Pre-review could turn a man’s head

There are advantages to not having published a book yet. For one thing, you can still change it. For another, apparently, people can already read it.

I received a lovely email this week from somebody purporting to be from a book club in Limerick. The writer had discovered I Can See It Still and, it seems, had been profoundly affected by the experience.

“Your book I Can See It Still found its way into my hands,” the email began, “and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since.”

This was encouraging news.

Particularly to me, because the book has not yet found its way into my hands.

It isn’t published. It isn’t printed. Indeed, there are parts of it which have not yet found their way out of my laptop.

Still, you can’t argue with a good advance review.

“What a life, what a story, what a gift to the world of Gaelic games,” my correspondent continued.

Steady on. The email went on to praise the book as “a deeply personal account of a county and its football as you remember and experienced it”. It mentioned Ballinrobe, dressing rooms, committee rooms, press boxes and terraces. My previous novel even got a favourable mention.

Whoever wrote it had done their homework. Just not quite enough homework to establish that the book they claimed to have read does not yet exist in readable form.

That was the giveaway. I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes..

A quick search brought me to the genuine Limerick book club’s page. And there, rather helpfully, was a warning in bold:

“Please note: There have been many scam emails sent to authors purporting to be from this group and its organisers. We do not contact authors.”

That rather took the shine off my first review.

I assume the email was assembled from the public blurb and information about me online, with the gaps filled in by a machine or a person with a great capacity for enthusiasm. I don’t know what would have happened had I replied. Perhaps there would have been an “administration fee” for the virtual event, a charge to promote the book to members, or some other ingenious opportunity for me to pay money to people who had already read a book that hasn’t been published.

I didn’t stay around to find out.

There is something almost admirable about the confidence of it. The email didn’t merely say the book sounded interesting. It had been touched deeply by it. It knew what the title evoked. It was ready to put me in front of a grateful audience.

At this rate I may have the reviews, speaking engagements and reader reaction sorted before I finish the final draft.

There is a more serious point for authors, particularly anyone self-publishing or promoting a new book. We spend months trying to get people to notice what we’re doing. So when an email saying that a book club, reviewer, podcast or organisation has discovered your work lands, you want it to be true.

That’s what makes this sort of thing effective.

So, authors, be wary out there. Check the organisation independently. Go to its real website rather than relying on links in an unsolicited email. And if somebody tells you they have read your unpublished book and “have not been able to stop thinking about it since”, enjoy the review.

Just don’t send them any money. As for I Can See It Still, I should probably get back to finishing it. There appear to be readers waiting.

 

I Can See It Still will be published by Townland Press on 16 October. Pre-orders are now open here: https://liamhoran.info/seeitstill/ 

And if you’re looking for On the Way Out, that’s still available too. Some of its readers have even read it… https://liamhoran.info/product/on-the-way-out/