Guess what! Once again IABB Confessions have given me something to talk about. As a reminder in case you are not aware, neither IABB nor the graphic artists who create the images for us are responsible for the contents of the confessions. They merely provide the platform for their airing. The confessions themselves are entirely anonymous. This just happens to be one that I took particular issue with, partially because I feel like it is directly targeting me (I don't think it was necessarily written about me specifically however.)
I operate one of those websites where I clearly state that I will only reply to your email if I have chosen to review your book and the review is posted. I've even gone into detail with the reasons behind that decision. If you want to see them, simply click on the Review Policy tab above. But the fact of the matter is that I have been very straightforward letting anyone who chooses to send me an email know not to expect a response from me. I feel like I have done my part to be professional in the matter because that information is readily available. If you miss that information because you skipped over that part of the page to simply grab my email address to submit a request, well that's a you problem.
And I'm not prepared to set up an auto-response on my email at this time, because there are far too many people that ignore my guidelines and request to not receive blog tour sign ups and the like. I have no desire to have my email send an auto-response to promo companies that have failed to do their due diligence saying something along the lines of "Your request has been received and will be taken into consideration" because those people need a response more along the lines of "This email address is for review requests only. Please remove it from your promotional mailing list." When did it become okay for promo companies to send unsolicited emails for promotion? (It didn't, that's called spam, but it still happens all the time.) So you will get no auto-response from me because some people are dumb and I refuse to encourage them.
Now I get a lot fewer emails than most bloggers (probably partially because I refuse to send replies to review requests, but mostly because I don't get the daily requests for release blitz sign ups from a dozen or more promo companies. Seriously, those things will get your inbox out of control in next to no time. I scrapped the email address I originally used for this blog because it was easier to just get a new email address when we decided to no longer sign up for blog tours and stuff.) I probably could take the time to send a personal message to every person who sends a review request to me. But I check my email on my phone or iPad, and typing anything on a mobile device takes me at least twice as long as typing on a computer does. Also, I just don't want to. That is not something I want to spend my time doing, and that is my decision to make.
Which brings us to the "okay not to be professional" aspect of the confession. You wanna know why I feel like it's okay to not be professional where emails are concerned? Because this is not my job. This does not pay my bills. Blogging does not put food on my table or clothes on my back. This is a hobby. This is something I do in my free time (or that I make time to do because I enjoy doing it.) For most bloggers, blogging is just that, a hobby.
This is the point where authors argue that we bloggers need you. I've discussed this topic before, but I'll briefly do it again here. The relationship between author and blogger is an unequal relationship that favors the blogger. The fact of the matter is that we bloggers don't need individual authors nearly as much as indie authors need us bloggers. As bloggers, we just need there to be authors, and traditional publishing guarantees that there always will be (not that I think indies are going anywhere any time soon, and I wouldn't want them to. But authors will always exist.) For instance, I won 412 books through Goodreads First Reads giveaways last year alone. I read between 120-150 books a year. I'll let you do the math. So far this year I've won 46 books on Goodreads, and I've only read 14 books for the year so far. As you can see, I could read entirely for free without even being a blogger. So as shitty as it sounds, I don't need you. I would be sad if you stopped writing, because indie authors produce some very entertaining books, but I don't need your free review copies to continue blogging. I can do that without you.
So to this confessor, I see what you're saying. I get that it may be frustrating for you. But all of the above is exactly why I personally feel no shame at all for not responding to emails as a blogger. After all, this is my blog and I do what I want. - Katie
And I'm not prepared to set up an auto-response on my email at this time, because there are far too many people that ignore my guidelines and request to not receive blog tour sign ups and the like. I have no desire to have my email send an auto-response to promo companies that have failed to do their due diligence saying something along the lines of "Your request has been received and will be taken into consideration" because those people need a response more along the lines of "This email address is for review requests only. Please remove it from your promotional mailing list." When did it become okay for promo companies to send unsolicited emails for promotion? (It didn't, that's called spam, but it still happens all the time.) So you will get no auto-response from me because some people are dumb and I refuse to encourage them.
Now I get a lot fewer emails than most bloggers (probably partially because I refuse to send replies to review requests, but mostly because I don't get the daily requests for release blitz sign ups from a dozen or more promo companies. Seriously, those things will get your inbox out of control in next to no time. I scrapped the email address I originally used for this blog because it was easier to just get a new email address when we decided to no longer sign up for blog tours and stuff.) I probably could take the time to send a personal message to every person who sends a review request to me. But I check my email on my phone or iPad, and typing anything on a mobile device takes me at least twice as long as typing on a computer does. Also, I just don't want to. That is not something I want to spend my time doing, and that is my decision to make.
Which brings us to the "okay not to be professional" aspect of the confession. You wanna know why I feel like it's okay to not be professional where emails are concerned? Because this is not my job. This does not pay my bills. Blogging does not put food on my table or clothes on my back. This is a hobby. This is something I do in my free time (or that I make time to do because I enjoy doing it.) For most bloggers, blogging is just that, a hobby.
This is the point where authors argue that we bloggers need you. I've discussed this topic before, but I'll briefly do it again here. The relationship between author and blogger is an unequal relationship that favors the blogger. The fact of the matter is that we bloggers don't need individual authors nearly as much as indie authors need us bloggers. As bloggers, we just need there to be authors, and traditional publishing guarantees that there always will be (not that I think indies are going anywhere any time soon, and I wouldn't want them to. But authors will always exist.) For instance, I won 412 books through Goodreads First Reads giveaways last year alone. I read between 120-150 books a year. I'll let you do the math. So far this year I've won 46 books on Goodreads, and I've only read 14 books for the year so far. As you can see, I could read entirely for free without even being a blogger. So as shitty as it sounds, I don't need you. I would be sad if you stopped writing, because indie authors produce some very entertaining books, but I don't need your free review copies to continue blogging. I can do that without you.
So to this confessor, I see what you're saying. I get that it may be frustrating for you. But all of the above is exactly why I personally feel no shame at all for not responding to emails as a blogger. After all, this is my blog and I do what I want. - Katie
I get so many emails in a day, I just don't have time to go through each of them and reply. And I know many of them are just Spam emails... copied and pasted and sent to 500 other blogs. I had an automatic message that I would send out but it kept confusing people so I turned it off the Gmail account.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have noticed that blogging is so much less stressful when you don't rely on the author to provide review copies. I learned that from stalking you.
It really is. If I don't get a review copy from an author, I have absolutely no time obligations for my reading, and no guilt for taking two years to get a book read because I get so easily distracted by other books. - Katie
DeleteYou guys have a separate email for your blog?
ReplyDeleteI totally get the professional paragraph Katie. It's a hobby for us too.
Yes, I have an email specifically for the blog. Although I use my personal email for Netgalley because that seemed to make sense at the time. - Katie
DeleteWe just don't have a review request policy at all, and generally don't accept unsolicited requests. Posting that and having no contact us section has meant we rarely get messages. I like it that way. I'd prefer to go out and search for books I want to read, I just have no time for anything else. It sucks for a struggling new author, but it's our blog and our choice.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right about your blog your choice. I didn't want to close the door completely to requests because I found some of my favorite authors through review requests to the blog. - Katie
DeleteI'm with you, Lenore!
DeleteThe few times I've accepted books to read from authors or blog tours I've been sorely disappointed in the storytelling and quality. Then I felt guilty for writing a negative review because that relationship had been established. (I still did it though...) So yeah, it will be very rare that I accept a book for review unless I know I like that authors writing style/previous book(s)!