As we roll into the holiday season, I like to reflect on the year and think about the good and the bad experiences of book blogging .
In January, I decided that most of the books that I would read in 2011 would be ebooks. I imagined myself going paper-less in a few years. While I discovered some cool writers like Henkel, Nicholson, Day, and Jeffery, I found that a stack of books will draw my attention more than a list on a screen.
It was also in January when I royally pissed off my first publisher (at least the first one that I know of). A Fox Chapel Publishing publicist sent me a “snotty-gram” after I opined about my unfinished “Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit” Greeked-out review copy of “The Art of Steampunk.” The author, Art Donovan, was kind enough to leave a comment on the blog explaining that, “the galleys of the book are still in the editing process. The final edit is due out soon!” Months later, I managed to get my hands on a finished copy, no thanks to Fox Chapel’s publicist, and gave the book a positive review. By the way, the publicist let me know that I was NOT on the list of approved reviewers.
Speaking of unfinished stuff, in February, I bought a copy of Brad Meltzer’s The Inner Circle. About half of the book is a “complimentary” copy of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s “THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES.” Meltzer, I want a refund! If I wanted half a book, I’ll buy half a book.
By March, I was hooked on an online series called “Blood and Bone China” and chilling out to a steampunk band called Abney Park. Several books were read to the beat of Abney Park.
I was lucky enough to win several contests. I know how hard it is to run a contest and only generate a few entries so I throw my hat in from time to time. Two of my favorite sets of prizes were from Julie and Autumn. On the downside, I have been notified that I have won prizes from a couple of websites but I never received the prize. In one case, the guy has all but disappeared and I worry about his health.
By May, I was experimenting with youtube. I posted a video of me throwing away my playboy stash. I still get emails about that video. Although, most of the emails ask me to send any other magazines I find to them rather than throwing them away. Later, I started adding videos of me thumbing through some of the books that I reviewed. In the future, I hope to do some book reviews on video.
My Mother and Sister had some health problems this year and I spent a lot of time in waiting rooms. With my interest in esoteric titles, you can imagine the strange looks that I got while reading something from Weiser or New Page in the waiting rooms.
For the most part the book publishers were very kind to me. I received books from a couple of publishers that I had not heard of before, and I wondered how they got my mailing address. Sadly, a couple of publishers went silent. The strangest publisher had to be EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. I contacted them in March and they replied that they would send me something “when they are sent out.” I gave up on them when I noticed the book was on the market. In October they emailed me and asked if I would like to interview one of the editors. I replied that I would love to do an interview. A few days went by with no response. I emailed them with my interview questions — to this day I haven’t received anything from them or heard from them. Very strange …
In some cases publishers may not like what I have to say, as with Fox Chapel, and in other cases they may not like what I review, as with Litfuse Publicity Group. An email from Litfuse read, “this is a non-fiction Christian title […] After reviewing your blog, I’m not sure the book would be a good fit”. I guess that they didn’t like some of my esoteric book reviews.
It’s been a very good year. I’ve had some very good feedback from the Gnostalgia readers. I enjoy the emails and the comments (well most of them *wink*). Keep them coming and have a great Christmas holiday.
The Crusader 
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