I've been a book reviewer for over a year....
Wednesday, April 23, 2003Yep, it's my book reviewing anniversary. I've reviewed over 250 books for a huge range of publishers...and I've learned some things you may find handy.
Never send an ms unsolicited. Especially if it's a .pdf and you're sending it to a hotmail account. I've had people max out my email account by doing this to me...and it makes my sunny good nature slightly sour.
Never send a bulk mailing. I know, it takes forever to cut and paste individual emails...it's so much more fun just to cc to a bunch of people and save time. The technology's there, right? But think of it this way. If the reviewer is someone you really want...someone with good quality well known sites that he or she posts to, then she must get a lot of books. Why should I read your book, when it's obvious twenty or thirty other people are being offered it? Now, I know...and you know...that you're not going to just send the arc or file to me alone. Of course. But take the time to make me feel like you picked me. Then I'll be in a better state of mind when I read your query. I know the query should be enough to hook me, but I'm human. I need to feel slightly flattered...and all that takes is my name, spelled correctly and my email being the only one listed.
If you're only sending electronic files, send them to the reviewer, don't ask the reviewer to download them. I'm not complaining about this...I hate being all unreasonable sounding. It's actually a decent idea...in thought...but, an author queried me the other day. I said, sure, I'd read it (even though I actually hate ebooks...it takes forever for me to read them, because I spend *hours* in front of this machine already, and when I want to read, darn it, I want to read away from it.) and she told me to go to this link and dl a copy. Ok, I said. It's been a week. I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've been very, very busy....and I keep meaning to do it...but it just doesn't quite get done. So, what does that say? Make life as easier for these people as possible. Most of us don't get paid...I'm certainly one of those who don't, so in a small way, while we do have the honor of reading (and usually keeping a copy of) your book, it never hurts to act a little as if the reviewer is doing you a favor. I'm not saying kiss up...just try and make things smooth.
Don't email the reviewer too often. I review for five places...each place has its own books that they send me (save for the Midwest) and I try and take turns to make sure that each one gets a couple of reviews from me in a month. If it's been a couple months...then yeah, there's no harm in asking if things are going ok, but weekly is a little much.
Don't send attachments...except when the reviewer is expecting the book. Press releases, bio info should be in the email.
So there you go. There are a lot of things I learned...like, I found out that sending an SASE with a book isn't really a good thing...things that I would have done that seem fine from a writer's perspective, but are not a nifty thing from the perspective of the reviewer. I'm grateful because the experience has taught me a lot. And it's made me read a lot of different books and people. I would never have picked up Amanda Eyre Ward's Sleep Toward Heaven on my own, but was intrigued by the idea enough to review it for Mostly Fiction...an amazing book I would have been the poorer for not having read.
As Red Green says, I'm pulling for you...we're all in this together. :D
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 2:26 PM
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