Tag Archives: the unauthorized biography of michele bachmann

Just a minor note: HarperCollins is thinking about adding advertisements to their e-books soon. This, right here, is a publisher that’s taken more “seriously” than small presses. This, right here, is a publisher that laments “the death of reading.” Their solution to fixing their revenue problems? Ads. In books. See where I’m going here?

This weekend, I sent out around 40 emails to various book review sites/blogs, in addition to pursuing more contacts with various newspapers, etc. I personalized all of it, but the gist was pretty simple: “This book is available.”

I received a few responses.

First Response: Failure

Big-time reviewer: “We only accept copies from the publisher.” (Read: “We don’t review self-published books.”)

Me: “So … if my publisher were to send to a copy … ?”

Big-time reviewer: “Is it only available for download? We only review print copies.”

Me: “OK, so you got me on a technicality.”

I’m not letting this one go so easy. I’ll keep you updated on it. Also, there are still a few people who haven’t gotten back to me yet who I think really, really need a second phone call. That’s “phase two” of this week’s plans: Bug the shit out of people until they explain to me why they’re being ridiculous.

And Then: Some Success

Later in the evening on Saturday night, a reviewer got back to me and enthusiastically offered to review “a story.” I’ll take it. That’s a start. Whatever comes of it, at least the toes are dipped in the water. It’s encouraging, too. Receiving a response that isn’t a short-winded rejection is incredibly refreshing. It’s a small thing, granted, but the last thing I want to do is say I could have tried harder.

Another reviewer mentioned that they charge a $50 reading fee for ebooks. I assume this is mainly because 1) They can do it because they’re a well-loved, respected reviewer and 2)It provides some income to whatever poor sap gets assigned the usually horrible ebook to review. I’m OK with this. I know reading fees are considered “unprofessional,” but I have no problem with it whatsoever. Quite frankly, if they want to charge a fee and get paid for the service they’re providing, good. I distaste the idea that writers are “rewarding” reviewers by the very act of giving them a copy, which is kind of like giving them a work assignment.

Another small success: one of the local newspapers has asked for a digital copy of the collection. That was the end of the conversation. So I suppose maybe this isn’t good news. Maybe he just wanted a copy to distribute to pirate sites across the Internet. I, however, happen to believe in the goodness of people. So I will remain optimistic.