Bookish Rant: Author Spam

Posted January 7, 2015 by Julie S. in Bookish Rants, Featured Posts / 37 Comments

rantauthorspam

Fiction University has this amazing post about approaching book bloggers for review requests.  OMG every author who’s been spamming me lately needs to see this post! David Estes also has an amazing Author guest post on Happy Indulgence Books on dos and don’ts of successful indie authors. I’m so happy to see people recognizing the author spam problem these days.

I don’t know about other bloggers out there, but I’m getting sick of being spammed by authors and their PR staff. It is different if I signed up for their mailing list, but there are so many authors lately who have been sending mass emails that are obvious they just went and collected email addresses of bloggers.

Indicators of a spammy email from an author:
  • I haven’t heard of that author, but they somehow have my email address.
  • All the bloggers included on the email are in the “to” field (NOT the bcc) so now everyone’s email addresses are exposed for further spamming.
  • There is no “unsubscribe” link on their email (which is obvious this isn’t part of legit mailing list, but someone’s put together list of blogger emails).
Here are some of the annoying emails I’ve received lately:
  • A promo request, in a genre I don’t read or review. I don’t do promo posts and this is clearly stated on the blog.
  • A review request with the ARC attached from an author I don’t know and haven’t worked with in the past. I’m not currently taking review requests, but even if I was, you don’t just send your book to someone without communicating with them first.

If these people just go and read our blog (which they must have at least visited if they have my email address somehow) this author or assistant would know this isn’t the way to go about things.

When I get these emails I immediately reply asking to be removed from their list. Usually I don’t hear back, but sometimes I do and it is just awkward. One person responded that I was added to their list because of another event I participated in some time ago. Wow – thanks for stealing my contact information and admitting to adding me without my permission.

Anyone else feel their privacy has been violated when they receive such emails?


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Posted January 7, 2015 by Julie S. in Bookish Rants, Featured Posts / 37 Comments

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37 responses to “Bookish Rant: Author Spam”

  1. Vlora

    I thought I’d have to be blogging for at least a few months before I’d get review requests, but I got a couple of review and marketing requests after only a few weeks. It was some small publisher who just put me on their e-mail list without asking and contacted me for every book they published even though I wasn’t interested in any of them.

    I do have a review policy now, and I sound like a total douchebag in it, but all the emails for books in genres I don’t even read really started getting on my nerves and so far it’s been effective.

    Great post!
    Vlora recently posted…Talk to Me: Commenting Back

    • Julie

      I think these small publishers stalk out new bloggers specifically since they havent established a review system yet.

  3. Christina @ Christina Reads YA

    There are so many really great posts like the Fiction University one about approaching bloggers and people in the industry in general about books. Author spam is a definite problem. Especially you know, if you end up writing “I’m not accepting review requests,” and then they’ll still address you, like they’ve looked up, but have they really? Because you said you’d delete all emails of review requests. (Okay, so “you” is me here, but that’s because I’m totally nodding along to your post.)

    ” It is different if I signed up for their mailing list, but there are so many authors lately who have been sending mass emails that are obvious they just went and collected email addresses of bloggers.” — Sometimes I wonder if there’s some sort of indie author blogger email list that people have sold. Sometimes they send emails to my PERSONAL email account, which has not been shown on my blog for over THREE years, and I’m like… HOW HOW HOW.

    “I haven’t heard of that author, but they somehow have my email address.” — Yep.

    “There is no “unsubscribe” link on their email (which is obvious this isn’t part of legit mailing list, but someone’s put together list of blogger emails).” — You know, I hadn’t even *realized* this was an indication. I always just scroll to see the publisher or company the publicist is working with or what sort of “praise” the author has received, etc.

    “I’m not currently taking review requests, but even if I was, you don’t just send your book to someone without communicating with them first.” — I figure this is their attempt to make things easier if you did want the book, but really, it can come off as pushy.

    “When I get these emails I immediately reply asking to be removed from their list. Usually I don’t hear back, but sometimes I do and it is just awkward. One person responded that I was added to their list because of another event I participated in some time ago.” — Oh, hm, maybe I should start responding to these emails then instead of deleting them…

    Ha, yeah, my privacy has DEFINITELY been violated. I want my personal email to stop getting those requests!

    • Julie

      Omg YES a lot of these are going to my personal account, not my @chapterbreak email account. So it does seem like a list of some subscription was sold. I’m glad you brought that up.

  4. Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    I typically just end up deleting these, although I will confess that if someone actually sends me their book and it looks like a genre I’m interested in, I’ll check it out (whereas I wouldn’t have if they hadn’t sent the book). So, I guess I’m perpetuating that bad behavior! LOL! I love it when an author makes it obvious that they actually HAVE read my blog (they make a specific comment about some of my other reviews or the blog itself). It’s so hard when you get bombarded with emails like this – it gets overwhelming!
    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Review – Jackaby by William Ritter

    • Julie

      It does get overwhelming but I guess if you do find the book interesting it would be hard to ignore the email.

  5. Charlotte @ Books and Baby etc.

    I don’t mind receiving emails from PRs and authors as long as they respect my review policy and are polite. I don’t like them to send multiple follow up emails though. My blog is a hobby and I don’t always keep on top of it so it can be annoying to be harassed!
    Charlotte @ Books and Baby etc. recently posted…Let’s talk stats

    • Julie

      I so agree with you, it can feel like you’re being harassed when the emails keep coming in.

  6. Topaz @ Six Impossible Things

    Okay, so this is such a dilemma for me, because I’m both an author and a blogger. So on one hand, I can almost see what drives authors to spam book bloggers (because yes, we do want our books being read), but on the other hand, come on, you guys – this has crossed the line from artful marketing to just plain RUDE.

    It’s so much more important to actually establish meaningful connections with people, send polite emails, and know how to take “no” for an answer – otherwise nobody is going to want to read anything you write, you know? Great post! x
    Topaz @ Six Impossible Things recently posted…Friday Poetry: “Something like a Miracle”

    • Julie

      Yes, it is so much more important to connect with the bloggers, and they’ll be so much more likely to read the author’s books! Thanks for sharing your thoughts as both an author and blogger.

  8. Bookworm Brandee

    Great post! I recently received a review request where the author stated she’d reviewed my policies and wanted to request a review…I was like, really? Because at the top of my review policies, it says I’m not accepting review requests. Hmm… I’ve also received review requests where they say they’ve gotten my info from Amazon. Huh?? ANd GRRRRR!! I like to support indie authors but I’m going a bit mad with all the email.
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…**Cover Reveal ~ Cameron’s Control ~ Vanessa Fewings**

    • Julie

      Sometimes it seems like their email that says “I read your review policy and” is just stock language and they never really did go see your policy heh.

  11. Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight

    Ah, YES! I agree with this. I don’t mind an author contacting me, since I do have my blog email there for that purpose. But I have come across so many SHADY situations! In fact, I will share a few: An author once emailed me asking to read his non-fiction, adult book about Romanian orphanages. And also, he wanted me to buy it. HAHAH. No.

    The worst though was this: . “I can send you a chapter of her book to review or I can write the review myself and send it to you for approval. I will post your blog entry on the XX Twitter and Facebook accounts.” Um, NO! Are you kidding!?!?

    Such an great topic!
    Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight recently posted…Bookish Sins? You Decide.

  12. Brenda @DailyMayo

    I do wish authors could be a bit more tactful in their requests. It takes a lot of time to read a book and put together a post. I don’t think there is really any give-back to the blogger in most requests I have received. If the authors were willing to do a giveaway for readers, pay for the review, or even promote the blogger in some way- that would be a better way to do things, I think. Thanks for sharing this topic at Quote Me Thursday!
    Brenda @DailyMayo recently posted…15 Non-Sappy Romantic Passages from Books

  14. Laura @ trips down imagination road

    I hate getting impersonal emails, it just frustrates me. Every now and again I’ll actually consider one but most of the time I just ignore them. I’m lucky that I have found several authors that I have relationships with that send me books, and that I don’t mind (especially cause they’ll ask me how I am in their emails and actually talk to me! No more spam!!
    Laura @ trips down imagination road recently posted…Book: Perfect Prince by Michelle M Pillow

  16. Mark

    I get a lot of emails too. They don’t bother me so much. I have to delete a hundred spam emails a day. A few more isn’t so bad.

    However, I feel your pain.

    The Masquerade Crew does do promo posts, so I’ve been tempted to simply offer to do a promo instead. Haven’t had the time yet. Kind of doubt it would produce much, but I may try one day.

    Could be another source of income for you.
    Mark recently posted…Things get hot and spicy in this anthology. TWELVE DAYS by @DahliaDonovan #romance

  17. Rachelle

    The spamming problem is why I don’t post my email addy on my blog. I have a comment form that can be filled out for review requests. The author/publisher doesn’t get my email addy unless I reply that I’m willing to review their book. However, just the other day I did get an email from a publisher that stated I was receiving their newsletter because I had reviewed one of their books. That pissed me off a little bit, but luckily, I was able to unsubscribe. They get 1 more chance to spam me and then I’m blocking them and never reviewing their books again. I prefer to spend half my day reading books, not emails.
    Rachelle recently posted…#FitReader Challenge: Weekly Check-In #1

    • Julie

      I tried leaving off the email address for a while, but I’ve been told by some blogging experts that if your email address is hard to find, people will skip over your blog. So we added them.

    • Julie

      Thanks! Exactly, a presumptuous email is not one bloggers are going to respond kindly to.