Well, the annoying spam-meisters who’ve been peppering me with ads for self-published books have ended up on the radar of Writer Beware.
I should point out that if your publicist spammer includes in their subscriber list harvested emails someone who works to publicize nasty scams that target neophyte authors (i.e. things like charging to spam your book to people) implies that they do not pay much attention to who they happen to send your promotional materials to spam.
But here is it in Victoria Strauss’ own words:
Here’s why you should not E-blast me (or use any other kind of mass email campaign, such as those offered by some self-publishing services).
– It pisses me off. I’m always happy to consider a request to review–but I want you to approach me personally. I want you to be at least somewhat familiar with my reviews, and to have a credible reason to think I might be interested in your book. I do NOT want to get an email that says “Dear Reviewer,” or an E-blast that has no content other than a link I have to click, or a request for a review that’s obviously inappropriate for the magazines I write for.
[…]
– I didn’t give anyone permission to E-blast me. If you think that services like Eblast are subscription-based, think again–these services build their lists by harvesting email addresses off the Internet, just as other spammers do. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no difference between your book E-blast and a penis enhancement spam.
– Did your E-blast campaign include me? Shit. Now I’m on a dozen other lists, and I’m getting E-blasts for beach rentals and consumer goods. Before, I was only irritated with you. Now, I hate you.
It’s also interesting who Media eBlast includes among their clientèle. Apparently they’re as picky about their clients as they are about the people they eBlast spam.
