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[Reviewer] Books2Mention Magazine (Patricia Woods)

JulesJones

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Anyone else get spam from Books2Mention this morning? On offer in exchange for payment via PayPal:
Book Cover placement in the B2M Library
Book Review provided at Barnes & Noble,
and Amazon
An author website link
&
One link to an online bookstore

Whoopee. I already get that free from a bunch of review sites, and could get it for a lower rate from other review sites that don't spam me. Spam, spam, spammity spam. But at least they didn't try to claim that I opted-in to their mailing list.
 

CaoPaux

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If what's on their site is any indication, their "reviews" are template: One or two sentences praising book, synopsis of book, one or two sentences praising book. The cliches/keywords make them sound even more auto-generated.
 

aka eraser

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I got mine this morning. They're offering links to a website and, along with most folks you've never heard of, they've intermingled links to Maya Angelou, Dean Koontz, Gail Sheehy and others. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts the aforementioned have no idea they're listed on Books2Mention's site.

I skimmed their library and they seem to be focussing on minority writers. I haven't delved too deeply but it sure wouldn't surprise me if some of those books were printed by a certain company in Maryland.

Vic, if Jules didn't forward his, let me know.
 

JulieB

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Just a small note of caution: Some of the book covers on their site border on NSFW. I wasn't offended, but someone's boss or co-worker may be.
 

JulesJones

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And another spam this weekend. Highlights include the opportunity to buy advertising on a radio show:
In continuous pursuit of our mission at Books2Mention Magazine to assist authors with garnering the maximum exposure for their books, we are proud to announce that B2M has formed a partnership with "Minding Our Business Communications," providing Advertising and Sponsorship Packages for the "Minding Our Business Radio Show," hosted by Author Devin Robinson.

and an assurance that you're not buying a review when you buy a review:
Disclaimer: This offer by no means suggest that book reviews are paid for. All reviews are conducted with honesty and the utmost integrity. It is the author's decision whether to have their book review presented at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and B2M.
 

JulesJones

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It certainly sounded like vanity radio to me. I've seen vanity radio being pushed in erotic romance -- buy a half hour interview slot on someone's internet radio talkback show in order to be interviewed and interact with your fans. I assumed that this was more of the same.

One of the side-effects of my being exposed to Yog's Law back when I first went to the SFWA website for advice on manuscript preparation has been spending a lot of time having "WTF?" reactions to various wonderful promotional opportunities on offer. The aforementioned vanity radio show was one of them...
 

ghost

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I got a spam email from them today. They've now branched out into youtube. For just a hundred bucks you can get your own personal youtube video about your book.

Books2Mention Magazine is pleased to announce a new joint venture with Urban Echoes Entertainment, LLC. Urban Echoes is the parent company of Ghostwriter Extraordinaire (GWE), which is quickly becoming the publishing industry leader for book video trailer creations. In less than a year, GWE has assisted over one hundred authors in generating more widespread attention for their writings via the creation & distribution of trailers, which are excellent cutting-edge promotional tools to help spread the word about their books to the masses and connect with a sizeable, previously untapped readership.

To see a sample of all the trailers that GWE has created thus far, please visit their YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/GWExtra.