Timely Review Tips # 3 from Armchair Interviews
Why You Should Not Send a Book Blindly to Armchair Interview’s Office and Expect a Review.
By Andrea Sisco, CRD (chief review distributor of Armchair Interview’s “Hope You Review My Book” Department)
The last time I wrote this column, I must have been really cranky as you can tell from my title, “Follow the Damn Rules.” My frustration isn’t because I have to wade through emails from authors who have chosen to disregard the rules, or don’t even see if there are rules. My anger is because for you the author–when you don’t follow the rules, you will probably limit the reviews you get by at least 60 percent.
Now I have no hard facts to base my percentage of lost reviews on. It’s a gut response. It also comes from talking to other reviewers. And, it comes from the number of times I’m really busy and want to hit delete when someone sends an email saying something like: “I want a review, tell me where to send the book.” Or, “I sent a book to your office a month ago, where is my review? My response to the first statement is “Follow the Damn rules,” and to the second, “Beats me.”
But I digress. I promised to share why you should not blindly send a book to our office and expect a review.
Well, you know the first reason if you read my column “Follow the Damn Rules.” The second is a bit more complicated. Armchair Interviews has been in business just short of three years. We are on track to have 2 million views this year. That’s a lot. And many of those views will come from authors wanting reviews. Now if only one percent of our views come from authors looking for reviews and they all sent us a book…, well, you got it! That would be 20,000 books.
I dare say, not in my best form) could I manage the distribution, assignment, etc., etc., of 20,000 book reviews in a year, even with our 90 hard-reading reviewers. Folks, not even 90 reviewers could review that many titles. And, can you imagine what it would cost for us to mail them out because you didn’t follow the rules? Besides, that’s not OUR JOB!
Now, I’ve really exaggerated the numbers here but I want you authors to clearly understand what you set in motion when you send a book, unannounced to our office, without a reviewer assigned–and not directly to the reviewer as our guidelines explain.
1. We have to decide which books we will review and which we won’t.
2. Your shot at getting a review is probably not as good as winning the lottery.
3. We take up time making review decisions when we should be assigning books (so that means other authors are not getting reviewed).
4. Then my stomach rumbles, Protestant guilt overflows and I argue with myself and try to think of ways that I could review “20,000” books. Alas, it ain’t gonna happen.
So you’re now wondering what happens to all those books we don’t review? It’s simple really. We save a few to try and push out reviews for the author–and the rest are donated to worthy causes. My worthy cause is my local library. Occasionally we donate books to other causes, but the library is my main source.
So folks! If you send a book to the Armchair Interviews office without reading our submission requirements, you are subsidizing the local public library. Not a bad thing to do– but I don’t think it was your intention.
So read the FAQ on our web site, follow the rules, write a good blurb about your book, and let our reviewers decide whether they want to review your book—not us or chance!
Next Time’s Tip: How to snag a review for your next book (after you’ve been reviewed the first time).