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BookReviewBuzz.com (formerly GetBookReviews.com)

DeborahLC

Has anyone ever heard of, or paid for, services from BookAnnouncements.com? They are a company that helps authors with publicity and promotion. I'd like to hear from anyone who has used them. Thanks.

Deborah
 

book_maven

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Hi. I checked out that link you provided and found this in the "About Us" section:

GetBookReviews.com is not a new website, however, we have just changed our format to help more authors and publishers obtain quality book reviews from media in various outlets. We are even doing reviews ourselves now. We are very professional and are dedicated to helping our clients obtain more exposure both online and off.

I don't know anything about them, but maybe Writer Beware does. Check with Ann or Victoria. One thing that strikes me is that they appear to be selling services in addition to providing reviews. But they do not state who they are or what professional background they have.
 

mdin

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BookAnnouncements.com / GetBookReviews.com

I got the following spam (below) today from these guys.

I looked up their domain, but it was registered anonymously. So I looked up the address listed in the spam, and I found the following websites affiliated with them:

BookAnnouncements.com

http://www.getbookreviews.com

http://www.onlinebooktour.net

I'm sure Oprah is thrilled.

For Authors, Writers, Publishers, Experts, Speakers and Anyone Else in the Writing,
Speaking or Book Business

One Week Special
The Ultimate PR / Book Promotion CD only $79 from www.BookStorePromotion.com until
September 5th.

The first 50 orders will also Receive a SPECIAL CONFIDENTIAL List of Reviewers and
Top Book Contacts at Major Newspapers, Radio & TV Shows!!!!

After working almost 10 years in the book promotion business, we decided to put
together THE ULTIMATE PR CD to help speakers, experts, small publishers and
self-published authors have access to the expensive databases and information that
major publishing houses and major companies have at their fingertips. We are now
offering the Ultimate PR CD for only $99 until the end of August. Here's what you
get:

Top 500 Media Contacts Including Oprah, with mailing address, contacts, phone, fax
numbers and email addresses. UNITED STATES
over 3700 TV and Radio programs with address, phone, fax, contact name and most even
have email addresses. UNITED STATES
over 240 College Newspapers with address, phone and fax. UNITED STATES
5000 Radio Stations and TV Stations with address, phone, and fax. UNITED STATES
over 1000 Daily Newspapers with address phone and fax. UNITED STATES
over 2000 Internet Magazines with address phone and fax. UNITED STATES
over 6100 Print Magazines with address phone and fax. UNITED STATES
over 3500 Weekly Newspapers with address phone and fax. UNITED STATES
Over 200 Libraries Mailing List UNITED STATES
over 6500 Non-Daily Newspapers with address, phone, fax, contact name and most even
have email address. UNITED STATES
Over 600 Daily and Weekly Newspapers with address, phone and fax - CANADA
Over 700 Magazines - Internet and Print with address, phone and Fax - CANADA
Software Program to send emails to large amount of contacts at one time over the
internet.
Sample Email To Send
PR Software for Writing Press Releases
Trial Software Used to Send Press Releases with Media Contacts Included
That is over 30,000 media contacts.

You will also receive over 95 pages to print out that has more information about
book promotion, free resources online, bookstores, writers markets and much, much
more.

SPECIAL OFFER - Order Before September 30th and receive Brand New - Fresh Contacts
- We've just compiled a special list of contacts in txt format and excel format.

Travel Contacts at Major Magazines & Newspapers 260
Arts / Entertainment Contacts at Major Magazines & Newspapers 960
Health / Fitness Contacts at Major Magazines & Newspapers 130
Lifestyle Contacts at Major Magazines & Newspapers 542

90% have email addresses Total Contacts 1892

Orders will ship within 2 business days of receipt of payment.

Order Today!!!!! http://www.BookStorePromotion.com

This is a one time mailing. However, if you'd like to send a removal request, please
follow removal instructions below.

Thank you for your time and your consideration. Let us know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Staff
BookStorePromotion.com
PMB 227
2204 Shorter Ave Suite 10
Rome, GA 30165
[email protected]
 

CaoPaux

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Gah. You really attract the good ones, don't ya, Nav? ;)

I'll dare presume the viewing audience knows better than to do business with spammers, and understands why a "PR program" like this is a waste of time and money.
 

James D. Macdonald

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My publishers already know the addresses of the real reviewers and important media contacts, and they send materials/review copies to them automatically, without my lifting a finger or paying a dime.

If your publisher isn't doing the same ... get a better publisher.

This deal sounds very much like our friends at Airleaf.
 

JulesJones

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GetBookReviews

More spam. This came in this morning, and appears to be targeted to my public "author" email address, rather than being a general spew.

It's another one of these "we'll do your promotional spamming for you, for only X dollars!" outfits. Note that one of the things you're buying is fake reviews. It's the same outfit already mentioned under the name BookStorePromotion.com in this thread:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40135
and in the PublishAmerica threads, but I don't see it in Bewares and Background Checks under this specific name.

For the benefit of anyone coming in from Google -- this is a Bad Idea. See the above thread for why.


GetBookReviews.com - Top Online Resource for Book Reviews & Promotion

Do you need more Publicity and Sales for your book(s)?

Are you a Speaker and need more Marketing Avenues?

Are you looking for Affordable Marketing Solutions?

We can help!! www.GetBookReviews.com

Press Release Special Package - Only $79
Every Author/Publishers needs to be able to send out press releases. You can pay your publicist or a marketing agent hundreds or thousands of dollars to do this, but wouldn't it be nice to do it yourself? Save money and gain knowledge?

NOW YOU CAN!!! Order our Press Release Package Today!!

Rapid Book Review
We review the book, write the review, post the reviews to online media and book review sites. We need at least two weeks to complete all of the steps to this service, but it's a great service if you need your book reviewed and more publicity and promotion of your book.

You can advertise your book in Foreword Magazine which reaches over 20,000 book buyers with every issue.

and much more.

Reviewers can also request copies of your book for review directly from our website.

Check out our site for more information about us and our services. www.GetBookReviews.com

Thank you for your time and good luck with your publishing endeavors. **

Sincerely,

Staff
GetBookReviews.com
PMB 227
2204 Shorter Ave Suite 10
Rome, GA 30165




**We apologize if this message was an inconvenience. Please email [email protected] to be removed. You shouldn't receive anymore messages from us as we only send one message per email address.
 

CaoPaux

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Bookstorepromotion.com and onlinebooktour.net are gone. BookAnnouncements and GetBookReviews remain.
 

CaoPaux

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BookAnnouncements is gone. GetBooksReviews ... well, you can now list your book as "available for review" for only $25 for 6 months, the "press release" package is now $199, and the Rapid Review Service is up to $150.
 

William Vaughn

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[Promotion] Book Buzz / Book Store Buzz

Now that the first three books of my series are done, I'm switching to full-time marketing mode (at least until I can't stand it any longer and have to return to writing). Question: I received some mail from 'bookstorebuzz.net' that promises to send flyers to a scad of bookstores. Is this money well-spent? What kind of ROI can I see on this approach? Are there other methods that are more or less effective?

Thanks
 
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JournoWriter

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I'm guessing you'd get the same ROI as if you took your cash and flushed it directly down the toilet.

I have no experience with this outfit, but the sample mailing posted on its website does not inspire confidence. It's poorly designed and rife with lousy blurbs and grammatical errors.

I'd also note that the Why Use Us page is lacking one key piece of information - just what authors will get out of it. They say:

Our marketing staff has been working in the book promotion industry for over ten years.

Our contacts are updated monthly to ensure your marketing efforts reach the maximum number of quality bookstores and reviewers.

We work hard for each author to make sure their book is promoted well to bookstores, reviewers, and the media.

Missing is any sort of information on sales or store placements - I'm guessing because there aren't many.
 

DreamWeaver

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I have no experience with this outfit, but the sample mailing posted on its website does not inspire confidence. It's poorly designed and rife with lousy blurbs and grammatical errors.
Grammatical errors might not matter that much if bookstores were staffed with the same people that work at Walmart. But, in general bookstores are staffed by booklovers who are voracious readers (not every single bookseller, just most :D). Grammatical errors would almost certainly result in a quick delegation to the trash can.
 

frimble3

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Grammatical errors aside, why would a bookstore care about a mass-mailing flyer from a third-party? If it's not from the publisher or the author (who have an obvious interest in pushing the book) it's a paid-for piece of junk mail.:Shrug:
 

Old Hack

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There's a lot more to selling to bookshops than sending them mailshots.

If you're going to send a mailshot out to bookshops to get them to stock your book, you need to send a copy of your book out with the letter so the bookshop buyers can see what they're getting.

This doesn't have to be a finished copy: publishers usually send out ARCs, which will have a warning on them that they're uncorrected proofs.

You also have to make sure the bookshop can easily buy the book if they want to. Bookshops would prefer that you have an account with a good distributor (and distributors are very selective, so this is not easy), sell the book at a good discount (50% or more), and make it returnable too.

So even if this service sent out well-written letters to appropriate places, unless you can afford to provide books for them to send out wiht those letters and unless that sales service is in place too, you're not likely to benefit much from it.
 

CaoPaux

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Book Store Buzz down to a holding page, but it was redundant to the main site anyway.