As a sort of update of my previous posting on reviews, I wanted to make clear the matter of review copies at The Pulp Super-Fan blog.
By and large, I’ve never really cared to ask for review copies. I have wound up meeting either in person or on-line various authors and publishers (or both), often because I’ve reviewed their works and enjoyed them.
I have had a few review copies sent to me. In all cases, the author or publisher reached out to me to offer the copy. In most cases where it was part of a series, I wind up obtaining the rest of the series at my cost. Of course, for me, this is a hobby. One which does cost me a bit. So any way I can save is great.
So I will make a few things clear.
If you want to offer me a copy, I much prefer hardcopy over electronic. This is because, despite the fact I work in IT and sit in front of a computer all day, I much prefer to read articles, journals, magazines, pamphlets, books, etc., in hardcopy. Because most of my recreational reading is done offline. It’s one of the ways I get away from technology. I will take stuff with me to lunch and dinner to read. So having an electronic version is actually slower for me to read than hardcopy.
I will also warn that some genres I’m not a fan of. I have zero interest in romance. I am really not much into westerns (or northwesterns), spicy, straight horror, and the like. If you read my posts, my interests are more hero pulp, science fiction, fantasy, occult/Lovecraftian horror, adventure, action, thriller, some detective, and the like. So if you have a work that seems to fit in with others I’ve read, there is more a chance of my reading it than something unusual or out of left field. And please understand that I am interesting in fiction that would fit into what is known as “pulp fiction”. So am not interested in review works outside of that area.
When I do the review, I will be honest about things. If I don’t like what I read, I will say so. This can be bad plotting or characters. I try not to give away everything in a story, but you don’t have the right to comply with how I review. Everyone is free to review stuff.
If there are a lot of typos and such, I will say something (most likely directly so you can fix it). Bad layout and design will also get mentioned. I will tolerate poor artwork only because I know that can cost money, but with so many able to do decent layouts with print-on-demand by themselves, having poor design doesn’t fly. For example, I find the work of Steeger Books, Bold Venture Press, Pro Se Press, Murania Press, Airship 27, and a few others to be excellent. Others do a pretty good job as well. As to typos, the easiest thing is to give copies to a couple of people to read over and catch them. I’ve done this for a couple of publishers, and one is planning on sending me proof copies to both help catch typos and speed up my doing a review. We’ll see how that goes.
I will always note when I received a copy of the book to review, so people can judge for themselves if I was being fair or not.
Understand that I don’t like to be rushed. I already have a big “to read” pile, though I will often make a quick decision on my next read. Further, I try to schedule my reviews several weeks out. And please don’t take the attitude that I “owe” you something. I feel if someone sends me a copy that I should review it as soon as possible, but things happen.
All the reviews are shared on Facebook and Twitter. I share the reviews to several Facebook groups, though I try to only do to appropriate ones (i.e., a New Pulp review does not go to groups devoted to original pulp and vice versa). I share on Twitter and try to add appropriate links to others. Please feel free to share this further.
Finally, I copy all my reviews to Amazon, but this is usually a few (or several) weeks after they appear here. At present, I don’t copy them to Barnes & Noble or other social media. Not all publisher websites allow for reviews, so at present, there is only one publisher I do this for.
So I hope this may help any author or publisher that would like to send me review copies. You can reach me through the contact form.
