Wednesday, July 25, 2012

So You Want Your Book Reviewed...

In light of recent events, I am going to put something out here that I have on my WDC (Writing.com) portfolio.

And now I am going to add to it. This is for me to use when I choose to do a review. Feel free to use this if you do reviews.

1. Reviews are given FOR FREE.

2. I, personally, do not get paid to review a book or short story. If you choose to give me a copy of your work in order to garner a review, do not think of it as payment. I would gladly purchase the book if you would prefer, but I honestly don't think I should. You want the review and are contacting me, not the other way around.

3. If I do not like your work, I will tell you in private and not put a bad review out there. If you are self published, I hope my critique of your work prompts you to fix it and put it back up for sale. You upload the content yourself, this has to be an option.

If I do like your work, I will post reviews for you where you ask me to, as well as post the review on my blog.

4. Please realize real time constraints. You know nothing of my personal life and how I spend my time. (If you truly know, you better be related...) You can only assume from what I tell people here on my blog and other social media. We all know what assuming does, don't we? However, should I fall behind, I will do my best to maintain contact and make sure you know this in advance. If you cannot wait, I'm sorry.

5. Please act in a professional and courteous manner. Rude will get you nowhere. Worse than rude, well, we won't discuss that, will we?

I am trying to make light of a situation here as well as give some real advice for reviewers and writers alike. There isn't much humor in the way people treat other people at times. There is no need for threats, stalking, name calling or any other rude, unprofessional behavior in regards to opinions.

We all know what opinions are like, right?

I am going to say this, whether I regret it later or not remains to be seen. This is a free country, I am allowed to express myself however I deem fit.

Don't. Push. It.

And one final thing to say about all of this. GROW UP and ACT YOUR AGE.

Thanks everyone!

4 comments:

JA Grier (ee/em/eir) said...

Having a prepared 'agreement' to send someone who wants a review is a good idea. But I don't know if it will stop bad treatment or negative comments. The people who do that sort of thing are suffering from insecurity, lack of impulse control, and/or emotional dysregulation - they are unlikely to even remember they read an agreement before lashing out with a raw, emotional reaction. Still, if it does work I'd love to hear about it. :)
One Writer's Mind

D.G. Hudson said...

You have some good points, Mel.

I think stating your guidelines is perfectly acceptable.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You've let people know what to expect and that's fair!

Mel Chesley said...

Problem is, almost every single review blog out there has guidelines. Even other authors who review books have guidelines. Most people plow right through those without reading them.

In regards to this, if someone is saying they are not accepting reviews, that doesn't mean email them your book anyway. It means just that. If they don't like a certain genre, writers aren't going to help change their mind by not following the reviewers guidelines.