Bokbloggere i USA reagerer sterkt på et brev som er blitt sendt fra William Morrow, et forlag innenfor Harper Collins – konsernet. I brevet går det frem at bloggerne ikke lenger vil kunne regne med å motta anmeldereksemplarer i samme utstrekning som det de tidligere har fått.
– Under the new system, you will no longer receive titles piece-meal. Instead, you’ll receive 1-3 emails during the month with all of our upcoming titles available for your review, one month ahead of the on-sale date. You’ll be directed to a Google form where you can request up to three of your choices. Of course, we’ll still happily pay the shipping. Your job is simply to review the book within a month of receiving it and post your thoughts on your blog or site. Ideally, we’d like for reviews to appear online within two weeks to a month after the on-sale date, so you might keep this in mind when selecting books, skriver William Morrow i brevet som ble sendt til en lang rekke bokbloggere torsdag denne uken.
Flere bloggere reagerer på det de mener er et forsøk på å styre deres bokblogging. De presiserer at bokblogging ikke er arbeidet deres, og at en måned er altfor liten tid til å anmelde en bok. Det som man imidlertid reagerer mest på er at William Morrow hevder at dersom man ikke anmelder bøkene man ber om og mottar, vil man kunne miste muligheten til å motta anmeldereksemplarer i fremtiden.
-When you’ve reviewed a book you’ve chosen and sent us an email with a link to the posted review, you will be eligible for a free giveaway copy. Just let us know in the email that you’d like to host a giveaway. We’ll pay for the shipping to the winner within the US and Canada. Additionally, you’ll no longer receive books that you didn’t order…. If it isn’t already clear, WE LOVE THAT YOU LOVE OUR BOOKS! And to allow us to continue to offer free copies and free shipping to you committed book reviewers, we will be tracking how many reviews we receive from you. If we notice that you request books but aren’t posting your comments or sending us the link, we may suspend your ability to receive review offers from us. We know you’re busy bloggers -– if you don’t think you’ll be able to post a review within a month, please pass on that offer so we can continue to offer you free books in the future!, skriver forlaget.
Hele brevet kan leses her.
Du kan lese om hva flere bloggere mener om dette utspillet her:
Jacket Copy i LA Times
The Open Book
Babbling about books
The Tattered Scroll
Hvis man søker på «William Morrow» finner man også veldig mange reaksjoner.