Anyone want to guess the publisher?
Now you’d think that all publicity is good publicity right? But what if the publicity department and other associates seem to have the worst email system in the world? So somewhere were between the sending and replying something happens so that no communication takes place?
This is one publisher in particular. All the others be it big or small that I’ve had dealings with are great in their own way.
At this point I’ll let you into a secret about why I accept and request review copies. It forces me to read them. That’s it. I’ve said it. And that means that once I’ve read them I’ll mention them in the hope that other people will buy them and read them. I try and champion the debuts as they are ones that need the push at the begining. It’s good karma believe me. I must have bought 30 books this year so I’m putting my money back in. And I buy a mix of new releases, debut, and backlist. And I choose almost all my books after first reading about them somewhere unless they are new books by my all time favourite authors.
Anyway back to the point. I’m dismayed that I’m getting ignored by a publisher. I’d like to have a response that says ‘Sorry we don’t deal with bloggers’ or ‘we have a full list of reviewers right now’ or something similar. I’d love to get an email saying ‘we don’t send review copies but I’ll send you information about the debuts that are coming out in the next few months.’ But for some reason the gremlins in cyberspace are stopping this level of communication.
If I was a writer with this company I’d be dismayed that they’re not giving my book a chance to be promoted by even issuing a press release to a blogger. It’s not as if it costs a stamp - just a couple of seconds of reply and attach.
Maybe they know better and this whole blogging thing does nothing to improve sales, which is what ultimately matters. If so I might as well give up blogging so I have more time to read.
Well far be it from me to cast aspersions into the wind… but the one published I had no joy with whatsoever when requesting review copies for my Bookerthon was one represented by a little bird on the (formerly orange) spines. Am I warm?
Sorry, not this time :). Though a little bird is appealing to bloggers blogapenguinclassic.co.uk . I wonder if we’re be hearing more about their classics soon?
I’d love to get advance notice of debuts. As it is, I scour publisher newsletters and use Locus Magazine’s Monitor section as a sort of catch-all for any that I may have missed. Thankfully, I haven’t gotten that behind in a while.
I’ve always wondered about this review copy business. I read so many book blogs where the writer says they received something in the post from a publisher. How does it work when it works well then? you email the publisher, say you write a review blog, supply link and hope they choose to send you stuff?
I cant see why publishers wouldnt want to. The quality of writing of these review blogs is so high, they get good readership and I add so many books to my To Buy list from these recommendations.
Hi Jem,
That’s pretty much it. Having good vistor stats may help as well.
That’s the thing though most publishers do respond - the publicist’s are very busy people and might not respond straight away or at least have no more time to do anything but send out a review copy. They are dealing with a lot of books and only front list new releases. Also I might get a better level of response as I only request debuts but I never get the feeling that I’m dealing with black hole.
But as you can see from around the literary blogs - most publishers talk with bloggers. And get good coverage because of it.
But this UK publisher in particular doesn’t seem to - at least from the quick survey of UK bloggers I’ve done - and it’s either because it sees no financial benefit in doing so or is very behind the times.
I’d hope that I’m putting in the time reviewing as it adds to peoples To Buy Lists as you’ve said and I know it does to mine.
As I’ve said if I was a writer with this company I’d be hassling my editor to get some copies of my book into the hands of a few bloggers or start sending some out myself. I don’t mean me. Any of us. As the more good reviews that appear the more I want to buy something.
It’s got to be good promotion hasn’t it? Or as I’ve said this blog reviewing thing could just a be a waste of bandwidth?
To reiterate it’s not the review copies that bothers me - it’s the plain rudeness of being ignored - even after you’d managed to get hold of someone mention blog and they stop corresponding. This has surely got to be very bad business practice.
Thanks for elaborating for me Gav.
I think review blogs are well worth the effort. I find the insight into the books far more reliable and eloquent than Amazon style reviews.
I also find the act of reviewing books(although I only do this at Booker time, but am considering extending myself) adds a new dimension to my reading appreciation. I tend to engage more closely with the book when I have one eye open to what I might say about it.