog. The big clue about what I cover here is in the title (with some sci-fi and horror too)... ;o)

at

5 comments:

  1. Unknown30 May 2012 at 12:03

    Funny you should mention that - I had somebody invite me to their book tour program last week, and their list of genres was an exact match for the list of genres I've made it very clear I will nver review.

    I think if we, as bloggers, are expected to do our homework, the same should apply to authors and publicists.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown30 May 2012 at 12:32

    That is .... incredibly odd. Though I suppose a free book is a free book :)

    I'm getting similar things from one publisher who will only send me scifi. Whenever I let them know that I only review fantasy, they send me another scifi. It's perplexing to say the least.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Doctor30 May 2012 at 21:10

    I keep getting medical thrillers (it figures, I guess) even though it was pretty obvious that my blog was horror-oriented only. In fact, I still get them on oaccasion, even though my review blog has been off the internet for close to 9 months now.
    These people get paid to do this, and they just fire-and-forget, collect the money for their job, with the people relying on them for their promotion work none the wiser. As long as those books keep rolling out...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mieneke van der Salm31 May 2012 at 18:31

    The Versailles one actually looks quite interesting! And I know what you mean about people emailing without doing their homework. I have those too, but I.m such a soft sap, that I always feel guilty just deleting, so I invariably end up mailing them to say sorry, but read my review policy *headdesk*

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gabriele Campbell2 June 2012 at 17:54

    I get review requests though my blog is a travel diary and history blog with less than a dozen reviews (mostly of German books avaliable in English) over 7 years.

    And not even free copies. Only long emails why the book is an undiscovered masterwork. ;)

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.