Alright.
Breathe.
I am trying to figure out how to word this appropriately and not piss anyone off.
Breathe.
… and my friends are definitely laughing in a, “There she goes again.. ” type of way. They must wonder if my foot is tasty because knowing me for as long as they have, I am not unknown to insert foot into mouth now and then.
I feel the need to elaborate on my rant-filled post a few days ago. Not that I am trying to stir the pot, but I would like another chance to explain (hopefully in a more thoughtful way) what I really meant by that post and then I would simply just like to let it go. When I wrote it a few days ago, I was without a doubt irritated and annoyed. Not to sound completely trite, but I was PMSing.
No one should blog when PMSing. It should be a law, and if not worldwide, I am imposing it on myself. I, Allison of Well-Read Reviews vow not to blog while PMSing because it always gets me in trouble.
When I wrote about my issues with Disney-Hyperion, I mostly just did it to get something off my chest. This is, after all, my blog and what is a blog if not to share personal thoughts whether or not they may be popular or not? I definitely like to encourage conversation and even if I do not agree with someone, I definitely agree in trying to be as respectful as possible in saying so. Some of the comments, in response to my blog entry, were not entirely too thought out in that regards but I’ll own it as my fault for writing a blog entry that was not too thought out to begin with.
There were some bloggers that made excellent points. Ruby from Ruby Read’s mentioned:
My only concern about this would be about who a strike really punishes. Disney-Hyperion is the publisher, sure, but aren’t we also punishing the authors, who often have no control over these issues? I’m not saying that doing nothing is the answer–D-H’s position on bloggers is offensive–but I don’t want to mess with any authors’ careers, either.
Ruby made a great point. One of my favorite part of being a book blogger is the personal relationships developed with the authors. Blogging and tweeting and reviewing gives me the opportunity to get to see a more personal side of authors and I certainly, would never, want to punish the authors. The authors work so hard to write something that is enjoyable to read; something to get everyone reading more, and punishing them was not even a thought in my mind.
What I didn’t realize, though, is that there was no way to strike out on a publisher without punishing others. I, of course, asked but no one had an answer.
Then Pam from Bookalicious‘ tweet popped up in my comments. I’ve known of Pam from around the blogosphere/twitterverse for a while now so I definitely respect her thoughts and opinions. However what she said stung me a little bit. I had to step back and look at what she was trying to say verses how I was perceiving her tone in my head as I was reading it.
What does your blog (or my blog, or anyone’s blog) contribute?
Sometimes I am not entirely sure that people fully understand the power of social media. One person blogs and people read. People read recommendations and then recommend it to more people and then like wild bunnies, the population of sales of a single book have dramatically increased. While I am not going so far as to say that I, alone, contribute to sales — I simply mean that book bloggers (whether big or small) all have an imprint and a voice in the bloggersphere and there is always someone listening.
I rely on bloggers and fellow readers to recommend and introduce me to the next read. I don’t go to the library (overdue fines from having a few DVDs out too late that I haven’t gotten around to paying, yet) and the book stores nearby just do not have employees that are able to give you the time of day to sit and chat with you about books. They have books to shelve, costumers to check out, and floors to clean. So, for me, all my recommendations come either from other bloggers or are pitched to me from publicists or publishing houses.
So, yeah, I think bloggers have a bigger voice than many give them credit for. That is not to sound entitled because not all bloggers are created equal but the book blogging community in whole; I believe it does a lot for book sales.
I also look at blogging from a professional standpoint, while I believe many book bloggers look at blogging from a hobby standpoint. Well, maybe I look at it more in the middle because my love for books is definitely my hobby and passion. But my blog is also my job, too.
So, when I saw that Disney-Hyperion was continually denying review opportunities to bloggers, I felt that (from a professional standpoint) that it was insulting to be excluded. Although it was not insulting to hobby book bloggers, it is definitely (at least in my opinion), insulting to those who blog professionally.
Nicole from Word for Teens commented and brought this to my attention:
Bloggers have a terrible reputation — especially right after BEA — for just snatching up everything that they can. It’s not exactly undeserved, either.
Nicole is incredibly right on that accord (and I also realized that she’s pretty funny…) Having been on the internet (blogging since 2007) I have seen MANY bloggers come and go. I have seen the blogs pop up that have absolutely no substance except to post about free product reviews, only to disappear shortly thereafter.
As for blogger behavior at BEA, I wasn’t there so I don’t entirely know how bloggers behave. Should they be ashamed of themselves? I am guessing, based on what I am being told, then yes. Bloggers (and not just book bloggers) do tend to get super greedy whenever there is swag involved. I don’t usually go to blogging events so that is not something I have ever participated in.
Let me emphasize that I am not blogging just for the free stuff. It’s just a nice added bonus, of course. I also consider it a trade, if you will, for providing a service for a company. They wish and request that I, and other bloggers, spend time using their product and/or reading their book and expect our honest feedback and they do hope that (if positive) it provides them word of mouth sales. If you get many requests and pitches, then it does become a job; a job I love, but a job nonetheless.
So, when you sit back and ask, “Why does a blogger expect anything?” and I think my answer in response is more along the lines of, “It depends on how you view bloggers.” I view many bloggers as professionals and so to me (and maybe it’s just me that feels this way) but I found it insulting when Disney-Hyperion excluded bloggers in their review ops for their upcoming titles. What I expect is to feel equality among other book professionals.
Jenna from Making the Grade stated:
Bloggers are not professional marketing sources, and as such the publishers are not required to use us to promote their titles.
The one thing that I do agree with Jenna about is that she is right in that publishers are not required to use us, or anyone, to promote their titles. Each publishing house and every book has its own marketing strategy which may or may not include a variety of marketing sources. And each publisher is allowed to use none or any or just a few of the variety of strategies and sources to market a book. While I disagree with her viewpoint of bloggers not being “professional”, I do understand what she is getting at. At least, I think. I am trying to.
When it comes to Disney-Hyperion, what really is their purpose of not using bloggers for months, now? Why specifically bloggers? It’s true I probably should have asked prior to my rant instead of making assumptions that they believe themselves to be above bloggers. I really don’t know the real reason.
Luckily, though, I am not the only blogger who found it a little odd that Disney-Hyperion has stopped using bloggers as of recently in their marketing programs. Andye from Reading Teen commented:
I actually just spoke to a rep at Disney at BEA about this, and she said they are hoping to be able to change this soon, but that they are just having trouble keeping up with all the requests at this time. I believe she said they are going through staff transitions and that has added to the delay. I don’t think that they think poorly of book bloggers.
I am just not 100% sure that I buy their excuse, either. But then no rep wants to openly admit something that would be insulting to a majority of their readers. I mean, this is Disney. The company is oddly magical and can do just about anything. So to say that they can’t keep up with blogger requests when many other smaller publishing houses do, and so willingly work with bloggers… well, I just don’t buy it.
There are so many well known and not as well known publishing companies eager and willing to work with book bloggers, so there must be a reason for that, right? Such companies: (but are not limited to)
- Bloomsbury
- Candlewick Press
- Crown Publishing Group
- Egmont USA
- HarelquinTeen
- HarperCollins
- Llewellyn Worldwide
- Quirk Books
- Random House Publishing Group
- St. Martin’s Griffin
and these are the big names, not including the hundreds of smaller or not as well known imprints. If all of these companies are not only willing to work with bloggers, and respectful and appreciative of the work that consistant bloggers do, then why can’t Disney-Hyperion?
After all, it’s Disney.
But, anyway — I appreciate those who took the time to discuss with me “the other side” and allowed me to look a little outside the box of my own vision and see that there might be reasons. As to what those reasons for excluding book bloggers really are, I still don’t know.
I probably should start wrapping things up as this has taken me almost 3 hours to write and my head is about to explode. But, I have decided that I will start writing if I bought, borrowed, or received a book. That way, it’ll be more apparent that I buy a lot more books than I actually receive, free. I actually turn down a lot of book requests and when I do accept, I often request a digital copy, instead. This is not only more cost efficient for them, but easier for me to read on the go. 
Although I am not sorry for the way I feel, I do apologize for how it came across and how my frustration was worded. I really should have spoken to a rep prior and maybe, possibly, posed more questions than statements in my preception of how Disney may feel about book bloggers. When it comes to blogging, you live and learn, I guess.
The post Morning Musings: Allison Inserts Foot in Mouth appeared first on Well-Read Reviews: A Book Review Book Blog.