Authors Doing Something Special
Putting The Random Into Reviews
by erikrymanAugust 17, 2006
I must admit that I am a latecomer to the whole BookCrossing experience, but like a lot of converts I have turned into a total acolyte overnight. Yesterday, I released my first book into the wild - and though I'm not sure if it is the done thing - it was
doubly exciting because it was the first copy I had received of my own novel. But before you switch off and think that this is another sorry tale from a bandwagon-jumping author trying to plug his wares, you'll notice that I haven't and won't mention the name
of my book, as that isn't the point I wanted to make.
What struck me, as I wandered along our High Street and placed the book on a bench in a bus shelter, was that quite literally anybody could pick it up, read it and then tell everybody what they thought of something I'd spent a big chunk of my life writing. What bounced off my head was that it would be read by a real person whose opinion should matter to me far more than those of newspaper reviewers, (who I normally spend weeks waiting, forlornly, to hear from). It would be in the hands of somebody who would read the book because they wanted to without having to be paid, and who then would use their own precious time to report back to the members of the BookCrossing website.
And after so many blows to the head, it finally set me thinking about the whole review process and how, for authors and publishers, it is so artificial - you send books to editors and reviewers and humbly ask for their opinion, knowing already what it is likely to be simply by reading their other reviews, and all because it is the done thing to try to be seen in all the right places.
But are they the right places?
Shouldn't I be more interested in what people think of my work who generally, and generously want to spend their time reading a book and sharing their opinions, with nothing in it for them other than the love of literature?
Shouldn't I care more what the people who actually buy books think than those who have a stack of complimentary copies delivered every day for them to sprinkle a little fairy dust over a chosen few?
Anyway, for once in my life I thought I would actually do something about it, so I rang my publisher (which is something you can do if you are published by an indie press) and suggested that he should do something about it too. Remarkably, he didn't hang up on me and even more surprisingly given the hour, he agreed.
Now as I said, I am published by a small publisher, which for an author has a few downsides, but the fact that they are approachable and amenable to the odd off-the-wall suggestion, more than makes up for it.
But what was my big idea?
What I suggested was that he should send a few copies of each book bluechrome releases (bluechrome is my publisher, by the way) to randomly selected members of the reading public and simply ask that they record what they think on the BookCrossing website, before passing the book on in the time-honoured fashion. Obviously this will cost bluechrome a bit of money and for a small press this is always a consideration, but as they already send out a lot of review copies of their books it wouldn’t have to cost them any more than it already does, if you see what I mean. Clearly, there would be a benefit to both the authors and the publisher in doing this in terms of people hearing about the books (assuming that people record their thoughts on the site and other people read them,) despite what some other authors seem to have thought in the past.
But to cut a long story, that is what they have decided to do (and this is where the plug comes in)
So what you can now do at the bluechrome website (http://www.bluechrome.co.uk) is register as a ‘Random Reviewer’ and as they come to release a new title you will be in with a chance of receiving one of their books absolutely free through the post. The book will, of course, have already been recorded on the BookCrossing site, and hopefully everybody who receives them will either read or pass on to somebody else who wants to, before of course doing what comes naturally and releasing all of these books into the wild.
So job done, or so I thought.
But then I got to thinking about it a bit more, and realised that bluechrome is just a drop in the ocean, and with no doubt thousands of published authors also being members of BookCrossing, wouldn’t it be great if they did the same as I did and talked to their own publishers and asked that as they have new books released, something similar is done?
What if all of the published authors asked that even a single copy of their books is left somewhere in the global library (or God forbid, they could do it themselves) – wouldn’t it be cool? Can you imagine how many books would be out there ready to be tracked down and caught, when there are hundreds of thousands of books released every year?
So, my final arrow is aimed at authors. Forget about whining that you don’t get the reviews, that your publisher does nothing for you and that your undiscovered classic remains; well, undiscovered, whilst your genius clings on to being unrecognised. Forget those things and do something special and badger your publisher or get it written into your next contract that a number of copies of your book are dispatched into the corners and heartland of whichever country you happen to live in, for people to catch and enjoy, and you’ll be able to feel like you made a bit of a difference.
And man, it's fun.
Erik Ryman
http://www.erikryman.co.uk
What struck me, as I wandered along our High Street and placed the book on a bench in a bus shelter, was that quite literally anybody could pick it up, read it and then tell everybody what they thought of something I'd spent a big chunk of my life writing. What bounced off my head was that it would be read by a real person whose opinion should matter to me far more than those of newspaper reviewers, (who I normally spend weeks waiting, forlornly, to hear from). It would be in the hands of somebody who would read the book because they wanted to without having to be paid, and who then would use their own precious time to report back to the members of the BookCrossing website.
And after so many blows to the head, it finally set me thinking about the whole review process and how, for authors and publishers, it is so artificial - you send books to editors and reviewers and humbly ask for their opinion, knowing already what it is likely to be simply by reading their other reviews, and all because it is the done thing to try to be seen in all the right places.
But are they the right places?
Shouldn't I be more interested in what people think of my work who generally, and generously want to spend their time reading a book and sharing their opinions, with nothing in it for them other than the love of literature?
Shouldn't I care more what the people who actually buy books think than those who have a stack of complimentary copies delivered every day for them to sprinkle a little fairy dust over a chosen few?
Anyway, for once in my life I thought I would actually do something about it, so I rang my publisher (which is something you can do if you are published by an indie press) and suggested that he should do something about it too. Remarkably, he didn't hang up on me and even more surprisingly given the hour, he agreed.
Now as I said, I am published by a small publisher, which for an author has a few downsides, but the fact that they are approachable and amenable to the odd off-the-wall suggestion, more than makes up for it.
But what was my big idea?
What I suggested was that he should send a few copies of each book bluechrome releases (bluechrome is my publisher, by the way) to randomly selected members of the reading public and simply ask that they record what they think on the BookCrossing website, before passing the book on in the time-honoured fashion. Obviously this will cost bluechrome a bit of money and for a small press this is always a consideration, but as they already send out a lot of review copies of their books it wouldn’t have to cost them any more than it already does, if you see what I mean. Clearly, there would be a benefit to both the authors and the publisher in doing this in terms of people hearing about the books (assuming that people record their thoughts on the site and other people read them,) despite what some other authors seem to have thought in the past.
But to cut a long story, that is what they have decided to do (and this is where the plug comes in)
So what you can now do at the bluechrome website (http://www.bluechrome.co.uk) is register as a ‘Random Reviewer’ and as they come to release a new title you will be in with a chance of receiving one of their books absolutely free through the post. The book will, of course, have already been recorded on the BookCrossing site, and hopefully everybody who receives them will either read or pass on to somebody else who wants to, before of course doing what comes naturally and releasing all of these books into the wild.
So job done, or so I thought.
But then I got to thinking about it a bit more, and realised that bluechrome is just a drop in the ocean, and with no doubt thousands of published authors also being members of BookCrossing, wouldn’t it be great if they did the same as I did and talked to their own publishers and asked that as they have new books released, something similar is done?
What if all of the published authors asked that even a single copy of their books is left somewhere in the global library (or God forbid, they could do it themselves) – wouldn’t it be cool? Can you imagine how many books would be out there ready to be tracked down and caught, when there are hundreds of thousands of books released every year?
So, my final arrow is aimed at authors. Forget about whining that you don’t get the reviews, that your publisher does nothing for you and that your undiscovered classic remains; well, undiscovered, whilst your genius clings on to being unrecognised. Forget those things and do something special and badger your publisher or get it written into your next contract that a number of copies of your book are dispatched into the corners and heartland of whichever country you happen to live in, for people to catch and enjoy, and you’ll be able to feel like you made a bit of a difference.
And man, it's fun.
Erik Ryman
http://www.erikryman.co.uk
