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Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning…

By Barb Drozdowich 17 Comments

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-d-man-reading-book-over-white-background-image-image33848731

It’s time to announce a change here at Sugarbeat’s Books. I’ve decided that I won’t be accepting anymore outside submissions for my blog. I won’t be accepting books from authors in exchange for a review, I won’t be doing any other features by request.

 

To be honest, I haven’t been accepting reviews requests in some time. I found it upsetting to have to tell an author I didn’t like their book. Frankly, I don’t want to finish a book that I’m not enjoying. I have lots of books in the house so I would rather just move on to the next one in my TBR pile.

 

In August 2010 when I first started this blog, it never really occurred to me that anyone would read what I had to say. I’ve been pleasantly surprised and honored to have met some wonderful fellow readers via my blog. I remember reading a post early on about a blogger getting free books and was amazed. It never occurred to me to start blogging to get free books – I just wanted the technological challenge of creating a blog, and the freedom to express my thoughts on the books that I loved.

 

The free books started coming. With them were authors who wanted someone to talk about their book. Someone to like their book and to help them promote it.

 

Isn’t the expression, “There isn’t any free lunch”?

 

With free books comes not only a responsibility, but it also turns a hobby into work. Along with the increased visibility of a blog comes an increase in the requests from authors. I get hundreds of requests each month. There’s only me. I don’t have a staff of reviewers. I quickly found the requests overwhelming. In fact 6 months ago, I figured out that I was spending about 10 hours each week simply responding to emails. 10 hours that I could be reading. So I started only responding to emails for the books that I was interested in.

 

Stories periodically bubble to surface on social media about authors responding poorly to what in some cases aren’t even bad reviews. That made me even more nervous about accepting requests from authors that I didn’t know in some fashion.

 

The latest fervor to hit social media was an author stalking a reviewer for comments about a book that frankly weren’t as bad as others that were posted. This situation was recently discussed at a conference that I attended. The blogger that was giving the talk stated that she had contingency plans in place to protect her kids  and her family if she was threatened. My mind came to a screeching halt. The fact that my hobby would put my family in danger was appalling to me.

 

At that point I knew that I needed to put my family’s safety ahead of my hobby.

 

From now on, I’ll be posting my thoughts about books that I like, that I’ve acquired from the used bookstore or the library – just like I did when I was first starting out. I won’t be taking any outside requests. Going back to the way I started!

 

It pains me to be writing this post, but the world that existed when I first started blogging all those years ago isn’t the world that exists now. I hope that my readers will continue to enjoy my thoughts on the books that I’ve read, and share their thoughts with me. I also hope that authors understand the position that I have been forced to take.

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About Barb Drozdowich

Social Media and Wordpress Consultant Barb Drozdowich has taught at University, trained technical personnel in the banking industry and, most recently, used her expertise to help dozens of authors develop the social media platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving publishing world. She owns Bakerview Consulting and is the only reviewer on this blog.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Barb Drozdowich (@sugarbeatbc)

    November 16, 2014 at 5:01 am

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/yV5leuvtOl

    Reply
  2. Moms Who Blog (@momswhoblog)

    November 16, 2014 at 5:26 am

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/x4n2kMFT0V

    Reply
  3. Author Elissa Daye (@daenira)

    November 16, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/pI4ggNBAQz via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply
  4. Raine Thomas (@Raine_Thomas)

    November 16, 2014 at 3:48 pm

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/OEHJCDxHVN via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply
  5. Marjorie McAtee (@marjoriemcatee)

    November 16, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/Z6jMOIqXu1 via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply
  6. Astrid V. Tallaksen (@astrid_writes)

    November 17, 2014 at 12:43 am

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/H7Ejiupx6l via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply
  7. Toby Neal (@tobywneal)

    November 17, 2014 at 3:18 am

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/wxgfAufSM5 via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply
  8. @StorytellerMatt

    November 17, 2014 at 9:29 am

    RT @sugarbeatbc: Things are changing at Sugarbeat’s Books. Find out why http://t.co/LgL2vYPCPq #bookblogging #MondayBlogs

    Reply
  9. Monday Blogs (@MondayBlogs)

    November 17, 2014 at 10:33 am

    RT @sugarbeatbc: Things are changing at Sugarbeat’s Books. Find out why http://t.co/LgL2vYPCPq #bookblogging #MondayBlogs

    Reply
  10. Kate Tilton

    November 17, 2014 at 11:14 am

    I totally understand Barb!
    I had to stop taking requests simply because I couldn’t keep up anymore, the time requirement was too great for a hobby. And this was before all the recent incidents. But I’m really glad you will keep blogging! 🙂

    Reply
  11. Maxwell Cynn

    November 17, 2014 at 11:48 am

    Sorry to hear, but I completely understand. I’ve always had the policy that I read what I like and the reviews on my blog are therefore more like recommendations because I won’t waste my time finishing a book I don’t enjoy. So obviously I rarely give bad reviews. But some people can get upset even with a three or four star review. They seem to think they are buying a five star review by supplying a free copy of their book. If I really like a book I’ll buy a copy even though the author gave me an ARC. It supports authors who deserve it, and my five star is not being bought. 😉

    Good luck going forward. Much love.

    <3

    max

    Reply
    • Barb Drozdowich

      November 17, 2014 at 1:30 pm

      Hi Max!
      Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your comments! I agree with you as well. I like sharing about the books that I read. I, also, am happy to buy the books that I choose to read. Although an Amazon review might go further than a purchase, Amazon won’t let me leave reviews anymore as I’m also an author. I think they see Ghosties around every corner 🙁 For a hobby, I don’t have tons of hours to devote, but I am happy to share about what I read and support authors in my own way! Keep writing!

      Barb

      Reply
  12. @Rosengeranium

    November 17, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    RT @maxwellcynn: Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/Q3g8asP1tL via @sugarbeatbc #MondayBlogs

    Reply
  13. @JWilck

    November 17, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    RT @sugarbeatbc: Things are changing at Sugarbeat’s Books. Find out why http://t.co/LgL2vYPCPq #bookblogging #MondayBlogs

    Reply
  14. Stephanie (@StephNeighbour)

    November 17, 2014 at 7:06 pm

    RT @sugarbeatbc: Things are changing at Sugarbeat’s Books. Find out why http://t.co/LgL2vYPCPq #bookblogging #MondayBlogs

    Reply
  15. Eden Baylee (@edenbaylee)

    November 18, 2014 at 12:27 am

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/wifRBcllLH via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply
  16. @moha_doha

    November 18, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning… http://t.co/NC5W7SWgId via @sugarbeatbc

    Reply

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