Fakers: Don't Send Me Your Books

Let's talk about people who are fake.

I get a fair number of requests to do reviews of books.  And, because I am also an indie author I know that for the most part these requests come from the use of internet bots that mine information off of Amazon. For instance, I know that Author Marketing Club has such a bot they call the "review finder" that allows members to search Amazon for people who have reviewed books in the same genre as yours and then you can spam people and ask them to write reviews for them. 

Just today I got one such request from an author who sees themselves as a writer of "southern women's fiction."  I went looking to find out more about the author on Amazon. Here's what I found:

• ​Even though the author is writing "southern women's fiction" she is not from the south, nor has she ever lived here. Her self-authored bio indicates that she was born and still lives in New York City and "grew up amid the eccentricity of my southern and glamorous mother on the Upper West and Upper East Side of Manhattan."  Perhaps this is why the protagonist's name is more sappy and irksome than John Grisham's Soggybottom Law School in ​The Rooster Bar.

• The bio also claims that the author's first book, which they published with iUniverse back in 2007, won an award.  While the site shows she did receive an "honorable mention" for that year, that's not winning.
• The author brags about getting a five star review from a ForeWard, a company that does paid reviews. She does use the word "finalist" regarding her placing in that organization's book contest, so I'm curious as to why she wasn't clearer with word choice on the other where she is listed as having an honorable mention.
• Another award mentioned in the bio is one I can't locate at all. The organization's website doesn't go back far enough with winners' lists. 

The fudging in the bio here was really a bonus for me to rant about.  As soon as I saw the protagonist's name there wasn't a chance in Hell I would read the book.  The author obviously didn't look to see who I am.  I have a TBR (to be read) list longer than both arms. I am not hurting so badly for reading material. Please do not email me a free copy of your sweet-tea-and-Jesus novel about the South.

How to get me to say YES to reviewing your book:

• Show me you actually are aware of who I am. What I mean by this is take some time to search me on Amazon (I have an author page there and I also have a website). If you are an indie author asking for another indie author's review, it helps to schmooze the other person a little. 
• Realize that I read a diverse array of books.  I assume the "southern fiction for women" bot picked up my review of The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee. I actually know Talya Tate Boerner. I attended a writer's retreat with her. We're friends on Facebook. And I paid full price for the book, read the entire thing, and wrote a thoughtful review of it. She didn't just slap bot-derived email addresses into MailChimp and hit send.  I can tell from the cover and book description that broad genre and setting are the only things the book in question and Talya's book have in common.
• Folks can look at my Wish List (the public one) on Amazon and see what I want to read. Likewise, GoodReads shows what's on my shelf.  None of those books look like the kinds of books people offer to send me for free in exchange for a review.
• I don't use these tactics to get reviews. I don't do an email list nor do I go searching to find emails of people who read a book that was in the same category as mine and send them requests to read my books. 
• Did you know that technically a case can be made that using bots and cold-calling/cold-emailing people to pitch your book is against Amazon Seller Rules? Check this out:  Inappropriate email and phone communications:
  Unsolicited email and phone communications with Amazon users, email and phone communications other than as necessary for order fulfillment and related customer service, and emails and phone calls related to marketing communications of any kind (including within otherwise permitted communications) are prohibited.
  
  

Look, I know it's hard being a writer--any writer.  It's not just those of us who self-publish who have to do their own marketing.  But, if you expect me to take time out of my own writing to read yours, you're going to have to show me you're not just mining data with your AMC bots.