There, I said it.

But before I go into why I believe this, I will say, for the record, that some book bloggers are fabulous, actually scratch that, most are these days. Even some of my less than stellar reviews have come from bloggers whose work and dedication to reading the books we authors submit, I can respect.

But it only takes a few bad apples to cast a dark cloud over the whole process for authors looking to pitch bloggers for potential reviews.

Honestly my issue is with the true book snobs. Those who, in this day and age, still refuse to read books by self-published authors. I mean, are they not keeping up with the figures? Bowker reported 391,000 self-published books in 2012. That’s 40% of all ISBNs that year. 40%! And these book snobs mean to tell me that they’re convinced none of those books are worth a second look? That’s bad attitude and bad math.

How does a blogger get that way anyhow? I mean, are publishers sending them fruit baskets and hookers and stacks of leather bound special editions? As far as I know our firm doesn’t do this but I’m content in saying I really have far better things to do than court hermit snob bloggers…even as a publicist.

And really, do they think they’re somehow impressing people by only accepting traditionally published books? Because news flash, one, they’re not always that good, I promise, and two, a handful of professional book people (real professionals) have already read the books and deemed them fit for print! Multiple people who are more qualified than a part time book snob have agreed that it’s worth killing a few more trees to get said book into the hands of the public. Why should their one additional opinion matter?

Because I can admit I have a flair for the dramatic (it’s how I stay sane doing what I do) part of me wants to give these reviewers fabulously complicated and dramatic back stories to justify their poor life decisions. Like they’re actually jilted authors hiding behind their blogger identities, maybe they’ve actually self-published themselves and no one, not even their mother, bought their book. Or better yet, the masterpiece that’s taking up most of the space in their brain has resulted in a mere 3 pages of double spaced text on a Word doc that’s been saved over and over again since 1996.

If you’re a book snob with a blog, and you’ve actually made it this far into this post, let me know your side of the story. Seriously, I’d like to know why you still only accept traditionally published books. Do you slum it occasionally off the radar and read something self-published and you’re still not convinced? And most importantly, ARE you getting fruit baskets and hookers from publishers? If so that’s got to be a fun department and I may need to start eating my lunch there…

~ Christina