Review copies talk, they say ‘good-bye’…

I mailed out the review copy to the Boston Globe, so we’ll see. I’ve been searching through other major papers, and finding that they vary widely as far as book reviews. The Providence News doesn’t seem to ever review a book (boy, they must be a bunch of Philistines in Providence!). I did find a lot of reviews when I searched in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire paper, the Herald. This paper is published by a group with which I was already familiar (Seacoast Online), since they also print a number of the weeklies that I sent a media release to a couple of weeks ago. I e-mailed the chief reviewer, and she replied agreeing to look at Mortal Touch, saying, “Though I am not a fan of the new vampire genre, it sounds interesting.” I’m not quite sure what she means by “the new vampire genre”–Laurell K. Hamilton? Stephanie Meyers? Chicklit? Vampire Romance?–but I think she might, by that token, like Mortal Touch. In any event, an autographed copy* is already on its way.

(*I picked up this idea from several of the review websites. I know there are “experts” who suggest marking review copies so they won’t be re-sold by the reviewer–or, a more serious concern, returned to your distributor for credit. I don’t yet have a distributor and I’m not sending out enough review copies to worry about that. Sending a pristine, unmarked book just seems like a professional thing to do–if the reviewer sells it on eBay, hey, at least it’s getting to readers. Autographing the book, if you know the reviewer’s name, seems like a classy thing to do. So that’s the approach I’m using–no “review copy” or “not for resale” stamps all over my review books.)

And we had an earthquake here last night. I didn’t even realize it until I saw it on the WHDH website’s weather page! (That’s what I get for not watching TV…) When I thought about it, I realized that something odd did happen at just about that moment. I was working at the computer (trying to make a post on a forum, and the spell checker crashed my browser), and there was some odd noise outside. I usually work with earplugs in, so I didn’t really hear it, but I had this sudden anxiety attack. Vincent was in the chair right behind me, and he woke up and was staring out the window, and I had this unnerving sense that someone was outside looking in at me. After a few minutes, the feeling faded, and now, I think that reaction was because I felt the earthquake and didn’t know what it was. (I am not a nervous person, btw.)

EarthQuake in Littleton, MA. Littleton is only about 13 miles from here.