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It's time for another discussion post and this time it's a topic I've been seeing a lot about on Facebook recently. Authors getting upset about the amount of review copies being sent out and bloggers/reviewers not posting the review in what they see as a timely manor. So I wanted to do a discussion about this topic and hopefully get some of you talking about it in the comments.
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Alright, so let's start with the main question, I try to review as many books as I can. That's the easiest answer I can give. When I first started this blog, I was killing myself reviewing every single book I got for review. That means from Netgalley, in the mai1, and even books that I hadn't asked for. After awhile it made me start to feel like reading was a job and it took all the fun out of it for me. That's not how I want to feel about reading, so I changed my rules a bit and started to keep track of every book that came into my house, the ones I bought, ones I requested, and the ones that I didn't request. It took a bit to get it all organized, (between me and you it's still not perfect.) but now I only review the books that I asked for personally.
Now let's get down to the tricky part, do I review all of those books, I'm talking about all the ones I have requested. Again the words are I try! It might take me awhile, but I do try to get a review up at some point. Blogging/Reviewing is a hobby for me, it's not my job, so therefore I read on my own time and I review on my own time. I don't think it's okay for authors to put a stipulation on a reviewer telling them when to read their book and when to have the review posted. (Again I'm not talking about blog tours here, that's a whole different story.)
The main reason I wanted to do this post so much is because the other day I saw an author go on this huge rant about sending out all these review copies and getting one or two reviews and that's it. Authors, what you really need to realize is this, blogging/reviewing is to most of us, just a hobby. We don't get paid for our reviews. So please, stop getting upset when we don't have a review up, in what you see as an appropriate time frame. I have about 50 authors offering me review copies in my inbox every single day, I don't accept most of them, but some of them I do. It just takes time for me to review some of the books.
Also in my review policy it states that I don't review all books that I get for review, but sometimes I still highlight those books in one way or another on my blog. I could honestly continue to go on and on about this subject, but I think I'm going to stop here and see what you think.
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Leave me a comment below and let me know if you review all books you receive, if so how in the world do you do it? If not, what made you decide to make this your policy? Do you think it's okay for authors to be upset about reviews or pressure bloggers about their review?
Now let's get down to the tricky part, do I review all of those books, I'm talking about all the ones I have requested. Again the words are I try! It might take me awhile, but I do try to get a review up at some point. Blogging/Reviewing is a hobby for me, it's not my job, so therefore I read on my own time and I review on my own time. I don't think it's okay for authors to put a stipulation on a reviewer telling them when to read their book and when to have the review posted. (Again I'm not talking about blog tours here, that's a whole different story.)
The main reason I wanted to do this post so much is because the other day I saw an author go on this huge rant about sending out all these review copies and getting one or two reviews and that's it. Authors, what you really need to realize is this, blogging/reviewing is to most of us, just a hobby. We don't get paid for our reviews. So please, stop getting upset when we don't have a review up, in what you see as an appropriate time frame. I have about 50 authors offering me review copies in my inbox every single day, I don't accept most of them, but some of them I do. It just takes time for me to review some of the books.
Also in my review policy it states that I don't review all books that I get for review, but sometimes I still highlight those books in one way or another on my blog. I could honestly continue to go on and on about this subject, but I think I'm going to stop here and see what you think.
Logging you in...
Hp20508 · 518 weeks ago
GREATreviewer 90p · 518 weeks ago
But yeah, I don't think it's right for an author to get ranty. Especially if it's in your review policy that you might not actually review the book, but read it and highlight it on your blog or some such thing. But to get ranty? That's a little much. It certainly won't endear you to the blogger or other bloggers. Like in the author community, you're friends with one another and read each other's books and such. I see authors who are besties and they write in the same genre. They take advice from one another. If an author gets slighted by another, well her besties are likely to take her side. It's the same in the blogging world. If an author is going to get ranty, well that blogger will likely not read those books anymore and her blogging friends might pass on it too because it's just not professional to act like that with bloggers. Authors and bloggers need to work together in some ways. There should be professionalism among them. Authors jobs are to write, but it's not a blogger's job to read and review the book by a deadline.
I can't always read the books I get for review right away. There are probably some that I got in my TBR Mountain of Doom that were sent to me without asking, and I thought it sounds interesting enough. But I can't read it right away with other books that need my attention first. Heck, even the ones that I ask for, I start to realize I can't read in time to get it up before release date. I still try. But there are just so many. And then when they start piling up it gets really hard to stay on top of them all. And then sometimes, I really just want a break from the review books and read one from my towering TBR Mountain of Doom! I'd like to get it to a pile sometime in the future! LOL!
I mean, in a way, I do get what authors and maybe publishers get a little harpy about things. Especially if you agreed to read the book. But then again, as bloggers we're kind of part-time at that job. We have other jobs and obligations in life. Especially since some of us might be students. School should definitely be a priority. I basically started my blog in my last year of college and didn't really start putting more effort into it until after I graduated, so I'm not really in that category myself. But there's still life. Life gets in the way of reading and blogging all too many times! LOL!
Now if someone could just create that magical pause button on life, that basically freezes time for us bloggers, we could get to all the books in the right amount of time! ;)
Rachel · 517 weeks ago
Now I have changed, I only accept books I like the look/sound of. I let the author know that I only have one pair of eyes to it may take a while for me to read (especially if I have a couple of books ahead of that one) and to give me time.