1909, 2013

Authors Reviewing Authors?

Beverly Bambury/ September 19, 2013/ 21st Century Criticism, reviews, Social Skills/ 0 comments

A client asked me today about what I think of authors reviewing other authors, particularly in a negative light. It’s an interesting companion with yesterday’s blog post about writers commenting on reviews. I am of two minds: On the one hand, I am a strong proponent of critical thought and discourse. There is just too damn much puffery out there, and it seems like people (at least publicly) are losing their ability to think critically. On the other hand, from a public relations perspective, it is smart for people part of a small community (and really, the internet makes it a small commuity no matter how far apart we are,) to write critical reviews of other community members’ work? Probably not. So my answer?

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1809, 2013

Just a Litte More: Author/Creator Comments on Reviews

Beverly Bambury/ September 18, 2013/ authors, Publicity, Self-Promotion, Social Skills/ 4 comments

In light of recent discussions I thought I’d clarify my thoughts on the authors (and other creators) commenting on reviews issue. I’ve said in the past “just don’t do it, ever”, but I think the time has come for me to expand that thought into more than just the idea of authors behaving badly. My updated advice to creators is that they should pretty much never comment on negative reviews. If you want to thank someone for a good review, please do; but, don’t say much beyond a gracious “Thank you”. Especially if you have any negative or irritated feelings inside you. The reason I say this is because people can tell, and—at least from the publicist’s perspective—you don’t want people thinking of you

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1405, 2013

5 Steps to a Quality Blog Tour

Beverly Bambury/ May 14, 2013/ Blog Tour, DIY, Publicity, Social Skills/ 1 comments

I recently had a correspondence with an author that asked about my publicity services. When we determined that the fit wasn’t quite right, she asked me for a few tips on running a blog tour for her book’s publicity. I agreed to share some tips and after giving it some thought, I distilled my best practices into these five tips for running a better blog tour for your book, comic, or web series. Or CD. Or many other creative enterprises, for that matter. Step One: Quality Means Research The most important thing to take away from this article is that–if you’re doing it right–preparation for a blog tour is time-consuming work. So if you only have limited time, it’s far better for you to

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