In the last few years of being a published author, I've given away hundreds of books out of my extremely limited marketing budget. Out of those hundreds of free review copies...
It's normal for an author who is trying to break into the big leagues to pay for reviews. Those few authors that all the articles are about did it. The ones that used big publishing company rules to self-publish, with marketing budgets in the tens of thousands. I don't want to go there if I don't have to.
It's also normal to give away free copies with the explicit agreement up front.
And since all my other reviews, from people who purchased the book, are generally 5-Star reviews, I can't assume that the book sucked so bad that the "free review copy" reviewer was embarrassed to post a review.
So please don't ask for a free copy with the hanging promise that you'll give me a review.
Summit Success: Training for Hiking... is a fairly big book packed full of info in its 340 pages, and it costs me a lot to order author copies and ship them out to reviewers, and I got burned pretty good by it this time. Sorry for the blatant honesty there.
A common problem with a fitness book is trying it out first
If you refuse to review a book for the writing and information, you are essentially reviewing yourself. You are reviewing your ability to make a goal and stick to it and follow a plan with motivation and determination.
So in the case of Summit Success, I get to wait 16 weeks to find out if you have those qualities or not. That's blatantly unfair of you, if you're not also hiring me to be your personal trainer and monitor your progress.
During those 16 weeks when you're trying to get out of bed in the morning, get your hair of the dog in, and not fall off the treadmill, I miss the important Christmas Gift and New Years Resolution buyers.
Talk to me about inspiration and motivation and making your life more positive. Talk to me about your feelings while reading about cleaning trash off a mountain. Talk to me about whether you learned even one thing worth $7.99. In the case of a Free Review Copy, did you learn even one thing worth $0.00? These are the important qualities of a fitness book, not whether or not you could spend 45 minutes on a treadmill with a hangover.
I'm being only slightly sarcastic, of course. Maybe more than slightly.
HERE is a link to a similar article I posted on Linkedin
BTW: Weight Training Secret Manual is even worse waiting for reviews to come in, as it's a years worth of interludes between training cycles to rejuvenate your program and see faster progress with better recovery. (recently removed from Amazon, but available on B&N HERE)
Still waiting ...
I've gotten exactly zero reviews.
It's normal for an author who is trying to break into the big leagues to pay for reviews. Those few authors that all the articles are about did it. The ones that used big publishing company rules to self-publish, with marketing budgets in the tens of thousands. I don't want to go there if I don't have to.
It's also normal to give away free copies with the explicit agreement up front.
I give you free book - you give me free honest review
And since all my other reviews, from people who purchased the book, are generally 5-Star reviews, I can't assume that the book sucked so bad that the "free review copy" reviewer was embarrassed to post a review.
So please don't ask for a free copy with the hanging promise that you'll give me a review.
Summit Success: Training for Hiking... is a fairly big book packed full of info in its 340 pages, and it costs me a lot to order author copies and ship them out to reviewers, and I got burned pretty good by it this time. Sorry for the blatant honesty there.
A common problem with a fitness book is trying it out first
If you refuse to review a book for the writing and information, you are essentially reviewing yourself. You are reviewing your ability to make a goal and stick to it and follow a plan with motivation and determination.
So in the case of Summit Success, I get to wait 16 weeks to find out if you have those qualities or not. That's blatantly unfair of you, if you're not also hiring me to be your personal trainer and monitor your progress.
During those 16 weeks when you're trying to get out of bed in the morning, get your hair of the dog in, and not fall off the treadmill, I miss the important Christmas Gift and New Years Resolution buyers.
Talk to me about inspiration and motivation and making your life more positive. Talk to me about your feelings while reading about cleaning trash off a mountain. Talk to me about whether you learned even one thing worth $7.99. In the case of a Free Review Copy, did you learn even one thing worth $0.00? These are the important qualities of a fitness book, not whether or not you could spend 45 minutes on a treadmill with a hangover.
I'm being only slightly sarcastic, of course. Maybe more than slightly.
HERE is a link to a similar article I posted on Linkedin
BTW: Weight Training Secret Manual is even worse waiting for reviews to come in, as it's a years worth of interludes between training cycles to rejuvenate your program and see faster progress with better recovery. (recently removed from Amazon, but available on B&N HERE)
Still waiting ...
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