Publicity and Promotion Issues with Free Books

[moderntimes]

If the reviewer promised a review if Zelda sent the book, yes she should be held to this. However pressuring her might reflect negatively in the review. That's been my personal experience and I was warned off earlier about such by a very well established author who recommended that I not ever do such. So I refrained.

Zelda may still get her review and from having read one of her books, I can assume it will be a good review -- but again, I don't know the juvenile fiction market at all.

Regardless, fledgling authors often have trouble getting reviews on their new stuff. Them's the breaks. For me, I'm soon gonna be sending out several copies of my newest novel -- it's scheduled for publication in November -- and I can only hope that a small expense on my part gets rewarded by a reasonable review. I'll of course be submitting to a couple of award committees as well.

For me, my small house publisher is not structured for a big ad campaign and so for my first 2 books, I'll essentially have to pick up most of the review traffic -- the publisher will of course submit some copies too. My 3rd book, the newest, is the one where I'll make the big push. But as a newbie author (for novels) and going with a small volume publisher, the publicity stuff is almost identical to that of the self published author. My only benefit is that the publisher is of course doing all the actual setup and publishing and advertising the books on Amazon and their own website. But I'm expected to do a lot of the publicity myself. This is in my contract -- not requiring me to do it but clearly being stated that the author will need to pick up his end of the stick. Typical for a small publisher and newbie writer. I'm not complaining however -- my new publisher did a superb job packaging my 1st book (released yesterday) and I expect the same for the next 2 books.

Anyway, Zelda may just have to eat the cost of her sending the book. But if the reviewer actually did promise a review, a gentle reminder for this would maybe just maybe be okay, if the reminder is couched in non-accusatory terms, such as

"As you might understand, Ms. Smith, I'm excited about seeing a review of my book in the Courier-Journal and I'm very happy that you told me you'd be reviewing it. Is it possible that I might know when the review might be posted? This is of course so that I can buy several copies of the paper to share with my friends. Thanks so very much for you kind attention to a fledgling author."

Something like that.

[zeldas_lullaby]

"As you might understand, Ms. Smith, I'm excited about seeing a review of my book in the Courier-Journal and I'm very happy that you told me you'd be reviewing it. Is it possible that I might know when the review might be posted? This is of course so that I can buy several copies of the paper to share with my friends. Thanks so very much for you kind attention to a fledgling author."

Something like that.

Yer freakin' brilliant, ModernTimes.

Welcome, Melodies, and thanks for chiming in!!

The best way to determine whether or not there has been breach of contract may be to look at exactly what she told me.

Hi Meg,

Thanks for your email. Your books sound interest and fun. I'd love to take a look (address below for paperback). I review all books and decide whether to include in the column.

Please let me know how you went about publishing the book. I'm not opposed, by any means, to including self published work (e.g., Fifty Shades of Grey was originally one). The publishing world has changed, and there are so many options these days.

Best,
[Let's just call her Shirley]

Here are the facts: she received my book on July 10. Since then, she has written maybe three columns for the paper. Two and a half months later, I'm out in the cold. I agree with you, Melodies, that it's a rotten way to treat a fellow writer. I agree with you, ModernTimes, that flattery would be the best angle here. Otherwise I'll come off all whiney.

[moderntimes]

With you quoting the exact message from Shirley, I can tell you that there is no contract, not a firm one.There is however a level of expectation set for which she's responsible.

So a harsh return message at this time or an email to her boss would be ill advised in my opinion. You might however use similar to the text I recommended. It puts the onus on her but doesn't put her into a corner. You're not demanding the review. Instead you're an eager newbie author who's so very very gushy two-shoes excited about seeing this wonderful Shirley's great review!!! ha ha

[zeldas_lullaby]

HA HA! Thanks, ModernTimes, and I was kind of thinking the same as your first paragraph, hence the ambiguity of it all! I've watched enough Judge Judy to agree that there's not a contract there. But still, she did set an expectation...

This is pretty cool of me... the old, angry Meg would've spouted off long ago over this issue. The new, mellow Meg is just going to contemplate what to do and consider your really good suggestion, which I thought was freakin' brilliant.

[CCtheBrave]

I agree with a lot of people above, if she wasn't going to review it, skim it, or read it, she shouldn't have accepted it. The least she could have done was asked you more about yourself, so that she could at least write something about local authors. I'd be upset, too

[zeldas_lullaby]

Thanks for your support!!

[moderntimes]

We're glad to help, Zelda. You might send an email similar to the one I invented, something that will tweak her to do the review but won't seem pushy -- the message I created approaches the situation from the point of supplicant, ha ha

[zeldas_lullaby]

Supplicant... there's an interesting word that you don't hear too much of!



I'll contact her eventually, but I have to organize my mind first, if that makes sense.

[Hmsmith06]

I believe you are justified in your frustration. She is a book reviewer and you sent her your book so it's logical that she should review it, whether that be publicly in the paper or privately in an email or phone call. If it were me, I would try emailing again (sometimes emails get lost in the mounds of emails or get shuffled into junk) and if she doesn't respond still, I would call the paper and tell her exactly what you told all of us. Good luck!

[moderntimes]

Again, I'd not recommend calling the paper.

Book reviews for most major dailies are done on a very haphazard basis. This is the uncomfortable truth. Dailies have cut staff and cut print until they're scarcely more than weekly shopper bulletins, like the old mimeographed handouts.

What this means is that the review staffing is edgy and almost a voluntary effort with very low pay for piecework, similar to the stringing I used to do for the AP. Writers called "stringers" are paid by the piece and aren't on staff. If you write occasional news articles as I did, you might even carry an ID card but it usually lists you as "contributor" and not "reporter".

And the "Sunday Supplement" which includes book, movie, restaurant reviews, etc, plus those boring "About Town" articles about the swell crowd, and what's known as a "dot column" (a brief and usually comic weekly column where the author summarized funny stuff around town with short paragraphs each beginning with a big round dot, a non-numbered list of things). This sort of material is nowadays very spotty and hit-and-miss. Sorry to say, that's the current state of affairs for most major dailies with regard to info that's other than 1-hard news or 2-local sports.

The book reviewer is very likely a stringer, getting paid maybe 20 bucks per review, and she "phones it in" and aside from modest editorial control by an actual staffer, book reviews are scattered and unreliable.

And you gotta be honest about this for Zelda --- her compilation of all her recent novellas resulted in a fairly hefty piece of print, hundreds of pages. My recently published mystery novel is about 280 pages max, at approx 68,000 words. Zelda's book is a lot longer. And this may dissuade the reviewer from reading the whole book. Now I don't think it's necessary to read a whole book cover to cover to give a fair review, especially since Zelda's book is actually a compilation of her novellas. But a larger than normal volume might tend to be pushed back on the reading list.

What Zelda is looking for is production. And phoning or emailing the senior staff at the paper for the tardiness of the book review stringer won't help a bit. I'm pretty sure of this, having worked for a couple of major dailies. If it were a "news" story about a shooting or a big event in Louisville, something that would end up in the "regular" news section, yeah. But the "Sunday Supplement" section? After a gentle reminder to the reviewer, I'd consider it an unfortunate loss and let it slide. But that's just how I see it. Others here who have had REAL and PERSONAL experience with a major daily may think otherwise.

[bookowlie]

Moderntimes - I totally agree. I want to add that even if the reviews are not done haphazardly, the reviewer made it clear that there was no guarantee that Zelda's book would be reviewed. I am sure reviewers receive books all the time. Based on time constraints and what the newspaper wants to showcase, they make decisions on which ones to read and review. This is not a case of "you sent me your book...therefore, I will review it." This is the way newspapers, magazines, and even blogs work.

[moderntimes]

owlie, this is correct. Newspapers or magazines or whatever are never obligated to review all books they receive. Zelda received a semi-promise from the reviewer but this however is not a binding point. As you state, this is not how review policies are structured.

Open processes for book review sources receive books all the time, stacks of them. There's no guarantee on even getting a review, let alone a good one.

As I say, Zelda may simply be out some bucks and that's show biz. I in no way blame her because she submitted the book in good expectations and in good faith. But you know how valuable promises are, and that applies particularly to the publishing/writing enterprise.

If time passes with no review, she MIGHT consider emailing the reviewer and simply state that she's aware there is no obligation for the reviewer to perform the review, but as a "starving artist" she paid for the printing and mailing of the book herself and therefore would appreciate the book being returned to her if no review is forthcoming. That would be reasonable.

Zelda is an e-pal of mine and I can only wish her the best. But hard truth is that sometimes we writers dump money into a hole. It happens. A VERY esteemed author pal of mine was dumped by his agent & publisher a couple years back, being told that his books weren't "exciting" enough to today's market. He is an award winning author and novelist and highly respected in his genre. Re-signing with a new agent and publisher was a hard row to hoe for him but pretty soon he was on track again with a very respectable agent and publisher.

Rejection is part of a writer's professional life. Hey, we get rejected all the time in the "real" world too -- romances, business, family, etc. Publishing is just a reflection of that. Zelda may have unfortunately emotionally committed to a raw deal. There's really no satisfactory solution to this. Except of course, become a top ranked author and then write about the experience in your blog and make the newspaper a laughing stock.

As for being ignored by a newspaper, that's also happened to me and it's something you need to get used to as a writer.

Not that our writing is on the same level of an immortal, but I'm reminded of a very real incident from history. At the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery and memorial, the great orator Stephen Douglas gave a long and blustery speech, more than an hour. Lincoln then rose and only spoke a few brief words.

One newspaper reporter lauded the Douglas speech, heaping praise, then said "And now we must draw a veil over the silly words of our President, in hopes that they will never be read or heard again."

Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the famed Episcopal clergyman, saw this and wrote: "You fool! You stood in the presence of true greatness and you knew not! And for your folly, the world will laugh at you, down the ages, until the end."

QED

[bookowlie]

I think Zelda emailed a follow-up inquiry already to the author and received a reply. At this point, I think no more follow-ups are advisable as the writing is on the wall if a review isn't published. Personally, I don't think the author made a "semi-promise", but that's just my opinion.

[moderntimes]

Promise or not, there was no absolute commitment, and yes I agree with owlie. The reviewer just said she'd like to see the book. That's life.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Hey, guys. Doesn't ambiguity bite? Semi-promise, no promise, full promise... The bottom line here doesn't involve the money. It's just about the principle. I'm peeved with this person's attitude about making semi-promises, receiving free books, and then doing nothing with them.

I get angry in a broad sense at anyone who I feel deliberately misleads me. It's an "anger trigger" for me if I feel that I was used, taken advantage of, walked all over, or not appreciated. Like, if someone wants a free copy of my book, and I send them one, and they say, "Thanks! I got your book!" then I'm happy! This is a broad issue that's kinda in alignment with giving someone a present for Christmas, and never receiving a thank-you note from them. It makes me feel rotten. That's just something personal about my psychological state.

I know she didn't look over my book and reject it. If so, there'd be a column about local YA books that excludes me, but there hasn't been one. Until that point, my impression of her is that she's just a major flake.

Into the business side of this, I agree that saying nothing (versus complaining loudly) is the best option. I value my professional reputation, such as it is. This woman isn't worth my ruining that over.

Just between you guys and me, I have to be honest and say that I do not think she's a good person. I hold her in very low esteem. But it's hardly the end of the world. Life goes on!