Yet more examples of marketing chicanery in the world of publishing have been unearthed in the past months and Vacuous Minx has a very comprehensive recap of it all, including a few examples from outside the world of publishing. It’s not really surprising that, in the deceptively “anonymous” world of the internet, authors and other individuals would attempt to drum up a little free advertising for themselves by creating fake accounts and paying for positive reviews. But as someone who writes honest reviews and spends quite a bit of time blogging for free it is deeply disappointing, especially since these dishonest methods have apparently been quite successful for some.
The large number of fake reviews and sock-puppet accounts apparently present at sites like Amazon and Goodreads also undermine their credibility and the credibility of online reviews in general. Dear Author has a fantastic post up this week discussing this and other perils of deceptive marketing online – The Perils of Paid-For Reviews.
E.L. James apparently doesn’t like it when “her” content is used to “inspire” another product, and is suing a woman who was hosting Fifty Shades of Grey themed parties to sell lingerie and toys. In a perfect snippet of irony, the statement from her agent reads, “You can’t just hijack something someone else owns.” Ha!
Here are two posts this week from book bloggers who restored my faith a little bit in open, honest discussion and genuine love of reading:
Stacked Books blogs about the importance of Reader’s Advisory
April at Good Books and Good Wine makes a few blogging confessions and talks about blogging for the love of it and not to compete for higher numbers.
We’d like to send out our congratulations this week to the winners of the Hugo Awards, announced last Sunday night! The ceremony will be re-broadcast here tomorrow evening if you’d prefer to have the results delivered to you in a more entertaining format. Or if you’re super nerdy like me and just want to pretend you were there.
Io9 also posted this article with video pieces from a few sci-fi/fantasy authors who talk about how they overcame their greatest challenges. The most interesting piece for us came from Catherynne Valente, who speaks about how crowd-funding and self-publishing saved her career (and also led to the critically acclaimed Fairyland series).
The days are counting down to the release of Quintana of Charyn, and Melina Marchetta posted the prologue this week at her blog. (Here’s the link to it on goodreads as well.) If you haven’t read it – go! Also, make sure to keep your eye on Vegan YA Nerds for a review - our friend Mandee is reading it right now and we're all insanely jealous.
And lastly, here’s an amazing video created by Bookmans – one of my most favorite places to shop in Arizona.
The large number of fake reviews and sock-puppet accounts apparently present at sites like Amazon and Goodreads also undermine their credibility and the credibility of online reviews in general. Dear Author has a fantastic post up this week discussing this and other perils of deceptive marketing online – The Perils of Paid-For Reviews.
E.L. James apparently doesn’t like it when “her” content is used to “inspire” another product, and is suing a woman who was hosting Fifty Shades of Grey themed parties to sell lingerie and toys. In a perfect snippet of irony, the statement from her agent reads, “You can’t just hijack something someone else owns.” Ha!
Here are two posts this week from book bloggers who restored my faith a little bit in open, honest discussion and genuine love of reading:
Stacked Books blogs about the importance of Reader’s Advisory
April at Good Books and Good Wine makes a few blogging confessions and talks about blogging for the love of it and not to compete for higher numbers.
We’d like to send out our congratulations this week to the winners of the Hugo Awards, announced last Sunday night! The ceremony will be re-broadcast here tomorrow evening if you’d prefer to have the results delivered to you in a more entertaining format. Or if you’re super nerdy like me and just want to pretend you were there.
Io9 also posted this article with video pieces from a few sci-fi/fantasy authors who talk about how they overcame their greatest challenges. The most interesting piece for us came from Catherynne Valente, who speaks about how crowd-funding and self-publishing saved her career (and also led to the critically acclaimed Fairyland series).
The days are counting down to the release of Quintana of Charyn, and Melina Marchetta posted the prologue this week at her blog. (Here’s the link to it on goodreads as well.) If you haven’t read it – go! Also, make sure to keep your eye on Vegan YA Nerds for a review - our friend Mandee is reading it right now and we're all insanely jealous.
And lastly, here’s an amazing video created by Bookmans – one of my most favorite places to shop in Arizona.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
