Monday, 21 January 2019

When Being on a Blog Tour Goes Wrong...


Hey all!

I want to start by saying that this rant has nothing to do with the author or the book but in fact the tour host and it is a perfect example of why I need to step back from blog tours etc for a while... 

Apparently, I supposed to be on the blog tour for The Hail Mary by Ginger Scott today. 
I say apparently because it came as a bit of a surprise! 

I applied to be on the tour way back before Christmas but didn't hear anything about it. I assumed because I hadn't heard anything I hadn't been selected. 

So you can imagine my surprise when the tour materials were sent through late Wednesday night (16th). The tour began on Friday 18th... Usually, as I'm sure you'll know, you receive confirmation, then an email when the arc is sent etc long in advance but I received nothing until that tour materials email. 

I checked the schedule and saw I was down for a review on Friday 18th or Monday 21st and, caught completely off guard, I contacted the tour host immediately for I hadn't received the book! 
I stated I was happy to stay on the tour but asked if I could post an excerpt or something seeing as I hadn't received the arc, and only just found out I was on the tour, and couldn't review in the time.

You know what response I got? 
An email - no pleasantries, very short and perfunctory - asking if I received the email stating ARCs had been sent as she sends one to everyone who received an ARC to confirm.
😑
It was a struggle not to snark back with an "obviously not or I'd have emailed to say I hadn't received the ARC and I also wouldn't have been surprised to be on the tour!" But I didn't. I remained pleasant and responded that I hadn't, thus assumed I hadn't been selected.

What happened then, do you think?
A nice professional email apologizing for the mix-up? For I have no doubt it was a simple mistake and shit happens so we can work together to fix stuff, right? Nope.
Do you think I received the excerpt I'd offered to post instead?  Nope!
I got a one-liner. "What's your kindle address?"
I responded with my kindle address but I was a bit miffed. I'd stated in my original email that I couldn't review in time! Sending the book through was no good! I mean, it would be great to still read it and review but I couldn't do it for the tour!

I waited to see what would happen next, maybe an email asking me to review when I can while providing an excerpt for the tour? Nope! I got an email saying "sent".
That's it, just 'sent'.
My blood began to boil so I gave up responding. It was like communicating with a brick wall.
The expectation was obvious: Read it and get your post up. Or perhaps it was more of a 'go away'.
 I'm really not sure.

You know what I am sure of though? I'm never working with this tour company again.

For info, I never actually received the re-sent ARC, but that's on me. My kindle blocked it as whatever email address it was sent from wasn't an approved sender. 
I bought my own copy on release day instead and I WILL review the book once I've finished it. 
But not for this tour. 
I'll review it for the author who writes wonderful stories that are full of heart and deserves all the love the book community can send her. 

And that's what pisses me off about all of this! I love Ginger Scott's work, I love this series, I was excited about the prospect of being on this tour and sad when I thought I wasn't selected. If I'd received ANY tour comms from the host before the materials on Wednesday, I'd have been all over it. 
But I didn't!
And now I'm really ranting, because like most bloggers, I have a lot on but I try to always do my best. If I commit to something, I do it but in this case I just can't.
I'm letting down an author I adore because of the lack of professionalism of her tour host and I hate it!

I understand that tour hosts must be under pressure. I understand that they must get a lot of excuses sometimes but all it would have taken was a quick scan through her sent items to realise I'd been missed off the distro list and it was all just a big mistake... That I wasn't lying or trying to wiggle out of my commitments and was trying to participate in any way I could to help promote this book, and work with me, but NOPE!

Book bloggers are some of the most wonderful people in that they give and give and give of themselves for the love of books. We don't get paid to do what we do and when we're (I'm) treated like crap I get stabby. 

Thus my rant.

I know I could have let this go instead of ranting on my blog but I'm sick of it. I'm not one for dirty laundry or mud slinging but this is the second time this has happened to me in three months! The first time was a different host and slightly different circumstances (I hadn't been missed off the original distro list, they just sent the book and materials less than 2 full days before the tour date!) but it amounts to the same thing. Stressed and upset blogger and an unapologetic tour host.

So, I'm putting it out there. I'm not naming the tour host(s), I'm just laying out my experience and stating plainly that I'm done with tours for a while. 
Once the pre-existing tours are done, so am I.

There is only one tour company that has never dicked me around and never been anything less than awesome so if I decide to dip my toes back in, I'll start with them...

Now, I'm off to calm myself down and try and have a nice day!

12 comments:

  1. I’ve never done a blog tour. Maybe I should avoid them. Sorry that you had to go through this aggravating experience!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some hosts are great! I just got unlucky lately I guess. 😕

      Delete
  2. I am sorry you had such a negative experience with this tour organizer. I think I have been very lucky, because I have no nightmare stories. Then again, I normally only sign up for tours I already have galleys of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some hosts are wonderful... In future I'll be sticking to those I work with a lot and trust only, but for now I need a break. 1 more preexisting commitment to go!

      Delete
  3. Oh my goodness, this is terrible! I've only had good experiences with tour companies so I'm really sorry to hear that this happened to you. I absolutely would have left them also.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd had pretty good too until recently. ☹️

      Delete
  4. That is a really nasty experience! I applaud you for your restraint because I would've given that tour host a right serving!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. How rude of the tour host! Had she not already spotted your lack of response to any previous emails?
    Sorry to hear this happened to you :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wondered that too. 😐 The whole thing was beyond frustrating.

      Delete
  6. Urg! What a miserable experience. I'm so sorry you were treated so badly - as you say, bloggers put a lot into a hobby where they do all this for free. I also feel for the author - either she or her publisher will have paid a chunk of money to the host to garner a bit of a buzz about the book when it first comes out. Glad you are still going to get the book, anyway:). I don't blame you for wanting to give yourself a break from the whole busines...

    ReplyDelete

 
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