I often relish being asked to do a book review for an author, but there have been a couple of books recently that I have not been too impressed with.
So how do I handle this type of situation?
Because I am a small publisher I too have had to look for quality reviews for one of my titles, only to have sent out books and never hear from the Reviewer again, or to find a less than nice review on Amazon without so much as a word from the Reviewer as to where they were going to post their review. I have learned a lot the hard way.
Perhaps my hard knocks have taught me something about business etiquette that I have decided to incorporate into my own way of doing business. Let me share one of these with you.
The Author/Publisher Has the Right to Know Why.
I strongly believe in keeping the lines of communication open between myself and the author/publisher. If I have agreed to accept a book review request then it is now my responsibility to examine the book and write the review, or write the author/publisher and tell them why not. Remember, it is your right to refuse any book review request.
At first, I felt that once I had the book in my possession I was committed to writing the review; whether it deserved one or not, and that guilty feeling made me want to wiggle out of agreements the easy way: by never returning the author/publisher’s emails. But the honorable way of doing business didn’t permit me to do this; instead I decided that to be a reputable company, one that the next client would want to work with, was too important. That meant that I had to sit down in front of my computer and draft out a “sorry” letter to my client.
I always write a formal business note on company letterhead; I include the details of the book (Title, ISBN, Publisher, etc) at the top of the page, and then begin by apologizing for not being able to write the requested review, then I briefly give a reason or reasons why I am refusing the request.
It only takes a few minutes and it maintains your reputation for being honest and responsible.
Cindy DeJager owns Rosetta Stone Press and Grandma’s Album. She is an Editor and Publisher of her own newsletters: Rosetta Stone Press Friday News, and Grandma’s Album.
