Crash Course
09-04-2005, 10:21 AM
One of the more interesting things about writing a book for the first time is experiencing the "review process."
Since TBSG is self-published, the charge for getting reviews/interviews has been all on me - including the cost. I had to personally "buy" all the copies that were sent out for PR, etc.
To date, I've sent out 20 copies of TBSG to "web" outlets (like blogs, etc.). With the exception of one, where the person came to me requesting a copy, these were all folks who I contacted, asked if they wanted to review the book, and when they agreed, I sent out a copy to them.
Out of these 20, the majority of the results were good - people did reviews, or at least mentioned the book on their site, and nice things were said. Of all the reviews to date, only one was less than great.
But, there were "other" disappointments with this group.
The one fellow who contacted me, requesting a review copy, never came through - even after I followed up with him several times. Clearly, he snowed me just to get a free copy of the book. (Free for him, but, I had to pay for it.)
Another fellow, who had agreed to review the book, opted to do nothing - not even mention it on his site. Since this is someone that I once did a favor for in the past, this was a bit of a bummer.
Two other webmasters just disappeared on me and are not replying to e-mails. And, another guy just got flat out nasty with me when I followed up with him - after a month. So, I've now written these guys off.
I sent out another 6 copies to various electronic media outlets - like radio, etc. All of these were done on my part - sans one where the fellow contacted me, requesting a review copy. To date, I have not seen any results from these efforts.
In fact, one of the outlets that I followed up with, two months later, claimed that they never saw the book - so, I sent another one to him. Therefore, this 6 now became 7 books sent. And, like the web guy looking for the free book, the person here who requested a review copy has basically blown me off and is not answering e-mails. I guess he wanted a free copy of the book too.
Lastly, I sent out 4 copies to print media folks - like newspapers and magazines. I got one interview out of this - and have an appointment for another one tomorrow. So, that's been 50-50 to date.
I do not see myself doing any more work trying to get reviews - I'm already spent like $700 (out of my pocket) on this so far. I still think there's a chance that two or three of those still "pending" might come through for me. That would be a nice bonus.
Like I said, it's been an interesting learning experience.
Since TBSG is self-published, the charge for getting reviews/interviews has been all on me - including the cost. I had to personally "buy" all the copies that were sent out for PR, etc.
To date, I've sent out 20 copies of TBSG to "web" outlets (like blogs, etc.). With the exception of one, where the person came to me requesting a copy, these were all folks who I contacted, asked if they wanted to review the book, and when they agreed, I sent out a copy to them.
Out of these 20, the majority of the results were good - people did reviews, or at least mentioned the book on their site, and nice things were said. Of all the reviews to date, only one was less than great.
But, there were "other" disappointments with this group.
The one fellow who contacted me, requesting a review copy, never came through - even after I followed up with him several times. Clearly, he snowed me just to get a free copy of the book. (Free for him, but, I had to pay for it.)
Another fellow, who had agreed to review the book, opted to do nothing - not even mention it on his site. Since this is someone that I once did a favor for in the past, this was a bit of a bummer.
Two other webmasters just disappeared on me and are not replying to e-mails. And, another guy just got flat out nasty with me when I followed up with him - after a month. So, I've now written these guys off.
I sent out another 6 copies to various electronic media outlets - like radio, etc. All of these were done on my part - sans one where the fellow contacted me, requesting a review copy. To date, I have not seen any results from these efforts.
In fact, one of the outlets that I followed up with, two months later, claimed that they never saw the book - so, I sent another one to him. Therefore, this 6 now became 7 books sent. And, like the web guy looking for the free book, the person here who requested a review copy has basically blown me off and is not answering e-mails. I guess he wanted a free copy of the book too.
Lastly, I sent out 4 copies to print media folks - like newspapers and magazines. I got one interview out of this - and have an appointment for another one tomorrow. So, that's been 50-50 to date.
I do not see myself doing any more work trying to get reviews - I'm already spent like $700 (out of my pocket) on this so far. I still think there's a chance that two or three of those still "pending" might come through for me. That would be a nice bonus.
Like I said, it's been an interesting learning experience.