Monday, March 12, 2012

How to piss me off. Instantly.

Yesterday evening, I had my pulse race through my body. Why? I was on Twitter and did ignore the one rule I'd made: look at people's time line! I thanked the person (a publishing company with at least two  offices) who had followed me and kindly retweeted one of my tweets. So, there I go, thank publishing company and follow. I have a friend who's trying to land a deal and whenever I see something fits, I'll send him the link with the words: this one maybe? He wants to be traditionally published in paperback. The following conversation happened between this 'publishing company' and me. And as you can see, I wasn't amused:



Me:  I love the Aussies and Kiwis, so you're more than welcome ;-) Do you publish paperbacks, too?
Me:  and why don't you have a website? Or if you have one, why don't you have a link to it?
(Then clicking the link in their profile, I was guided to their Amazon page. The pictures of the book, the author. Aha, I thought.)
Me:  or are you (insert name of promoted author/Amazon page).
Him:  Hi Stella. (Insert author name) here. I co-write novels with my son, (insert son's name). We both Kiwis. Our novels are in paperback & ebook
Me thinking: I knew it. Not a publishing company as advertised. Probably just an imprint to be able to be accepted by printers. Cheeky!
Him:  Will add you on Linked In also. We are various listings online for our literary and film careers, but no actual website..
Me (thinking): huh? No! I don't want to be linked to several websites, don't you dare! And a publishing company without a website, is more than suspicious to me.
Him:  Stella, if u have a Kindle reader, our historical novel (name of the book) is free until Monday night UKtime on Amazon
Me (thinking): I knew it! Fuck off, man! 
Me:  I react rather pissed off when one spams me like that. We only just met and you're trying to 'sell' me your book. Not good.
Him:  What?? You asked about where you can find more info (in serveral tweets) and I merely mentioned our book is now free..no spam
Me (thinking): No, I didn't! Should have checked your time line and steered clear.
Me:  I asked if you do paperbacks because I thought you're a publisher and if you have a website.That's all.Hate historical fiction
Him (second attempt to 'sell' it to me):  If you do not wish to grab our book while it's free, then that's fine, take it or leave it. Otherwise, have a nice day.
Me:  Nope I don't want to grab it. I asked a few questions to clarify. Now I know you're an author who claims to be a publishing company

I still love Aussies and Kiwis, but not this one.
Looking at the time line, the author promotes the book like 24/7. Seriously. I'm not an angel when it comes to promotion and I've been all over the place, but this, I think, is the wrong way. I ask questions when I'm suspicious, and often I'm right to be so.

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