Discussion: Confessions of a Frustrated Blogger (Part 1)

I never planned on having to write a discussion post like this one on my blog, but I guess that was a bit naive of me to think so.

Let me just start off by saying this first, I love reading, sharing my thoughts on the books that I read with other's, and being afforded the opportunity to review books for author's and publisher's as well. I enjoy being able to "tweet at" my favorite author's and have them respond back to me. I enjoy being contacted by both author's and publisher's with the opportunity to read and review their books they have to offer and sharing my thoughts on them with my reviews and other "book spots" that my blog hosts. Sometime's it opens me up to new author's and books that I wouldn't have otherwise known about and that's a good thing.

Actually, it's a great thing.

However, what I don't appreciate or like, is when author's and publisher's blatantly ignore my Policy On Reviews. Not to be a stickler about things, but I spent a lot of time and effort into creating this policy, and making sure that it was very succinct in what I would and wouldn't consider for review and whether or not I am accepting "e-books" for review. There is also a line in those review guideline's that clearly states, "My suggestion to you [the author/publisher who is requesting the review/blog tour participation] is to check over these guidelines, make sure that your book falls within the realm of them, and then try."

There is absolutely nothing difficult about understanding any of these guidelines for my Review Policy. Before I even considered putting it up on the blog I emailed a rough draft copy to my best friend and fellow blogger, Molli @ Once Upon A Prolouge for her opinion on it. I wanted to know whether or not, she thought it was clear and concise and she promptly emailed me back letting me know that it was clear enough and got the point across that I was trying to make.

So, here is my problem, why am I still receiving emails from author's (not speaking of any one author in particular), who it is clear to me that they have not gone over the guidelines that I set forth in my Review Policy, yet they still want me to read and review a copy of their book on my blog? When you don't take the time to get my name right or even address me by my name in the request or when you do address me by my name but get my blog name and address wrong, that is when I start to get incredibly frustrated. My name is at the top of my blog, the name of my blog is in the banner at the very top of my blog and it's the first thing that you see, and right underneath the banner are links directing you to my "About Me" and "Review Policy" pages, as well. This is not rocket science, guys!

As much as I enjoy visiting this awesome blogger's AH-MAZING blog and reading all the wonderful content that she has to offer there, I can actually tell when an email or piece of correspondence from an author/publisher has been "copy/pasted" into the body of an email and sent to me with a request to read and review a book and/or be a part of a blog tour for a specific author. As flattering as the compliments in the email are, what's not flattering is the fact that you got my name and blog address all wrong and on top of that, you didn't leave me any web addresses to visit to see if you are actually legit in your endeavor's to offer me a book for review or an up-coming blog tour to participate in.

I don't know if anyone else received this particular email or an email similar to this one, but I received one this morning and found myself easily aggravated. Someone we'll refer to as "anonymous" sent me an email with the subject line "Your Blog Posts Are Poppin!" and addressed me as another fellow blogger including a link back to her book blog, about a team of writer's who would love to contribute to my/her site.

Well, that's great, I thought. Who wouldn't want someone who is an experienced journalist and/or a part of the YA/Adult fiction world that my book blog is predominantly geared towards contributing a well thought out and meaningful guest post, for my blog right? As I read a little further, it started to seem a bit fishy to me, because "anonymous" did not leave any links back to a site where I could check to see if this was a truly legit inquiry or request and I began to get a bit leery. I knew, from the get go, that this was a "copy/paste" request because they addressed me as this fellow blogger including a link back to her smashing awesome book blog.

My question is, has anyone else received this same email or one similar, and do you know if this is actually legit or not? I'd like to know where to go from here on what to do - if any of you have any advice that would be helpful to me. I would really appreciate it, if you shared.

And lastly, I just want to point out that these types of emails or review/book tour participation requests are going to influence me in any way regarding the many other awesome and amazing author's/publicists/agent's out there who know how to handle their business and get into contact with blogger's like myself. Those who disregaurd my Review Policy absolutely do not reflect on the many wonderfully amazing people in the young adult/adult book industry that I admire and enjoy review their books and getting to be a part of their amazing blog tours for the books they're promoting.