I can’t read your book.
At some point during the last year, I started getting a lot of book review requests.
I’m honored that people want me to read their novel and use my small platform to tell others about it. But here’s the thing: I don’t have the time.
And here’s the other thing: I don’t just review random books. I review books from a specific list that’s already been created. Your book ain’t on that list, I bet.
I’ve been asked to review memoirs, non-fictional biographies, and vampire-werewolf fiction. Not just once or twice, but dozens and dozens of times. I kid you not.
My first instinct is to respond by saying “HAVE YOU READ THE HEADER AT THE TOP OF MY BLOG? AND HAVE YOU SPENT MORE THAN 10 SECONDS AT MY BLOG?”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like the theme and focus of 101 Books is really easy to understand. It’s on the header. It’s on my about page, my the list page, my rankings page. It’s all over the place, right?
So my feeling here is that you’re just attempting to solicit a book review from someone you perceive to be a popular blogger. Marketing and such.
These are the things that drive editors crazy. It’s like submitting a gardening article to a sports magazine, or your granddad’s Civil War memoir to a young adult book publisher. Read the guidelines! Know who you are submitting to!
So, dear authors, thank you for googling book blogs, clicking on my about page, and asking me to review your book. But I won’t be reviewing it.
On a related and, hopefully, much friendlier note, I also won’t be reading anything you recommend to me right now. Maybe later, when I’m finished with 101 Books, but not right now.
Again, I simply don’t have time. Between my real job, my family, two kids, writing my blog posts, and reading the books that go with it, I simply don’t have time to read anything else unless you want me to just start posting random cat videos on here every day. I hope you don’t want that, though I’d quickly oblige and probably get more traffic.
Anyway, that’s off my chest now.
I’m sure your book is great, and I’m doubly sure there’s someone out there willing to review it, but that someone isn’t me.