Monthly Archives: November 2014

Once again, how to piss off your book blogger

Leave a reply

Let me tell you a story. Recently, I received a very lengthy email from a Director of Marketing for a small indie press.  It started like this:

I realize you get swamped with new book announcements daily and, for your own sanity, probably pay attention only to those coming from those publishing houses and PR reps you know. However, I am hoping that I can get XXX on your radar.

Now, in the way of many things that annoy a person, I didn’t immediately find that irritating. But by the end of my exchange with this DoM it did.

Let me backtrack to explain why. Several months ago I received an email informing me that I had been pre-approved, via Netgalley, to read/review a book. This struck me as odd because it was the first time I had received any communication about a Netgalley arc not coming directly from Netgalley. I quirked an eyebrow, but let it go as it was also the first time I had received an unsolicited pre-approval. I wasn’t completely sure of the procedure.

Feeling lucky to have been chosen, I downloaded the book. But it wasn’t due for publication for several months and I like to read such books close to their publication dates, as many publishers ask that reviews not be posted more than a month prior to release.

Between the initial email and the eventual publication of the book, I also received at least two more emails concerning the review of this particular book. (I still have three emails in my mailbox. I may have deleted some as they became redundant.) Since the emails appear a bit formulaic, I imagine there was a mailing list of some sort and I wasn’t the only one getting them. But still, I got enough of them to think, ‘really, another one?’

Mere days before the book was due to be set free in the wild, I read/reviewed/blogged about and posted to Netgalley a review for the book in question.

My point in all of this is two-fold. One, the indie press that this DoM was hoping to get on my radar was already on and chafing my radar. Because, while four emails may not seem like many, it’s three more than I need. Plus, the book had been on my Netgalley shelf, listed right next to its publisher’s name. Two, I’d already read and reviewed the book here on the blog, not to mention posted my review on Amazon.com, Amazon.uk, Netgalley itself, and Goodreads. I had done my due diligence for the book already. Thank you for noticing Ms. DoM.

Then, as a minor side irritant is the small matter of assuming who I do or don’t pay attention to. This is especially arrogant since my policies state quite explicitly that I’m open to everyone, especially self-published authors and indie presses. Plus, it just feels a little accusatory, as if she’s inferring I had already ignored her. I don’t know, maybe she thought I should have been more excited about all those emails.

But the whole exchange got worse. Because since I was feeling a little harassed to have received yet another email, now not just feeling like spam but spam about a book I’d already reviewed, I went ahead and dropped a note to the DoM saying,

Thank you for your email concerning XXX. I maintain a fairly open acceptance policy, treating all books with equal attention (or inattention, depending on circumstances)….And I have already read and reviewed YYY, through NetGalley.
However, I welcome any future publications.
Thank you again for your email.
She then responded with:
Thank you for your prompt response, Sadie. I’m delighted you had the opportunity to read and review “XXX.” When you have a chance, I’d greatly appreciate receiving a link to the review.

And here is where I pretty much lost my shit with the whole thing. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but I did get annoyed. Here’s why, this person does appear to have read the policies (I have a bit of a trick in there to flush out those who don’t) but doesn’t appear to have looked much farther.

I know this for several reasons. One, the book she was promoting was the first review on the second page of the blog. In other words, she only had to click back once to find the review she was interested in. Two, the review of the book she was pimping was listed under ‘recent posts’ on the left-hand side of that home page. Three, all my reviews are listed alphabetically, by author, under a tab titled “book reviews,” which would be a logical place to look for a review, and four, my blog has a search bar, right up top.

Search Bar

So this person, who would very much like me to do the favor of reading her company’s books, A) can’t be bothered to keep track of who they have already hit up for a review, B) do any of her own work to find the review, even when its existence has been pointed out to her.

Why does anyone think it’s appropriate behavior to ask a stranger, who has already done them an unpaid service, to stop what they are doing to complete a task they should and could in approximately 30 seconds do on their own? Had she looked and not found it, I would understand. But it’s immediately obvious that she didn’t even look!

I suspect she’s never even glanced at the homepage, let alone read one of my reviews. But she wants me to review ‘her’ books, for sure. Feels a little one-sided, if you ask me.

Yes, it would have taken a lot less effort to just send her the darned link, but then she’ll probably run some other poor blogger ragged doing her job for her. OK, now I’m just being mean. I’ll probably cut that bit before I hit publish.

My point, to all authors seeking reviews from book bloggers and their PR staff, is this: no matter what you think the value of a digital download is, bloggers don’t work for you. You do not get to give them extraneous tasks. You especially don’t get to do so after already riding them like a micromanaging boss and before you even attempt said task on your own. It’s just plain rude.

FYI, the ‘Once again’ refers to the fact that I had a very similar rant (and yeah, I recognize this as a rant) last year. You can read it here.

Book Review of Wanted: Dead or Undead (The Zombie West Series #1), by Angela Scott

Leave a reply

Wanted: Dead or UndeadI downloaded a copy of Angela Scott‘s Wanted: Dead or Undead from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Trace Monroe doesn’t believe in luck. He never has. But when a fiery-headed cowgirl saunters through the saloon doors, wielding shotguns and a know-how for killing the living dead, he believes he just may be the luckiest man alive. Trace wants to join “Red’s” posse, but she prefers to work alone—less messy that way. 

In order to become her traveling companion, Trace has to agree to her terms: no names, no questions, and if he gets bit, he can’t beg for mercy when she severs his brain stem. He agrees, knowing only that Red is the sharpest shooter he’s ever encountered. The fact she’s stunning hasn’t escaped his attention either. 

What he doesn’t know, is that Red has a very good reason to be on top of her game. She not only has the answer for how they can all outlive the plague taking over the wild, wild west, she is the answer.

Review:
I was seriously disappointed in this book. Not because it’s badly written, it’s not. But because it contains so many elements that I dislike in a book. So, while not everyone will share my opinion, as everyone has their own hot buttons, this book was a fail for me.

You see, the blurb led me to believe that the heroine, Red, was a strong, kick-ass, take charge kind of girl. And she was in the beginning, right up until the point at which she started to fall in love. After that, she became progressively weaker, more often confused, more frequently in need of care, less capable of defending herself, drastically more easily moved to tears, more willing to be told what to do as opposed to instruct others and much more likely to make stupid, ill-thought out, life threatening decision based on misinformation and jumped to conclusions that could have been avoided with a mere conversation. She basically became a weepy, Too-Stupid-To-Live girl in love. Why does this happen so often in YA/NA literature?

Now some readers might read this book and think, ‘awww, she found a good man to take care of her, how sweet.’ Me? I read it and wonder where the girl who’d been taking care of herself went. I was MUCH more interested in her than the damsel in distress who was lucky enough to attract Trace’s affection and protection.

The book could have done with a bit more character development. I can forgive its lack of worldbuilding. Zombie novels don’t really need that much to be understandable. But these characters were hollow paper cut outs, with very little depth. The whole thing also felt very anachronistic (if I can use that word to say present things seeped into the past, as opposed to the other way around). Dialogue and personal values felt far too modern, as did money. People gambled in $50-100 increments and at one point someone bought a bag of cornmeal small enough carry for $100. That’s roughly $3,000 according to a handy-dandy online inflation calculator.

Also, the last quarter of the book is painfully cliché and predictable. The premise of the plot is a good one and the set up for the rest of the series seems interesting. And, like I said, the writing (and editing) is pretty good. But I won’t be continuing the series.

Noble Ark

Book Review of Noble Ark, by Colette Black

Leave a reply

Noble ArkI downloaded a copy of Colette Black‘s book, Noble Ark, from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Mwalgi pirates, parasitic aliens who consume human spinal fluid, are boarding the Noble Ark. When Larkin Trovgar, a half-human member of the attacking alien ship, turns on his own people, saving Aline Taylor’s life, she feels duty-bound to watch over the impossible monstrosity. Despite his easy-going charms and virile physique, she’s determined to see him as she would any Mwalgi—nothing better than an animal. As Larkin’s presence brings out the best and worst in the human crew, and the Noble Ark is harassed by more Mwalgi ships, will Aline look past Larkin’s alien heritage to find love, or will mistrust cost her everything?

Review:
I think I probably enjoyed this more than it deserved, because when I started mentally tallying all the points I wanted to make in this review the criticisms outnumbered the compliments. But I still enjoyed it. Sometimes that just happens with a book. In such cases, I tend to go with my emotional response, even if not all together logical. So, the final takeaway is that I had fun reading Noble Ark.

The simple fact is that a lot of this plot is…*shakes head*…well, I couldn’t believe half of it. The amount of freedom of movement Larkin, an enemy hostage, is given is unprecedented.

But before I even get to that though, there is the fact that almost everyone on board the ship hates the Mwalgi, except for a few convenient people in Aline’s life who suddenly and inexplicably turn out to be Mwalgi sympathisers. Most notable of these are the family of her best friend and her therapist. Isn’t that convenient to the plot? The people most likely to bring her around to not hating Larkin are the only ones who don’t hate his kind to start with.

The necessity of putting Larkin in Aline’s room, instead of the brig is utterly ridiculous. Even if your father is the captain, especially if your father is the captain, there’s no way he’s risking your life like that just be cause you ask. NO WAY! There had yet to be any indication to anyone but Aline that he was anything but the blood-thirty monster all other Mwalgi are seen as.

Then he’s allowed to walk around with her mostly because, and I shit you not, her psychiatrist tells her to spent more time getting to know him. Sure, “Bring your enemy, alien hostage to your therapy sessions, where we’ll talk about all your personal trauma in front of him.” seems like a perfectly normal AND BELIEVABLE thing for a therapist to insist on. At the very least, that has to be a HIPPA violation.

What’s more, dehumanising the enemy during war times is the norm, not something her counsellor would be having kittens over in the first place. So, why does he want her to get to know him and see him as more human? No one, NO ONE, else is concerned with seeing the enemy as human. (For that matter no other Mwalgi in the book are presented as human, they’re all shown to be the evil monsters people believe them to be.)

Plus, when the few important characters who don’t see them as monstrous all give Aline the  ‘but we’re all human, really, it’s just our governments that are at war’ it felt forced and was unpleasantly sappy. It was the most juvenile part of the book and despite the books’ general lack of believability, one of the few time I found myself truly disappointed by it.

Another one was the games. I found it unlikely that Larkin would have been allowed to participate, convenient archaic rule or not and I find it even more unlikely that other participants would play with him. Realistically, most should have been traumatised by the sight of him.  Plus, they just lasted for flippin’ ever! I thought they might never end, detailing every single stage and points scored as the section did.

I also found the onboard baddie, David, shallow, uni-dimensional and too insanely focused to be as smart as he was said to be. This is very much a YA sci-fi romance. A lot, A LOT, more time is spent on board with Larkin, Aline and David that with enemy engagements. So, for most of the book this angsty teenage attempt at romance is the main focus.

Given that so much attention was paid to the onboard drama, a lot less attention was paid to the galaxy and general world-building. I was often confused on what the treaties and conventions that were obviously being ignored were meant to actually establish, who/what species were, how many types, was there a multi-world alliance of some sort, etc. This was a very real weakness.

Now, I did really appreciate that the author allowed bad things to happen. I don’t mean I like bad things, but in circumstances in which there can be no happy ending, the reader needs to know tragedy can strike. But many authors aren’t willing to go there and I’m glad Black did.

The book is well written and I didn’t notice any glaring editorial errors. Plus, like I said at the beginning, I really enjoyed the book. Larkin is a wonderful hero and, with exception of her extreme and annoying naivety concerning David, Aline was a strong fun heroine. There were some interesting tech and species described as well.  So, though I had a lot of complaints, I’d still recommend readers pick it up. You kinda gotta give up on reasonable believability and just go with the flow, but if you can do it, it makes for a pleasant read.