Hi all. I have a question.
Currently authors are not told about their reviews by direct email. Mainly because I never really thought about it. I saw it as: author gives book to reviewer, reviewer gives review to reader. If I am going to suggest a more mercinary reason it might be that the author wants a review, the webmaster wants hit.
I am not sure what I want the hits for, but if I didn't want them I wouldn't have a blog, right? So unconsciously I might prefer authors to be checking the blog rather than sitting back and waiting for notification.
Do you think authors should be notified when the review goes up?
Currently authors are not told about their reviews by direct email. Mainly because I never really thought about it. I saw it as: author gives book to reviewer, reviewer gives review to reader. If I am going to suggest a more mercinary reason it might be that the author wants a review, the webmaster wants hit.
I am not sure what I want the hits for, but if I didn't want them I wouldn't have a blog, right? So unconsciously I might prefer authors to be checking the blog rather than sitting back and waiting for notification.
Do you think authors should be notified when the review goes up?
Comments
But I would guess there is a case to be made for sending an email, at least on request?
but they should have RSS/Newsfeed aggregator anyway, no excuse these days
I like to notify the author's I have reviewed, especially if I solicited the work, and it did not come from a query.
I am on vacation all week next week, so I made sure to tell the horror authors to keep watch on the site that week, as I wouldn't be around to let them know.
But if I review an unsolicited work, something I simply stumbled upon and felt like reviewing, I do not generally communicate with the author.
A cursory glance should demonstrate that we do indeed have an RSS feed clearly displayed using the usual orange symbol.
So, is emailing necessary in addition to providing a feed? I assume you raise this as a substitutable method?
My resistance (and yes I know I am being resistant) is because an email would add a step to the posting process I go through as a webmaster and time is already becoming a limiting factor in what I can get done (cue sound of violins in the background).
However if I always post reviews the friday after they come in the reviwer will be able to pass on the expected posting date on my behalf--if I can fairly prevail upon them to do so.
Of course, I also expect they'll have a Google Alert, at the very least, set to their name and they'll see it themselves. But I've met a few well-published authors who don't seem to do this.
In this case the publisher IS the author. They might like to do the same.
Just a thought. At least e-mail the link :)
Um, no. See this is a blog. A blog about self-published books that I run as a hobby and goodwill gesture. I've never generated a 'tearsheet' in my life and could only guess as to what it is.
This is kind of a corner I end up in. By donating my time to running a review site for self-published books I am somehow seen by some to be discriminating against them?
I will try to make an extra effort to make my voluntary efforts more satisfactory because honestly I want to help authors. I will certainly look at emailing the link but I sometimes feel like someone is inspecting my equine teeth.
So it's different, since this is a blog, but kind of like a review site.
That said, I'm don't think it's a necessity.