Pitching tip for self-published authors Part 2
I wasn’t going to do a follow up post to Pitching tip for self-published authors but a recent email changed my mind.
This morning I have received an email titled “Book Review Exchange Request” and decided to check it out. I’m part of a Goodreads group where we exchange books for reviews and it’s really a fun time so I’m never surprised to receive such emails.
However, when I started reading the email, I realized that this author, let’s call him Bob, already made the request on August 21. I denied doing the exchange due to the genre of the book, to which I did not get a response to.
I don’t mind receive a request twice. It happens. Self-published authors spend hours looking for bloggers to read their book and email hundreds to which only a few respond. Though here’s a tip: Check your email for the email or person that you’re emailing if you’re not keeping track of whom you have contacted so you won’t email that blogger twice. The best case scenario is that you will be ignored. The worst case scenario is when the blogger would respond to you and you don’t want a mad blogger emailing you.
So here’s the kick of today’s email.
- He didn’t check his sent box in his email
- He made a mistake of naming my book
- He apologized without naming my book
- It took him an hour to realize his mistake
- He didn’t address me directly
I darkened out some parts so you guys won’t be able to find Bob.
Tip: Learn from this email and try not to do what Bob did.
I am still thinking if I should reply with “Please do not contact me again.” or I should just ignore it.
If you guys think that I should reply, please help with the appropriate phrasing. I do have a feeling that this was not the last time that I heard from Bob.
8 Comments on “Pitching tip for self-published authors Part 2”
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Angelina Kerner 
Couldn’t agree with you more! Especially since “Bob” sent me the exact same e-mail. At least in mine he didn’t bother trying to name my book titles, probably realized he’d neglected to change / update it like with yours. I’ll give Bob credit for trying, but if you’ve been declined or didn’t receive a response to a prior request, it’s time to move on.
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Wow!
So maybe he learned one small lesson from his mistake with my email.
I ended up blocking his email altogether after more consideration.
Thanks for responding!
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Great advice! I send out messages for book reviews, too, and I always make sure I address the recipient correctly 🙂
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That’s like the basics of courtesy so I’m happy that you do that! ^_^
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If I’d received that email, I would not have been impressed!!!
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Agreed. Thank you for commenting!
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There seems to be a leaning of quantity over quality these days. Everyone is in such a rush they can’t take the time to communicate in a personal way. This is likely the reason for many of these mistakes. I read this email and get this feeling: “You aren’t really all that important to me, but if you help me, I might help you…just don’t expect much in return as I can’t master the basics of email communication.”
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I wonder if it would have been a good idea to send “Bob” a link to this article. In the unlikely possibility that the universe intended for you to guide him, he would most surely learn more from this article than from being blocked from your email. If you are convinced he is a total jerk and irredeemable, I think you did the right thing to just block him. If he truly doesn’t know the protocol, maybe a little help would be a good thing; even replying with the list of tips would suffice.
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