Timely Tips from Armchair Interviews: Tip 2
Thousands of new books are printed every year–and new authors see their titles in print. Some of these books are from small- or medium-sized publishing houses, others are published by the ‘big boys’ in New York, and still others are published by the author themselves.
Here’s some tips to help you “do it right.”
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Andrea Sisco at andrea@armchairinterviews.com
July 25, 2007 Tip #2
Follow the Damn Rules
You’d think this one would be easy, wouldn’t you? But no, my experience says it’s not. It’s probably one of the rules that’s the most abused (code for “I didn’t think the rules were meant for me.” So the author or publicist sends of an email to someone, anyone at the website and says I have a book and I want you to review it. Okay, that’s nice, but what is the title, who is the author (is it the name in the email address?), who is publishing the book and when–and for goodness sake, is it fiction or non-fiction or poetry and what is it about (the blurb).
Armchair Interviews is not Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic. We don’t put on those Hogwart hats and just know all of the answers about your book. We are mere Muggles. We have to have the information given to us.
So if you want a review or an interview from a particular website, peruse the website and look for their submission policy–their FAQs. And if, perchance, there are none listed, search some more before you locate a name and an email address and send off the “I want a review email” with all of the pertinent information.
If you really can’t find any of the information you need (and it’s a sorry, sorry website if they don’t have the information listed–and you might want to think about wasting time, postage and a book sending to them), find an email address and write, asking: What are your review/interview submission policies?
If you do find the submission policy on the website, follow the damn directions carefully!
If you have to send an email and ask for the information, follow the damn directions carefully when you receive a response!
DO NOT SEND YOUR TITLE TO THE WEBSITE OFFICE WITHOUT AN ASSIGNED REVIEWER! EVER!
Next time I’ll tell you why you should not send a book blindly by the wizard’s OWL to the office and expect a review.