Thursday 24 June 2010

Reviews and Ranting

A couple of very nice reviews - firstly for Helen Fitzgerald's MY LAST CONFESSION, and another for Ray Banks' NO MORE HEROES.

A very detailed (maybe too detailed) and scholarly review of Louise Welsh's NAMING THE BONES (it's a pdf file). And Touching From A Distance looks at Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, concluding that it would be a good vehicle for Kiefer Sutherland

And, finally, a question for those of you who blog. What do you do when you receive spam comments that pretend to be a proper comment? Do you leave them, or just delete them? I had a good laugh when, in a post entitled The Plumber Reviews... in which I talked about my Dad giving a book to the electrician who came to fix the lights in the hall, and saying he would maybe get him to review it for me, I got a comment from Daniel the plumber who said "Thank you so much for sharing it. There are number of disasters which can be avoided if you have good plumbing infrastructure in your house."

However, today I had a comment on a post about the Edinburgh Book Festival - a post which clearly stated that the events are in the future - that said "Wow, sounds like it was a lot of fun. Sad that I missed it. ...I was too emeshed in a new book, Blah Blah Blah, to go anywhere." Obviously, that wasn't what the book was called but I don't really want to give the title - for a couple of pretty obvious reasons. On following the link, I found myself at a page for an AuthorHouse book (I've only ever heard bad things about AuthorHouse). And the poor author had hired some 'marketing company' who have decided that the best way of earning their keep is to spam blogs. Now, I am all for championing authors - leave a comment on the blog, send me an e-mail, stand outside my window and dance naked - I look forward to and relish it all. If you've got a vaguely Scottish connection then you'll definitely find yourself promoted here at Badsville. If you're not Scottish but I read and enjoy your book then you'll at the very least get a reviewlet in my monthly reads summary.

But this person (I'm assuming she was from the marketing company, since it was a different name from the author) didn't bother even reading the post she was spamming, but tried to pretend that she had (and that was the bit that really bugged me - be an honest spammer at least). So, Unnamed Author, your marketing company sucks - all they did for your money was annoy me. And, by the way, the money would have been better spent on an editor. On the page I visited, the main character's name was spelled two different ways, the grammar is shocking, and the synopsis was utterly confusing. It was no better in the excerpt I read (I know - five minutes of my life I will never get back).It did make me laugh in places, but that wasn't the intention.

So I deleted the comment. What do you think? Is that OK?

And finally finally...the mysterious horse-boy of Aberdeen.

17 comments:

  1. I get those comments sometimes, and I delete them with a mad cackle every time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you mean those comments that say if you like Agatha Christie you will love Asian Sex Babes in Bangkok by XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX?

    Or that they love your blog and here is a similar book XXXXXX to the book you have just reviewed. It is a thriller set in Washington DC in 2016 which is strange as you have just reviewed a Shona Maclean historical novel.
    I just delete them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your blog, your rules. Anything that smacks of marketing I delete. If they want to pay me to run the comment, on the other hand ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ha ha! You are so good at giving the tired old reader a lift, Donna! Delete away, is my practice with spammers. Occasionally I write in response "behave or I'll have to delete you" - but mostly I just delete them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If writers or publishers want to ´sell´ me anything, they can send me a mail. So if comments include links to anything but blogs, I delete them. But then it is mostly links to scantily clad Asian girls I get.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am all for deleting that kind of nonsense, how else do we fight back?

    And...er...just how many books do you find being promoted by a naked person dancing outside your window? I had a homeless man urinate in my front garden but I don't think he was even selling The Big Issue

    ReplyDelete
  7. Donna - I so needed a chuckle - Thank you!!! And I agree wholeheartedly. Delete buttons were made for that kind of stuff...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Delete, unless they are witty. You can always remove links. Most people post comments that might fit almost any blog post, and I always get rid of them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. All - thank you very much :o) I shall delete without hesitation in future. And Bernadette - it was just wishful thinking :o)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, dear, Donna, did you just ask me to have my husband (the author) dance outside your window naked? Dear lord, woman, you'd have to scrub your eyeballs with steel wool!

    And our only connection to Scotland is that my maiden name was MacFarland....Hmmm.

    Okay, you decide.

    True crime, dramatic fictionalized jury room scenes. We don't know what the hell to call it.

    hhttp://www.amazon.com/Skeptical-Juror-Trial-Byron-Case/dp/0984271600/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277431276&sr=8-1

    As for those other marketing morons, delete them with extreme prejudice.

    Lymaree

    ReplyDelete
  11. Delete, I beg you. There's enough BS in cyberspace without having it stink up one's blog.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lymaree and Naomi - thank you! Lymaree - that sounds like a fascinating book - good luck to your husband! Is he doing more in the series?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oooh, Louise Welsh has a new one out? I must have missed seeing that. *scuttles off to book shop*

    As to spam comments, I always delete them. My blog is supposed to be promoting me, dammit, not some ambulance-chasing solicitors (or worse, Russian mail-order brides...).

    ReplyDelete
  14. Donna, yes, he's nearly finished with #2, about another person wrongly convicted for murder. It should be on Amazon shortly after Aug 1.

    He's blogging about that and other wrongful conviction issues at skepticaljuror.com.

    BTW, I just got a notice from Amazon that my pre-order of "Old Dogs" is delayed. Darn!

    Lymaree

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dance naked? Is that the new way to tell an author you enjoyed their book?

    ....Dear me. I'm going to need a lot of train tickets and probably at least fake tan if I'm going to avoid having any of my favourite authors gouge their eyes out.

    Michelle N

    ReplyDelete
  16. It seems like those blog spams are getting more prevelant lately, and forcing blog hosts to screen the comments before they are posted. Not good as it just takes more time for the host to manaage the blog and slows down the interactions with participants.

    Donna,

    I absolutely loved HARDMAN, thanks for the heads up on it. I am now into SLAMMER and really digging that too. A.G's style / stories rock!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fiona - yes, and it's excellent.

    Lymaree - excellent - thanks for the link I will go and have a read.

    Michelle - oh dear - I hope it's not obligatory - or there will be a run on fake tan as I shall have to buy a tanker full.

    Sean - yes, I would definitely rather avoid screening comments. And I'm glad you enjoyed them (you know you have to get the others now, don't you? :o) )

    ReplyDelete