It’s Freebie Friday Time once again. Books for the weekend – hooray! This week: a historical romance – A Bride of Honor by Ruth Axtell Morren.
Enjoy your free stuff!
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The ads, contests and promotional give aways have become overwhelming to the point I only visit this site every few weeks on the off chance there’s actually a review or commentary that isn’t paid for. I’m not a speshul snowflake so I imagine I’m not the only one who’s disappointed in the lack of content and in the direction the Bitchery has taken.
I just wanted to comment on the off chance you care that you’re slowly but surely losing a reader.
Hi Tabetha:
Harlequin isn’t paying me for that spot. I regularly highlight any low cost or free books that I find, whether it’s digital or paperback, because it’s a great opportunity to try an author you might not know about. Free stuff= good. None of the publishers who I feature ask me to do that; I hunt these down on my own or get a heads up from a publicist or an author or a reader who discovers them.
As for the contests and promotional giveaways: those are done by me, on my dime, at my own volition. Sometimes authors will donate books to give away, but they don’t pay me to do so.
I’m sorry you’re not happy with the site, but no one is buying my commentary or my reviews. They’re not for sale.
(Now, I do have to wonder, hypoethically, what the going rate for an F review would be. Plenty of sites sell good reviews. No one sells the bad ones. Hmm. Is it measurable in ordinary US dollars? I don’t know.)
Me: Yay! Finally, a historical! *clicks through* Crap, it’s Steeple Hill. Oh well. It sucks that it’s “free” in that you have to buy 2 books.
To Tabetha: I agree with you. I have the SB in my Google Reader and ignore the entries on 1) e-reader device reviews, 2) convention/book tour round-ups, 3) epublisher business, 4) stats & traffic, 5) promotions. Needless to say, lately I haven’t been clicking on much. :- I’ve been going to Mrs. Giggles’ site for reviews. Not sure what started the downturn here – maybe the crusader cape from the Cassie Edwards debacle?
The Harlequin promo for free books should be a part of what a site like this does. The only way it would bother me is if you only promoted Harlequin books. Since you accept ads from all publishers (from what I can see) I’d think you’d do free book giveaways from all publishers.
On the other hand, the recent Sony Reader promo did bother me. I ended up skipping the ‘reviews’ and thus not reading much here for what felt like a few weeks. No doubt, it was a good PR campaign for Sony, and certainly a cool way for you to reward your readers but it wore thin for me after a while.
I realize promos like the Sony one are ways to generate revenue for a blog like this, but if there was a way to move the content back to the forefront (even just visually without reducing the advertising) that would be great. Then again, if you don’t get any other comments like mine or Tabetha’s then no worries. We’re in the minority. But I am curious about feedback you received on this subject. Does it bother your readers/authors, or is it even an issue? (PS: I just started visiting here a month or so ago so I may have missed this topic).
If you think about this, this book is not really free. Harlequin requires you to buy two books before you get it. So in a sense, it’s like get 3 books for the price of two.
As a long-time SB reader, my answer is “No, doesn’t bother me.” I like the links to free (or discounted books), I even enjoy the ads, for the same reason I love the reviews: the SBs expand my reading horizons and take me places I’ve never heard of or to authors I never thought to read. I enjoy the Sony reviews also because I hope to purchase an eReader some day and the information was helpful (and damn funny) for my sister who did buy one.
I’ve been reading SBTB for a couple of years now and I too am a bit disappointed in how book reviews seem to no longer be the focus of the site. I appreciate and enjoy all the additional post topics (DocTurtle’s commentary, HaBO and book cover snark being high up there), but wish it was in addition to, not instead of review content.
I’m a relatively new visitor (and first-time commenter). I think the book reviews are probably the cream of the crop but I’ve gained considerable enjoyment from the comments generated by giveaway competitions and have gobbled up practically every free eBook mentioned on here that doesn’t require an additional purchase (my book habit could all too easily take over my bank account if I let it off the leash). I’m also enjoying the eReader reviews, not only because that is an interest of mine anyhow, but also because of the imagination and style that has gone into the writing of many of them.
And in any case, this is not my blog: it’s yours – and I reckon you, the Smart Bitches, have the right to do with it whatsoever you may wish.
[Spamword course38: Of course38 you do.]
I went and was all, hey—that looks good. I like being turned on by free ebook giveaways. But have to buy 2 books to get a free book? Nah, to me, that’s not free. Free is like, this is free—no strings attached! Download and enjoy. I am not naive, because I’ve downloaded some fine free (as in real free) ebooks from other publishers’ sites. Besides, never ever again will I purchase an ebook from Harlequin. They have lost me as a customer after my first and last ebook purchase from them and the ensuing email exchange was the height of we-could-care-less, condescension on their part. Blah; fie on HQN! But that’s another story…
I am a more recent visitor here and I like the mention of the Harlequin free book on Friday offer, and I took advantage of it recently. It was a nice opportunity to try something different for me. I hope that there will continue to be mentions of offers like that. I buy a lot of books (as I’m sure most of us here do) so I like to get deals like that. I didn’t mind having to buy two others to get the free one.
I really enjoy this blog and all its content (e-reader info, reviews, HaBO, giveaways, etc.). The diversity of the content keeps it interesting. The ads on the side don’t bother me. Something has to pay the bills, right?
Long time SBTB reader, but I’m reading less and less these days. Seems not so fresh somehow. Too much Sony and too much harlequin for my taste. Some of the reviews (Doc Turtle in particular) are worth reading, but it’s very rare that I read a long post all the way through any more.
The ads don’t bother me.
It feels like the rebels have become part of the mainstream.
This is just another reason why I like your website. I like your style of writing you tell your stories without out sending us to 5 other sites to complete the story.