Let's Talk With Smash & Kt (14)

Welcome to the Let’s Talk weekly discussion meme!

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses.This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let's Talk!  
 
We'd love to hear any ideas you have for questions. Submit them Here. 

This week's question:

Reviewers: How do you handle the less than ideal review requests? You know, the ones that have clearly not read your blog or your review policy. Also, what's the worst review request you've ever received?

Yay! This is my question. It's one that has been burning in my mind for months now, but I had wanted to use several of our reader's submitted questions first.

In all honesty, I typically ignore the requests that are ou etside of my genre preferences. I used to respond to all of them, but I just get too many emails that I just can't justify the time it takes me to respond, when it is obvious that they didn't take the time to look at my site at all. As a publicist, I understand that it is time consuming to visit each blog before submitting, but I still make every attempt to check each blog before I submit a request. Sure, there are still some times where I submit something wrong, or I don't double check a blog when I've recently submitted for another book, but at least I try to make that extra effort as much as I can.  Also, this may just be a personal preference, but I greatly prefer personal, individual review requests. I just don't like to see my email CCed or BCCed with a ton of other names. So again, I've applied this with my job as a publicist and always make the effort to send out my requests in personalized, individual emails.

The worst review request was one about a book called Don't Say I Do! Why Women Should Stay Single. Here's portions of the request (I've omitted anything identifying the sender and anything else that wasn't relevant to my complaints):

Dear Kt Clapsadl

It has been real pleasure reading your book review blog articles on:

http://www.abookobsession.com/p/you-can-quote-me.html

I would like to interest you, personally, in covering my new book or blogging about it:

Don't Say I Do! Why Women Should Stay Single (By OMITTED)

If covering your writing expenses is needed, no problem, just let me know.

If you want to take it (this theme is hot now...)

So, first off linking my Google+ profile in the dear section? Perhaps I'm being a little critical, but that just tells me that this person is doing a lot of copy and pasting. 

Second, stating that it has been a pleasure reading my book review articles on the page listed above? There's a problem with that statement as that link leads to my quoted page. There are no reviews nor posts on that page. Just quotes. So again, that tells me that the person is just probably going down a list. 

Third, my blog is obviously centered around paranormal novels. If you take any time at all on my site, you can easily find  this. My policy page, specifically states my preferred genres, all of which are in the paranormal range, with the exception being dystopian novels, which this book clearly is not. Even so if you put that aside, and want to be overzealous and shoot for blogs that don't review in the genre you wrote in, you should probably not pitch something to them that would be offensive. I'm sorry, but my husband and I just celebrated our 8th anniversary, and somehow I just don't see myself in the target market for a book telling women that they should be single. I mean come on, really.

And finally, the coupe de la grace. Offering to cover my writing expenses? What in the world is that? I was honestly speechless. I just don't know what to say to that.