Requesting reviews: Etiquette

TrishaAnn92 · Post by **TrishaAnn92** » 08 Dec 2013, 19:06

Wow, glad that got cleared up for you! I would never tell somebody that my time is worth more than your time. I don't blame you for saying you weren't interested after that, I would have to!

robertcjgraves · Post by **robertcjgraves** » 12 Dec 2013, 08:44

riyanj wrote:An author asked me today to review his book.

It's in my genre, so I said, sure, send it to me in a pdf (old school; I don't own a kindle).

His response, "You can pick it up in pdf format on Smashwords."

I did look it up and it was posted (by an unknown author) for $5.

I was greatly put off because I don't agree that if you seek another person's review that you should ask for them to pay for the book to boost your sales / income.

Opinions?

I would never do ask someone to review a book of mine without providing a complimentary copy. For one thing, every time I give a book away for some sort of promotion, I'm writing it off on my taxes. Marketing is difficult for most authors, but manners and a little common sense shouldn't be.

riyanj · Post by **riyanj** » 12 Dec 2013, 21:16

A good point. I wonder how many authors forget that giving away their books can count as a deduction on their taxes. As well as all of the costs associated with writing and publishing.

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 16 Dec 2013, 19:18

Aren't the opinions of reviewers what start to make money for new authors? I don't think they should really expect a dime until after somebody has seen it and endorsed it somehow. Strange. People are scammers by nature, though, I suppose...

Eckhart Aurelius Hughes · Post by **Scott** » 26 Nov 2014, 14:39

If that happens on this site, please let me know, as I would not only consider it bad etiquette but a violation of our anti-spam rules.

Hadiqa · Post by **Hadiqa** » 28 Nov 2014, 10:36

riyanj wrote: I actually asked him to just send me a copy and his response was that the time that he took to write the book was worth more than my time to read it. Being I disagree with that logic, I told him I was not interested.

That is actually a stupid logic. I mean if you want review from someone, you should be willing to at least give him the book :/ Strange people. . .

Skillian · Post by **Skillian** » 28 Nov 2014, 15:34

Wow. And you said you'd read other works by this author? If it had been a brand new author I could understand them holding on too tightly.. maybe paranoid of it ended up all over the internet for free (assuming he doesn't know you that well).... etc. But as a seasoned writer they should know better. It is hard to believe they would think that is something acceptable to do... makes me wonder how many first time reviewers they have managed to boost their sales with.

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 12 Jan 2015, 05:24

riyanj wrote: I actually asked him to just send me a copy and his response was that the time that he took to write the book was worth more than my time to read it. Being I disagree with that logic, I told him I was not interested.

Sounds like someone I would want to avoid for the rest of my life!