How Not to Get a Book Review

Welcome to a special edition blog post: how not to ask for a book review. What a Mr. Eric Reese did was the exact opposite of all the pro-advice I posted before from top level book reviewers.

As a reviewer, I was asked by the author for read and review online a few months ago. I declined because it wasn’t my style book. I got email blasted again by the author. I said,
“I’m quite certain that you didn’t not read my submissions guidelines. If your copy/pasted review request is supposed to be a one-sized fits all approach you will need a new approach.” I often provide feedback as to why I reject a query.

rather than let it go after committing a gaffe, the author responded “Copy and paste.  I’m not sure what you mean by that statement.  However, the intent is only for you to ask you for a review of my book series which I will ask you again.”

me: “no. firstly, you CCed me on a larger email and so this went out to multiple reviewers. that’s a big no-no. you have no idea about my site or what i want and gave me a type of book that I don’t read/review and mentioned you saw I was actively looking for it. At this point, your query is an obnoxious noise that makes me want to leave a 1 star review and then forward the message to other reviewers I know as a warning. Either follow reviewers sub guidelines or be prepared for a ton of negative responses.”

He responded with a nasty email titled IDGAF: “First of all sir.  If I Bcc’ed you, what’s your issue?  If you are going to be an asshole, who need’s your review?  I’ll take your one star and spam comments as a way to make more money.  You sound like a spammer anyway and I have about 20K followers that will blast your ass out the water.”

If this guy is writing motivational stuff, perhaps you’d reconsider what he’s saying. His books are about dealing with bullying and yet he’s trying to bully me into a positive review. I also don’t think he understands what spam is since he contacted me. I also don’t believe in his power to motivate twenty thousand keyboard warriors to somehow hatefully “blast me” for his mistake and continued belligerence (as if sending 20k new people to my book review website/blog would somehow harm me).

All I can say is don’t work with Eric Reese or review his There and Back Again series. He obviously doesn’t practice what he preaches. The guy doesn’t seem to understand how the system works at all (and, by his own admission, he welcomes this 1 star review and will somehow profit off of it.)

I hate bullying. I do, and respected that he’d been bullied as a kid–but after our email exchange I wondered if that’s all in his head and he’s just been getting the negative responses all his life that he’s been begging for. Rule #1 of life–you can’t be a dick and have it not come back to you.