How do you feel about authors promoting their books on message boards?

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 9:01 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]He seemed to think I had a team of reviewers to which I sent out things. I suspect he was confusing me with someone else, as I told him he might be, but as he didn't have the courtesy to respond, I'll never know.[/quote]

Unbelievable. Some of these writers don't need a publicist; they need a reality check.

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 9:21 pm

I like Amazon when it shows me books. What I dont like is when certain authors find the need to tag their book with every possible hf novel ever written. And you know who I mean.

Anyway, the interview Michelle gave rocked. Frankly I'm a little tired after reading that. I never knew there was so much to know! Great interview though and as I said on the blog, very helpful.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 9:40 pm

What I dont like is when certain authors find the need to tag their book with every possible hf novel ever written. And you know who I mean.

They sure don't do themselves any favors, especially when they are outed by the readers. Like the one doing anon reviews (and worthless reviews at that) just to add links to his/her own books so they're featured on the see all reviews page.

Although, I don't think anyone will ever top the blatant scale and surpase Tino Georgiou and his spamming the book review sites with plagiarized reviews ending with a hype for his. Lordy, he even plagiarized some of Harriet's reviews!

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 10:13 pm

That is bad, but somewhat amusing if he had to plagiarized Harriet.

michellemoran · Post by **michellemoran** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 10:51 pm

Thank you, Divia! I wrote the post a while ago, and I've excerpted several sections on this forum before (like the part about book trailers and radio ads).

Some of these writers don't need a publicist; they need a reality check.

Agree! I think some of them (okay, most of them) don't have the first clue about how publicity should work. Or they're not in touch with how their actions will be perceived by others. I got a letter from an author yesterday (not a big author) saying she guessed she could take the time out of her busy schedule and do me the favor of answering five questions for my blog. Um... the last time I checked I was doing her a favor. But okay! Maybe it just came out wrong. Or maybe she has no clue as to how publicity works. But I have many other things I could be doing with my time besides coming up with five questions, finding photos to go with them, and posting a Q&A (editing the manuscript I have due in six days comes to mind). Sheesh.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 11:09 pm

[quote=""michellemoran""]I got a letter from an author yesterday (not a big author) saying she guessed she could take the time out of her busy schedule and do me the favor of answering five questions for my blog. Um... the last time I checked I was doing her a favor. But okay! Maybe it just came out wrong. Or maybe she has no clue as to how publicity works. But I have many other things I could be doing with my time besides coming up with five questions, finding photos to go with them, and posting a Q&A (editing the manuscript I have due in six days comes to mind). Sheesh.[/quote]

I, for one, was thrilled when you invited me for an interview on your blog.

I had a similar experience with someone over at the Yesterday Revisited blog to which I contribute (very sporadically now). I interviewed the author and posted the interview along with a cover of one of her books, and never got so much as a "thanks for the interview" comment. And this author wasn't a household name by any means, then or now. Made me glad that I'd gotten her books from the library instead of paying money for them, and killed any interest I had in reading anything of hers in the future.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 11:11 pm

[quote=""michellemoran""]Um... the last time I checked I was doing her a favor.[/quote]

Oh, I know the feeling! I've seriously started considering switching to guest author posts ONLY because of this prima donna factor. Still, most of the authors I've interviewed have been great. But running a blog that offers other writers free publicity is very time-consuming; and not that many of us do it, so when you get that occasional diva, you think: "Now, why in *&**!! am I doing this?" I could be writing or watching True Blood or surfing the web.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Thu October 23rd, 2008, 12:18 am

For years I've been getting most of my reads from net forums like this one. I used to love browsing in the bookstore but usually I just go in with a list of what I know I want to see. (the exception is my local indie. It is truly a pleasure to browse through, its set up so that browsing can be done throughtout the store, and the sellers are always happy to give you suggestions. One knows me well enough to hand sell as well.)

The publishing/ writing world has changed so much since the net - I imagine marketing has as well. I suspect that many think they can market their books like they do anything else on the net - post and they will come. I think it might behoove someone somewhere to come up with some guidelines for budding authors how to do this without offending people or stepping on toes. But I am not sure said authors would read it, if they didn't have the common sense to follow those rules anyway!

Ariadne · Post by **Ariadne** » Thu October 23rd, 2008, 2:48 am

I've been fortunate, I've never experienced the prima donna factor when interviewing authors for my blog (although I don't do as many as you do, CW and Michelle) - everyone's been pleased to answer my questions. That said, only two of the interviews I've done have been ones I've initiated. For the rest, the author or her publicist contacted me and asked if I'd consider doing the interview. I wish I had time to do more of them, but it takes me about a week to read a book and then another day or more to come up with questions. And I'm a total perfectionist when it comes to deciding what questions to ask (I annoy myself sometimes!).

There've been a couple times I've been amused by the process - like when a publicist insists all the interview questions go through her, so she could screen them first, even though I've been in contact with the author directly in another context in the past. I've gone along with it even though it felt extremely silly. I couldn't help but wonder if the publicist was being overprotective because I was merely a blogger rather than something, well, more respectable than that

xiaotien · Post by **xiaotien** » Thu October 23rd, 2008, 3:25 am

I'D LIKE TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY
TO PROMOTE MY DEBUT NOVEL SOON TO BE OUT
NEXT YEAR! PASTED BELOW ARE SOME TERRIFIC
REVIEWS WHICH MEANS YOU SHOULD REALLY GO
OUT AND BUY IT. PLEASE TELL EVERYONE. THX!

"pretty good" -- linda p. my old college roommate.

"if i liked YA, i'd probably read this" -- the barista
at my local starbucks.

"i'm very proud of you, cindy. watch the
semi-colons and sentence fragments" -- mr. cox my
ap english teacher.

...

hahaha! sorry, i had to do it. =p