Turns the final version of the rules posted in May were not final

[james_davis_nicoll]

Not least because they were specifically for Rediscovery reviews.

Current version:

A: You can buy a review for a book for $100 (or by supporting my Patreon: see its page for specific details).

B: Authors may not buy reviews of their own books nor can their family members, publishers or agents. I have the right to decline any book; this is not to be taken as a negative comment on the author or book.

Authors may point out to me that their qualifying books are now out and while I cannot promise to read said, there will not be a charge if I do.

I reserve the right to break my own rules (except for B because, wow, can authors buying reviews go horribly wrong fast).

Comments

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

To clarify --

Do you review only sf or do you review f as well?

Do you review only books from back in the day or do you also review contemporary releases?

Thank you!

Love, C.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I will review anything. Fantasy, sf, mystery, nonfiction, written, visual. Of course, I know more about some stuff than other stuff.

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Love, C.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

I noticed a while ago that you don't have affiliate links for people to buy books you review. It's not worth a ton of money (I make $15-25 a month, except at Giftmas when it's much higher) which isn't much but it takes very little time to do.

Linking to the publishers is great and all, but it won't put loonies in your pocket. And Giftmas is just around the corner.

The thing is, it's mostly passive income. You create the link, leave it up, and make a few pennies when people click. Is that something you'd be interested in?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

That feeds Amazon, right?

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

Most online sellers have affiliate programs now, but Amazon's is the only one worth bothering with. I spent a full month writing about different books and linking exclusively to Indiebound, then another month to Mysterious Galaxy. Not one reader clicked and bought.

I recently looked at the numbers for B&N. I had more purchases from Amazon than I had clicks from B&N.

So, yeah, it does feed Amazon. You can set things up with other vendors, but I think that's a waste of time.

[julesjones]

It feeds Amazon. It can also feed Kobo, which is Less Evil (even if I'm still annoyed with them for caving in to the tabloid porn hysteria). And Kobo is Canadian. Whether it's worth your time in doing links I don't know, but at least it will direct some traffic their way instead of Amazon's.

I really need to set myself up a Kobo affiliate account so that I can see whether my Kobo links are actually getting any traffic. (Amazon are Evil But Efficient. I can do the US tax paperwork dance entirely online, with helpful explanations even for the weirdos like me who are not US citizens and not resident in the US, but are liable for US tax. Kobo wants me to print out and post a declaration it makes pretty much impossible to find.)

[sesmo.livejournal.com]

You can link it to multiple places, if you wish. Most people will use Amazon for the convenience, but personally I prefer Powell's for books, and one of the many author-driven ebook places for ebooks.

[julesjones]

I was originally sad about rule B, even if I recognised that it was sensible, because I'd be interested in seeing what you thought about one of my books - it's cross-genre, but the handful of reviews have been from romance bloggers, and one from the sf&f side would be nice. Well, possibly painful rather than nice, but useful.

After last week's... interesting... column in the Guardian by someone extolling the joys of reviewer-stalking, I am now fervently glad that you have rule B. We don't need that sort of Nicoll Event.