On the back of my galley for This Dame for Hire it states that there will be ads in The Strand Magazine, Mystery Scene and the NYTBR. None appeared. When I asked about it I got a bit of a runaround.
It’s too late for the magazines now as they publish 5 or 6 times a year. In fact, it’s too late for the NYTBR. I wouldn’t have expected an ad for the first book in a series, but I believed what the galley told me. Naive of me, I guess. You’d think I’d know better at this stage of my career.
One of the answers given me when I asked about it was, “The advertising department waits until there are reviews.” This excuse seems disingenuous, to say the least. What more did they want than a starred PW, a starred Library Journal and a good Booklist for starters?
Then I got print reviews from many places and they were all good. Call me crazy, but promising those ads to booksellers and then not delivering seems like lying to me. That’s who they’re aiming at when they print those words on the back of a galley.
Some things never change.
2 comments:
Aw, that's terrible. I read This Dame and it is worthy of ads in every publication in America, as far as I'm concerned. I write book reviews sometimes and I've become very suspicious of what galleys say. The idea is "we'll put whatever we want on it; if it's true, great. If not, oh well." Hopefully, they'll keep their promises with the next book.
Same thing here, Sandra. And it's annoying. On my last galley it proudly announced a national book tour! Although my agent repeatedly tells me not to hold my breath over such things, I do lose a little oxygen now and then.
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