{"id":632,"date":"2009-02-02T20:27:52","date_gmt":"2009-02-02T20:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/02\/02\/the-phone-rang-today\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:19:31","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:19:31","slug":"the-phone-rang-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/02\/02\/the-phone-rang-today\/","title":{"rendered":"The phone rang today…"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the other end of the phone, a woman with a heavy Asian accent asked me if I was the Rick who wrote Nexus Graphica<\/a> for Sf Site.<\/p>\n

"Um.. yeah. Why?"<\/p>\n

"We’d like to promote your book."<\/p>\n

"What?"<\/p>\n

"In your column you feature several of your books."<\/p>\n

"Um.. I wrote about<\/span> those books. I did not<\/span> write them."<\/p>\n

"The X-men is not your book?"<\/p>\n

*chuckle* "No. I WRITE about OTHER books."<\/p>\n

"Well, you have a book, right?"<\/p>\n

"Yes.. but it came out several years ago. Who are you and what do you want?"<\/p>\n

"You were targeted by our website because of your quality writing. We would like to promote your book." She went on to tell me she was from Book Whirl<\/a> and they successfully promote books, though she didn’t offer names of any clients.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The site itself is slick, though makes the common mistake of too much info on the title page, obscuring their message. And the Barnes &amp; Noble and Amazon links near the bottom give the false impression that they are sponsored by the bookstore giants.<\/p>\n

From their ABOUT US:<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quote:<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BOOKWHIRL.com is an online book marketing company, specializing in providing affordable, effective online book publicity marketing services for authors.<\/p>\n

Through its inexpensive, specially designed services BOOKWHIRL.com enables authors to promote their products and connect to readers in a more effective, efficient system \u2013 and achieve bigger book sales.<\/p>\n

BOOKWHIRL.com employs an experienced team of online marketing strategists, ad copywriters, graphic artists, and web designers whose combined expertise ensure an effective online marketing campaign \u2014 at easily affordable rates.<\/p>\n

Our mission: To empower upstart authors all around the world by offering highly-effective online book marketing services at easily affordable rates.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

I was not very impressed. You call an author without really knowing what they do? Obviously, I don’t own the X-men and the tiniest bit of research reveals that I’ve never even written the X-men. And I’m suppose to take you seriously?<\/p>\n

Then there’s the pricing. While not terrible, their services are way too fragmented– potentially obscuring the actual costs– and the charts offer little indication of what you get for your money.<\/p>\n

The site only lists four clients. Is that all they have? And though they apparently focus only on newer writers, you would think if their pr was so good, I would have heard of at least one of them. I am, by reputation, very tied into the book trade. Something somewhere should have come to my attention about one of their authors.<\/p>\n

When I asked the their telemarketer where they were located, she told me Iowa. No indication of that on their site.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reading the fine print reveals that Book Whirl is owned by Yen Chen Support<\/a>, an Asian business process outsourcing company. I’m sure Yen Chen is a fine company, but nothing on their site lends me to believe they know the first thing about the book industry on any continent. (Though apparently they use Linux<\/a>, which does give them Brownie points.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you are an author looking for some promotional help, you are better of contacting someone like Deep Eight proprietor Matt Staggs<\/a>. He may not have the whiz bang of Book Whirl, but he knows the biz and understands the various Internet marketing opportunities. Plus, Matt knows who owns the X-men.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

"Rick, can I get your email so we can check in with you in a few months?"<\/p>\n

"You can get it from the column."<\/p>\n

"Um.. where is that?"<\/p>\n

"Sf Site<\/a>. Scroll down and click on Nexus Graphica. The new column<\/a> went up yesterday."<\/p>\n

"I don’t see it. Please tell me your email."<\/p>\n

"Forget it. I’m not interested in your services. Don’t contact me again" *CLICK*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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