So yesterday I stumbled upon an ebook that I will be reviewing in the next week or so. I went to the author's blog and read a lot of the things she had to say. One thing that kind of shocked me and stood out was that she mentioned how she approached a number of bloggers asking them to review her book and she was rejected. She was rejected simply because she is independently published and these bloggers would only review books published by major publishing companies.Sure we all read mainstream books but isn't it when you find that author or book no one has heard of that you become gleeful to introduce it to people? One of my all time favorite authors is not well known even in his genre of mystery. His name is Parnell Hall and he writes the hilarious Puzzle Lady books. Every single (and I truly mean every single) person that I have recommended the Puzzle Lady books to has not only read one but have gone on to seek out all of the other Puzzle Lady books. But when you mention Parnell's name most people don't recognize it outside of people who are really into mystery novels.Though his books are published by Bantam a major publisher. Anyway I'm getting a bit off track....I guess my question is do you only accept books that are published by major publishing companies or do you ever accept self-published authors. Why or why not?
Oh and just to show how hilarous Parnell Hall is check out this video.
10 comments:
I'm sure a lot of people think that because it isn't known it isn't good- its naive thinking. Its how every author starts out. I for one would be honored to read someones book and would hope to beable to give a great review to get their name out there.
I agree with Kristin! I honestly think it's rude and downright foolish to turn an author away just because they are self-published or published by an indie company.
There are so many authors now that have been picked up by major publishing houses after first SELF-PUBLISHING!
I think it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there and ask people to read your stuff knowing they may not like it. Provided a book is in my preferred genre(s) I wouldn't turn anyone away and if I had to for some odd reason, I would recommend other bloggers who might be interested!
My Teaser Tuesday
I honestly find that offensive as a book blogger. Just because someone is independently published doesn't mean the aren't good writers. After all, isn't the reason for reviews to try out the books we review?
Thank you ladies! That makes me feel better. Apparently this happened to her more than once. I just couldn't understand it. Heck if a high school student sent me a story and wanted me to critique it I probably would. I can understand why an author would be reluctant to as they could be accused of stealing ideas. But really just a regular old book blogger?
I'm willing to accept books from independent authors, but it depends on a few things. Does the description appeal to me? I'm not going to read a book by an independent that I wouldn't read even from a big publisher. How many books do I have for review right now? I severely limit the amount of review books, because I'm still very entertained by reading books that have been around for a long time -- so I need balance. So the reason I say "no" might not have anything to do with the independent author.
LOL, I love that vidio!
I'm the same as Annette with reviewing.
There was a author sitting in my Borders a few days ago; he seemed to have the same problem. :(
His book sounded good, but it was 25$ for a paperback. The hardcover books aren't near that much :P
Yeah $25 is waaay too much for a paperpack. This author currently has her book out there for free. I completely understand not reading something you are not interested in but apparently these people only specifically read major publishing house books.
There are a lot of reviewers out there who won't touch self-published books, particularly electronic-only titles, but by the same token there are a lot who will. It may also depend on the type of fiction; if I might ask, which particular pigeonhole would this book belong in? I don't know for sure, but I suspect it would be harder for an electronic-only author of general fiction to get a look in. In the particular corner of "genre fiction" I'm involved with, a polite offer of a printed copy to carefully selected reviewers has generally been well met and I've recently found that offers of electronic copies are too.
The book falls under what I would classify as fantasy. It is YA/Adult book that follows along with the current trend of paranormal fantasy. So while yes there is a glut of that type of fiction happening that fiction is still very popular and many book bloggers are devoted to just that kind of fiction. I've actually talked with her since posting this. When I initially posted it it was just because I was so shocked that people would turn away for just that one reason alone and wanted to see if I'm the crazy one. I'm not and I've certainly learned a lot and have thought a lot after reading every ones response.
I will accept self-published books, although I don't accept as many review copies now as I used to. I just don't like to be that scheduled. And a books that's only electronic. I only got my e-reader at Christmas so before then I didn't accepted them at all.
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