Best Fantasy Books Expose: The Dirty Truth behind Advanced Book Review Copies
Best Fantasy Books Expose: The Dirty Truth behind Advanced Book Review Copies
When I was looking through some of the fantasy book sites linking to my site, I noticed an author’s website as one of the links. I explored this site and found it was the site of an author whose publisher offered to send me a review copy as part of a virtual tour promotion they were hosting for the author. This author, R Scott has written a new book called The Saga of Beowulf
Now, he’s an independent author not backed by a major publisher (you know, TOR, Harper Collins, etc). For authors who are not backed by the mainstream, it can be a difficult challenge finding readers and success. I understand that and I have nothing but admiration for writers who can find commercial success. As such, Scott is sort of an “everyman” for struggling writers who don’t have a major publisher propping them up. So I thought I would use him as a bit of a case study (sorry R. Scott to use you this way, but you know what they say, publicity is publicity!).
R. Scott complains about sending expensive review copies out to websites with nothing to show for it and concludes that this is a waste of time since he hasn’t experienced any instant benefits from Amazon sales.
I thought I would offer my insight into the matter as “one of these book blogs”. Now, in this case, I was initially suppose to receive a book to review from this author but there was a mix-up and the book never came in the mail – which made this site and me, look bad. Apparently, he was almost expecting this no show of a review from his previous experiences. This entire ordeal really highlights something: if you are an author not backed by a major publisher, your book has a much greater chance of not being reviewed.
Let’s look at this whole model that’s sprung into existence that past few years: publishers and authors want to promote their book so they target some of the better known genre blogs or book websites with email offer to send in a review copy with the expectation of a review. This is usually a good deal for both sides. The website gets some material to write about and the author/publisher gets publicity. However, this beneficial relationship seems to exclude certain parties; independent authors backed by small, unknown publishers and self published authors often find themselves stuck outside while the “big boys” get to play inside. Why?
There are two main reasons. The first is because destined-to-hit-the-bookstore-books have innate value. Book blogs eagerly snap up review copies from known publishers because it gives them the opportunity to review the book before the book hits the bookstores (giving them some “exclusive” content). They can also use the book as a giveaway prize which can increase readership of the blog (hey, who doesn’t like a free prize?). Some blogs even gasp, sell the book on ebay – if it’s a highly anticipated book, say a book by George R.R. Martin, that hasn’t been released, this can fetch a pretty penny. A self-published book or book published by small publisher that no one has ever heard of can not be used to leverage in extra cash or increase visitors to the site. If I write a review for a book that’s going to be in the bookstores, this increases my website traffic. There are people out there who are searching for that book on Google. They will find my website based on the review. Writing a review for a self-published book, or a book that wont be in the bookstore (available online only, or through the author’s/publisher’s website), won’t bring in the traffic because the book doesn’t have the publicity to generate Google searches. You basically write a review for the sake of writing a review. Yes, I’m sorry to break it to you guys who think your favorite fantasy/science fiction/mystery book blogs are “pure.” For some, especially the bigger ones, it’s a business and as such, treated like a business. Whichever path yields the most traffic and money while requiring the least amount of work will be taken.
The second reason is because books published my major publishers are usually make better reads. Gasp! Yes, it’s true – at least in my experience. This is also why many of the big book blogs (in this case, let’s say fantasy book blogs) won’t accept books not published by “big name” publishers as a way of a quality screen. It sucks for the poor (probably literally — being a writer is usually no path to riches) author on the other side of the fence, but that’s just the way the cards have fallen in this day and age. It’s sort of like who everyone complains about having to cater to the corrupt education system by taking tests but in the end still take the test. Folks, that’s just the way it is.
“Oh,” you say. “You are being unfair.” Well maybe I am, but the undeniable truth is that self-published books have a certain stigma to them. Self published books, as a tendency, are vastly inferior in both content and quality to published books. Now, before all you self-published authors start sending me hate mail, your book may be terrific. But, the thought that rings through my mind when considering whether to read a self-published fantasy novel is that if a publisher has rejected your manuscript (and these people make their bread and butter from gleaning publishable-worthy material out of the thousands of manuscripts sent to them a year) why would I want to read it? If you didn’t even bother to send it to a publisher to be evaluated, why would I also want to read it? I’m not trying to smash the dreams of all who believe they are destined for literary glory, but I’m saying that if you really want to find sucess as a author, consider other options other then self-publishing or vanity press options. I’m not saying that you can’t find success by going the self-publishing route, but you have an Everest of a climb ahead of you. There are a few authors who have found great success with this model, but they’ve resorted to smarmy tactics to do so. If you are a self-published author, you might ultimately come to a crossroad choice: keep your literary and intellectual honesty and remain poor and unknown, or sell out and lie to the public to make money. I won’t say how it done (it’s dishonest and incredibly annoying), but this is probably your only route to actually writing self-published fiction as a day job. It’s rare indeed for a self-published author to eventually get the backing of a major publisher; it’s been done, but it’s more of a rags-to-riches fairy tale than a daily reality (I believe Eragon is one example of a book that did so).
Authors who choose to go with a small (unknown) publisher may also find their battle for success quite difficult. A somehat similar (though much less) stigma applies to small, unknown publishers, especially if they sell their books through a website or via Amazon. The first thing potential reviewers do is look at the publisher’s industry creds. Online-only distribution is a big red flag for *some*. Now, I have to be careful here because many of the people who read this blog and send me book review offers are from small, little known publishers. My goal is not to offend you guys, but offers some information to elucidate how some big book websites/blooks consider what books to review. If the publisher is little more than a married couple operating out of a garage — and this is apparent from the presentation of the publiser’s website and credentials, well let’s just say that said reviewer will not be too inclined to read the book from this publisher. Now, again, I am not bashing small publisher or authors who have the backing of small publishers — we all have to start from somewhere. I’m just saying that it’s still going to be an uphill battle, but one that certainly easier than going the self published route.
I get inundated with publishers and authors wanting to send me their books (usually independent authors or small, almost unknown publishers). I usually say yes to these offers, afterall I like to help out the little guys in the literary world, but it’s getting to the point where I have this big stack of books that I’m obligated to read and very little time to read them then write a complicated review. I can fully understand why many of the major book blogs or websites say no or implement a “publisher screen.”
Now, back to R. Scott. This new author was complaining about sending review copies to book blogs only to find that these websites did not write a promised review. I’ve outlines some of the reasons why this may be the case. His ultimate conclusion: don’t send out book review copies because it’s a waste of time.
I disagree.
Yes, some websites may accept a book and run, but that’s part of the risk you take. If you do get a review, that’s a pretty darn good deal, considering someone has to plow through 500 or so pages then write a review. How much do you think someone would charge to read 500 pages of text that they have no initial interest in, and then write 500 word review of said text? That sounds suspiciously like work to me; if you were to go out and pay a writer to actually read and write a articulate review, we’re talking a couple days wages here. Many authors and publishers (small ones) seem to take it for granted that sending us a free book means we book blogs are obligated to review it. In my case, if I accept a book, I’ll review it. It may not be an instant review (unless we agree on a timeframe), but I’ll write one eventually. Some book blogs may not. It’s a bit dastardly, but remember, if you are a new author or small publisher who does not put books into a bookstore, it’s a favor for us bloggers to read and review your book. There are a zillion other published books out there for us to read, and many means of reading them for free — and writing reviews for those books benifits our websites with traffic.
Frankly, if I want to read a book for pleasure, I’ll go out and buy it for 10 bucks. The 10-20 or so hours it takes to read a book then write a review is a monumental effort — especially if reading the book as favor to the new author or unknown publisher. I certainly don’t get any benefit out of it, traffic-wise or financial. It’s one thing to read a book you want to read; it’s another thing all together to pick up and read a book that’s given to you by a 3rd party with commercial interests in mind. Now, I’m not saying reading a review copy won’t turn into a pleasurable experience, it’s just at the outset, there is no innate interest in the book. It’s sort of like you are expecting a bad book and waiting to be proven wrong. How’s that for sparking you interest in a book?
However, despite having these cards stacked against you, this doesn’t mean you should stop trying. If you do manage to get a review from a website, that review will sit around in Google — in perpetuity. That can add up to a lot of exposure over the long run. You also expose your book and name to thousands of potential readers; if the author is kind enough to link to your website, you also get a nice (permanent) increase in traffic AND an increase in your website’s Google rankings from the backlink.
If you don’t have a major publisher backing you by pushing your book into the bookstores and you refuse to send out review copies, how will you get any exposure? So, to all your self-published and independent authors out there, the road is long and the journey hard, but keep on tossing those review copies out there, the payoff will be worth it.
Hey there Ben, thanks for the great post. This is definitely a subject close to my heart right now, and I’m waffling back and forth on it. I can’t say you’ve persuaded me one way or the other, particularly since I have to pay for my own review copies to send out, but one thing I would like to take umbrage with is your feeling that it’s “a pretty good deal” for the author if a reviewer actually does what they promised to.
From my perspective it’s a pretty good deal for the reviewer to get to read free books, which I hope is why they do it. I certainly understand the economics of how you sometimes decide what to review, but I would like to think it’s because you actually like to read. If not, you should be an editor: they get paid a lot more than reviewers to read crap they wouldn’t read otherwise.
My main argument against your position is made plain by your own question asking how much someone would pay to read 500 pages of text they had no interest in. My question is, why should they be paid at all? If you’re only willing to put up ten bucks to read something that took me several years and thousands of hours to write, the few hours over a couple of days you complain about being so much work is worth about ten cents. Try writing 600 pages sometime.
Comment by R. Scot Johns — March 26, 2009 @ 3:12 pm
Hi R. Scott
Yes, I agree that if a website accepts a free book with the expectation of a giving a review, they are obligated to review it. It’s pretty low blow to an eager author to take the book and just sit on it.
Regarding reading a book we have no interest in, that’s the way it is for some of us, unfortunately. With my very limited time, I personally only like to read books I have an initial interest in. Now, I know that for an author that slaves away for months and years on a piece of work, it’s hard to accept this. But, for someone who has no attachment to that piece of writing, that’s the way it looks. It’s only words on paper for us. However, if you indeed have talent then those words become something much more, which is why, if you are talented and you have a thick skin, keep on sending those review copies out there.
Think of it from the angle of a website that receives book review requests all the time. Sure, if your website is new and someone offers a review copy, you’ll snatch it. But when publishers and authors are practically throwing review copies at you, and you are only a one man operation, well, you see where it starts to become work — especially when a lot of these books don’t have some sort of pedigree, in the form of a published author or well-known publisher to back them up. I suppose if it’s your job to review books for a living, sure. But when time is an issue and you have the choice of reading books by well-established authors or novels backed by big publishers or unknown books, you’ll probably go with the former. Now, take this from someone who has not slaved away for thousands of hours writing my brainchild
I am not saying that if you don’t have a major publisher behind you that your book is bad. No, it may very well be a work of genius. It’s just that from this side of the fence, you get to be pretty skeptical
And, your book does look interesting by the way. I studied old English in university. I can quite imagine that you spend an inordinate amount of time translating the Beowulf into novel form.
Comment by admin — March 26, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Greetings Ben,
Thanks again for your insights, which I must say are both informative and useful. Frankly, I don’t know how reviewers manage to read as much stuff as they do. I’m a slow and methodical reader, and read for pleasure only, so I could never do even a dozen decent reviews in a year maybe, if that.
That said, given the amount of queries you receive, I would just think the only thing you could do would be to become more selective in the first place, which I suppose, is where the tendency to choose major authors over independents and unknowns comes into play. I can certainly see that side.
If you do at some point decide you’d still like to read my debut novel, just for your own pleasure, I’d be happy to send you one, whether you review it or not. I had intended to anyway, and I’ll hold to that promise if you drop me a line via my website and tell me where to send it.
Cheers mate,
Scot
Comment by R. Scot Johns — March 27, 2009 @ 8:21 am
Ben & Scot,
On opinions of value or tastes there cannot always be agreement but on matters of function, as governed by the pragmatic laws of human nature in the marketplace, I see little dispute. Ben should be commended for reminding us of this state of affairs. Though we authors may lament it we should return to the real reason we write – for the love of it and the thrill of someone else reading and enjoying our works. And about those someones out there who do deign to read our stuff, Whether it is purchased or given I send them a hearty and humble thankyou. We ask that you invest the most precious asset you have to give, your time, focused and singular, time you will never recapture once it has been given away.
That Ben grants his time for free to authors coming to him in rags not riches (i.e. market presence/exposure) shows that he indeed has the heart of either a charitable fool or the savvy of one who takes risks in hopes of finding that golden nugget scoop. Either way he and those like him remain a valuable resource to the independant author and the readers to wich we hope to connect.
To Scot, the only rule I would ask when sending out review copies on spec would be to include a self addressed and postage paid media mailer to the reviewer should your brainchild go wanting (in the reviewer’s eyes) for adoption.
G. David Clark
Sunset Dancer
Comment by G. David Clark — March 29, 2009 @ 5:59 am
This is a great post; mind if I link to it on Thursday?
I’m always interested in how reviewers see ARCs and what their process is in choosing which books to review. I’ve generally been pretty lucky, but just as I have limited time to read and have to choose my books carefully, so do reviewers.
I think the disconnect comes from something I’ve seen a lot, which is the idea that reviews are written for the gratification of authors, or solely in order to provide them with pretty shiny quotes they can put on their websites and blogs. But they’re not. Reviews are for readers, plain and simple.
And more than that, reviews don’t sell books if the books aren’t readily avilable either. I might see an enthusiastic review somewhere. I might then jot down the title of the book and look for it on Amazon or next time I go to the bookstore. But when I do those things, I’m looking for something to read THEN. If the bookstore doesn’t have it I’ll grab something else. If Amazon or B&N.com or Borders or whatever is going to have to order it for me and I’ll have to wait three weeks or six weeks for it, I might very well not buy it then either, especially if I have the money in hand and don’t know if I will when the book ships and I’m charged for it. Or heck, I don’t know I’ll get the book at all.
A really, really stellar review for a book that speaks to a very specific interest of mine might inspire me to go the extra mile. But in general, if the book isn’t readily available, I’ll buy something else. Reviews are for readers, to help them choose books at the store. While it’s always fun to get a shiny quote, and it’s always nice to see small-press books get some attention and reviews, the fact remains that if the book isn’t available there’s little point.
Sorry, I ramble.
Comment by Stacia Kane — March 31, 2009 @ 4:02 am
Sure, Stacia, link away
I agree, reviews are the lifeblood for first time authors, but reviews are primarily for the reader. There seems a sort of “expectation” that I’ve noticed on the part of the companies/individuals who send you the book; it’s clear they “expect” a good review because, “hey, you got a free book.” Now, no one ever says this directly, but it seems to be there. What’s unsaid is that if you give a review that really bashes the book or even just a negative review, you won’t be getting any more books from that publisher. But maybe I’m just misreading it…
Comment by Ben — March 31, 2009 @ 8:12 am
Now, no one ever says this directly, but it seems to be there. What’s unsaid is that if you give a review that really bashes the book or even just a negative review, you won’t be getting any more books from that publisher.
Really? Even with the big houses? I’ve never heard that, eep!
That’s terrible, especially when bad reviews are likely to sell as many books as good ones. I actually look at the bad reviews on Amazon first, and see what other reviews those reviewers have written; it’s usually easier to tell is you have similar tastes or not with the bad reviewers.
Comment by Stacia Kane — April 2, 2009 @ 2:17 am
I review for bittenbybooks.com. We review every paranormal/urban fantasy book that we’re asked to review, regardless of whether its from a big publisher or if its a self published book. When you accept a book for review, you’ve made a contract with that author and publisher. If a review site is taking books from an author and not reviewing those books, then those sites should not receive any more books from any publisher. or author.
And BBB gives fair and honest reviews, and we still receive books from the major publishing houses. Regardless of the review we give. I think all these people stating that they feel that reviewers only give positive reviews for “Fear of being shut off” need to check their facts before making an unfair statement. I just read this at another place today and it made me mad.
Comment by Virginia Hendricks — April 2, 2009 @ 7:10 pm
Hi, Virgina. Thanks for you comment. Let me try to justify my statements a bit.
I took a look at your review website, Virginia. It’s nice that you guys review every book offered — however, this is the case because you have dozens of reviewers. Most book websites are simple blogs run by one or two people. It’s simply not feasible to review every book that get’s offered — not if you want to have a life outside of reading and reviewing books.
Regarding your comment about websites afraid of giving negative reviews because they will be cut off — this is a very real fear. Now, I don’t know if you are the admin of bittenbybooks or not, but it’s always a very real concern for the owners of a book website to suddenly get cut of from their source of reviews because of truthful reviews. Now, in my personal experience, this has not happened…yet — but there does seem to be a hidden “assumption” of “I’ll scratch your back with a free book and you scratch my back with a good review.” This website,bestfantasybooks.com, was never started as a review book site in the first place — as you might see, there are not that many actual reviews, other than the mini reviews used for the recommendation lists.
So I personally don’t feel bound to write positive reviews for books I’m reviewing simply because I don’t care if I get cut off. In the past, I’ve reviewed books just because the books were good — not because they were offered. And at first, no books were offered.
Publishers, it seems, have started to offer this website lots of books because this website lists high on Google for any search with “fantasy books” in it.
But, I’m very glad to here that your review website does not cater to “pressure.” The last thing we need is another Harriet Klausner publishing only positive reviews. But I can understand why some people may hesitate to give negative reviews, especially if they make their livelihoods of of receiving books to review.
Comment by Ben — April 2, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
[...] thought, hot on the heels of my last Advanced Book Review Copies(ARC’s) Expose, I would offer a few suggestions for you small publishers and self published authors — since [...]
Pingback by Best Fantasy Books Blog » How to Get Your Fantasy Book Reviewed — April 3, 2009 @ 10:52 am
Nice post that mirrors my thoughts exactly. I run fantasyliterature.net and we are constantly (despite our policy being stated) receiving review requests from self-published authors. When we were first starting out, nearly 2 years ago, we accepted these books both in an effort to helps out the “little guys” and because we didn’t have publishers knocking on our door yet.
Unfortunately, without exception, all of these books were sub-par. In some cases, the ideas may have been brilliant, but the lack of a professional editor was the problem. Often we couldn’t even finish the book. We wrote reviews for a few of them, but mostly we decided not to post bad reviews for these nice authors. At first, we emailed the authors and explained our issues with the book, but this got to be a very time-consuming project! We finally had to make the decision not to accept self-published work.
As you say, there is too much to read and we don’t have the time or inclination to read work that is not very good. We have to have some sort of screening process.
Kat
http://www.fantasyliterature.net
Comment by Kat — April 5, 2009 @ 11:08 am
Sorry — two more things.
1. We never sell our advanced review copies. We pass them on freely to someone else, or we donate them to our public library. It is not fair to the authors and publishers if we profit from their generosity to us. We write reviews for the love of the genre, not for profit.
2. We write as many “bad” reviews for ARCs as “good” reviews and one agent who used to court us seems to have cut us off because of it. Oh well. Review sites must maintain integrity if they want to be useful to readers!
Thanks for this post!
Comment by Kat at Fantasy Literature — April 5, 2009 @ 11:16 am
Hmmm. My first comment didn’t show up, but my second one did, so I’m trying again. Please forgive me that these are out of order, and also if this one double posts!
Nice post that mirrors my thoughts exactly. We are constantly (despite our policy being stated) receiving review requests from self-published authors. When we were first starting out, nearly 2 years ago, we accepted these books both in an effort to helps out the “little guys” and because we didn’t have publishers knocking on our door yet.
Unfortunately, without exception, all of these books were sub-par. In some cases, the ideas may have been brilliant, but the lack of a professional editor was the problem. Often we couldn’t even finish the book. We wrote reviews for a few of them, but mostly we decided not to post bad reviews for these nice authors. At first, we emailed the authors and explained our issues with the book, but this got to be a very time-consuming project! We finally had to make the decision not to accept self-published work.
As you say, there is too much to read and we don’t have the time or inclination to read work that is not very good. We have to have some sort of screening process.
Kat
Comment by Kat at Fantasy Literature — April 5, 2009 @ 11:18 am
But, the thought that rings through my mind when considering whether to read a self-published fantasy novel is that if a publisher has rejected your manuscript (and these people make their bread and butter from gleaning publishable-worthy material out of the thousands of manuscripts sent to them a year) why would I want to read it?
For the same reason you’d go see an unsigned band play.
The ability to “land” an Agent or big-house Publisher, to me, doesn’t necessarily reflect quality so much as saleability (what a word). These two do not always go hand in hand.
Now, I don’t want to argue too far, because I do agree that for the most part people who self-publish for convenience and as an easier road don’t have the quality you’re looking for. They’re doing it for the wrong reasons.
I chose to self-publish my debut because I wanted something working while I wrote on other projects. I expect this road to be actually harder, to break out of that “stigma” but self-publishing is not a miraculous solution to getting a lot of rejection letters. I’m not going to make a million dollars off of my self-published debut, but if it gets my name out there and creates an interest for what I have next, that’s better than nothing for a book that would otherwise just sit on my hard drive, right?
Comment by Todd Newton — April 10, 2009 @ 7:34 am
@Todd
I’ve sort of addressed your question with another post.
I know there are some people out there that don’t mind reading a mystery book to see what hidden treasures lay beneath the binding — however, people usually have so much time in the day; taking chances on books that are *probably* of lesser quality will probably not be one of them. Yes, on a desert with nothing else to read, I’m sure a lot of people would not be so picky, but considering that the literary world is very bountiful when it comes to quality book choices, reading self-published books is not high on people’s priorities.
Ben
Comment by admin — April 13, 2009 @ 9:57 am