CCBC-Net Archives
Re: reviewing books...
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Jonathan_at_Balona.com
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:40 -0800
On Nov 9, 2009, at 4:25 PM, csg wrote:
|| What have been the experiences of otherrs here? ||
Small presses (BalonaBooks has a catalog of 15 items, one more coming in May 2010) must rely on favorable reviews from the few large review journals for any response from the market. My friends in the industry tell me that their mailrooms are flooded with books offered for review. It is a crapshoot for a new book even to get noticed. On another hand, if your publisher is one of the Big Ones, your chance of being noticed is markedly improved.
We have been lucky with good reviews from Biggies for four or five of our YAs, but we cannot afford one of the Big Public Relations firms to frost the cake, so we rely on buzz created on the Web (mail list buzz). This, too, is a crapshoot, for librarians (I'm told) rely on the review journals and do not want to chance their hard-earned budgets on Nobodys.
To save a dollar or two, we now eschew ARCs and instead send (to those who request) a text-only .PDF of one or another of our newest. We have had very good response to this practice. We even receive occasional thanks from .pdf recipients, although it is we who should do the thanking.
Jonathan Pearce (Publisher, BalonaBooks) see
Received on Mon 09 Nov 2009 05:00:40 PM CST
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:40 -0800
On Nov 9, 2009, at 4:25 PM, csg wrote:
|| What have been the experiences of otherrs here? ||
Small presses (BalonaBooks has a catalog of 15 items, one more coming in May 2010) must rely on favorable reviews from the few large review journals for any response from the market. My friends in the industry tell me that their mailrooms are flooded with books offered for review. It is a crapshoot for a new book even to get noticed. On another hand, if your publisher is one of the Big Ones, your chance of being noticed is markedly improved.
We have been lucky with good reviews from Biggies for four or five of our YAs, but we cannot afford one of the Big Public Relations firms to frost the cake, so we rely on buzz created on the Web (mail list buzz). This, too, is a crapshoot, for librarians (I'm told) rely on the review journals and do not want to chance their hard-earned budgets on Nobodys.
To save a dollar or two, we now eschew ARCs and instead send (to those who request) a text-only .PDF of one or another of our newest. We have had very good response to this practice. We even receive occasional thanks from .pdf recipients, although it is we who should do the thanking.
Jonathan Pearce (Publisher, BalonaBooks) see
Received on Mon 09 Nov 2009 05:00:40 PM CST
