Bon Tom’s answer to “Why does this author keep sending me SPAM emails with offers for his book? It's happened multiple t…” > Likes and Comments
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I've gotten multiple messages from this author, each time from accounts he's immediately deleted after sending the messages. This is my only avenue to contact him to tell him to stop emailing me. If he had an existing Goodreads account I would have sent him a private message. No worries. I hope you enjoy his book.
I also got message from Goodreads that the account "could have been deleted" or something like that. I'm really not sure this is really the case. First, I'm not sure what would this author get from such behaviour, we all know who he is. Second, Goodreads is so full of bugs. Every now and then they lose "my" book from the list, it just vanishes. Date of the book read gets lost and so on. So I wouldn't be surprised this is just one of its quirks. The author has his own website and email for contact, I see no point in creating and deleting his GR accounts all the time, or anytime.
It is weird, but I’m pretty sure he makes then deletes the accounts. Every email I’ve gotten has been from a different address. I’ve never been able to successfully reply to him; I did try to contact him directly. I think it’s strange he doesn’t use his own Goodreads author account to send offers. As I said before, no worries. I was just using this as a means of replying to him.
OK :) but the book offer is real, I'm listening to it as we speak so I don't mind if the mode of contact is bit unusual :)
"I don't get it. What's wrong with all of you, people? "
Clearly you don't "get it", and insulting people over what you say you "don't get" causes me to think there's something wrong with you.
No one here is complain about getting a free book. They're complaining about being sent SPAM. Which includes authors sending unsolicited private messages to GR users they've never interacted with and who have not shown any interest in their books requests to read their book in exchange for a review.
It's not an "overblown sense of entitlement" to not want to be SPAMMED and be solicited in via private message on Goodreads.
Newsflash - Readers have a LOT of books to choose from to read. Books we choose for ourselves. NO ONE has enough time to read all the "free" books authors want us to read because they're chasing after reviews. Offers of a "free" book by self-pubbed authors are so incredibly common and available they're very easy to come by. And NO ONE has any reason to accept such offers if they don't want to.
I think you suffer by an overblown sense of entitlement for thinking people should read a book they aren't interested in reading just because some author bugs them to read it and is willing to give them a copy.
YOU may feel "delighted and honored", but that doesn't mean everyone else has to feel that way about getting spammed and sent unwanted solicitations.
Free isn't a "pretty damn good deal" when it's a book you don't care about reading, or a book you're not going to like. And no one is obligated to "enjoy it", or "enjoy" being sent spam.
Sorry, going to file your overactive hyperinsultability, as well as, in this context, freestyle, too spread out definition of spam under "Everything Else That's Wrong With This World". Same question for you, and it's RETORICAL, in case it isn't obvious, just like my previous "insult" (What's wrong with you people?). Which, btw, didn't even manage to insult the OP herself, whom I had decent exchange with. So, IF YOUR TIME IS SO "PRECIOUS", and you can't afford to waste such a big chunk of it to politely refuse honest offer of something valuable and free by simply saying "no, thanks" (who's forcing you into anything??), WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, writing walls of text? I know answers to both questions, so don't need to bother, don't waste your precious time. You're too busy with important things, like trying to talk others into reporting this author. Me, too, have better things to do, like, reading the great book I was "spammed" with these days. I almost missed this little gem among all the REAL spam email I'm receiving, none of which offering anything of value, for free. I'm not yet as important as you to be receiving free books from all directions every day, but I hope I'll never be if the fact such books are "very easy to come by" means I'd lose some basic sense of gratitude, last modicum of humbleness and overpressurize my reservoir of entitlemet so much that I'd be blowing a gasket all over the internet at the slightest intrusion of my inbox. Cheers! Off to reading the goodreads.
Clearly you are not sorry at all for your hurling personal insults, idiotic judgement and overall boneheadedness.
Which considering the source does not surprise me at all.
If you had a modicum of sense you would get it, obviously you do not.
Very likely you’re a pal of the spammer, or perhaps one of his sock puppets.
I wrote an email directly to the email on his website, and he replied within a couple of hours - I doubt he is doing anything devious here.
Okay Tom (who may be the author or a friend of such) let me try to explain it this way:
You get a spam email offering you a book for free. Cool beans! Yay!
Oh look, now you have another, and another, and another! That one author got such good results now EVERYONE has jumped on the train and is trying to get you to try or buy their books. And now your inbox is just wall to wall spam, preventing you from using it for what it's meant for.
But wait, you say, that's not what's happening here? Okay, try this scenario instead:
You're on your couch, drinking some hot cocoa, reading your favorite book, and enjoying a little "me" time. Life is GOOD. Suddenly, your TV flips on. You can't turn it off again. The loudest, most obnoxious commercial plays, and there is nothing you can do to stop or get rid of it. Your phone rings, but damned if you can hear who's on the other end, because the commercial is just TOO LOUD.
And then it's over, the TV flips off, and your house is quiet again.
Tell me, do you suppose the person in that situation is GRATEFUL for the commercial, even if it was offering them something for free?
That's how a lot of people feel about their private inboxes. It's their personal space, their "me" time, the place they keep track of friends and updates they DO want. So when that obnoxious commercial comes through, they aren't GRATEFUL, they're HOMICIDAL.
You want someone to despise you and, by extension, your product? Advertise this way.
So please stop talking about people being "entitled" like it's some horrific thing--yes, they ARE entitled, as in, have earned the RIGHT, to their private spaces. They should be left alone when in them.
And growling at people who already feel homicidal? That's never gonna end well. I don't know what you were expecting.
TOM "What's wrong with all of you, people?" as you so eloquently put it. Not everyone appreciates getting SPAM mail from people they don't know. Doesn't matter if they are offering something free or not, if you did not sign up for their newsletter, then it's SPAM and there is no "unsubscribe" or "return email address" to respond to this SPAMMER that you don't want his garbage emails about a book not interested in. He should be banned from Goodreads, that is not what this is about, he's looking for free advertising and annoying a lot of people. Obviously, if he needs to SPAM people to try to get readers, his books must not be very popular, that or he has an ego the size of a dinosaur and thinks everyone in the world wants to read his books. Either way, it's wrong, it's SPAM
Tom think about it as if someone is offering free ice cream, by shoving it in your hand then yelling "here ice cream!" then runs away. but you don't want ice cream right now. But he ran away so you can't tell him you're not in the mood for it. Now think if the same guy but pretending to be someone else keeps repeating the offer, forcefully handing it to you then running away. Think of it as someone offering something free that you don't want. Just cause it's free doesn't always mean it's good. If I go to a bar and the bartender says "free peanuts" and keeps putting a full bowl of peanuts in front of me everytime i take one. Ok dude i get that you have free peanuts now leave me alone, i'll eat some when or if I want one. If the author is not behind this then he needs to release a statement, if he signed up for a promotion service thats doing it, he needs to tell them to use only 1 account and slow down
Hey, I TRIED to get the "free book" but the download code doesn't work, so... it's just spam which promises something and doesn't deliver it.
Hey Tom, it wouldn't be so bad, except this book is complete crap. If someone gave me the new Salman Rushdie book for free I'd be happy, but this is like someone throwing a flaming bag of dog crap on my porch and then yelling "but it's FREE!!!"
I don't mind a free book but it's just weird he sends a message asking for a review and then deletes the account
If you're smart, you don't get the book. You shouldn't click on links from unknown people in your email.
Well, I'm smarter now. Brett Arquette is dead to me.
Wow. What is wrong with YOU, Tom? Maybe I get enough spam and don't feel like muddling through more. It's intrusive.
Something being free doesn't excuse it for being horrible. Also, asking people to go and like other 5-star reviews (This book wouldn't HAVE 5 star reviews if not for his campaigning) just reeks of desperation.
I got another email yesterday. It's really annoying, and the guy knows its spam because he's deleting the profiles after he sends it.
I literally just posted 30 minutes ago that Goodreads deleted his profile. See the comment JUST before yours...
Ah well. That's why it's spam, cause they just keep at it. If only they could use their powers for good.
I reported his profile about two weeks ago after he sent me this god-awful book. Looks like he was actively spamming the entire time (including yesterday) but they have finally removed the culprit. Apparently he has been doing this for some time now, so I would expect to see another profile pop up soon.
Bob Tom, what this author is doing is in violation of goodread’s Terms and Services agreement and is in fact in violation of the law - CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Check it out. There is a difference between advertising and spamming.
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Barb
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Dec 08, 2017 06:58AM
I've gotten multiple messages from this author, each time from accounts he's immediately deleted after sending the messages. This is my only avenue to contact him to tell him to stop emailing me. If he had an existing Goodreads account I would have sent him a private message. No worries. I hope you enjoy his book.
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I also got message from Goodreads that the account "could have been deleted" or something like that. I'm really not sure this is really the case. First, I'm not sure what would this author get from such behaviour, we all know who he is. Second, Goodreads is so full of bugs. Every now and then they lose "my" book from the list, it just vanishes. Date of the book read gets lost and so on. So I wouldn't be surprised this is just one of its quirks. The author has his own website and email for contact, I see no point in creating and deleting his GR accounts all the time, or anytime.
It is weird, but I’m pretty sure he makes then deletes the accounts. Every email I’ve gotten has been from a different address. I’ve never been able to successfully reply to him; I did try to contact him directly. I think it’s strange he doesn’t use his own Goodreads author account to send offers. As I said before, no worries. I was just using this as a means of replying to him.
OK :) but the book offer is real, I'm listening to it as we speak so I don't mind if the mode of contact is bit unusual :)
"I don't get it. What's wrong with all of you, people? "Clearly you don't "get it", and insulting people over what you say you "don't get" causes me to think there's something wrong with you.
No one here is complain about getting a free book. They're complaining about being sent SPAM. Which includes authors sending unsolicited private messages to GR users they've never interacted with and who have not shown any interest in their books requests to read their book in exchange for a review.
It's not an "overblown sense of entitlement" to not want to be SPAMMED and be solicited in via private message on Goodreads.
Newsflash - Readers have a LOT of books to choose from to read. Books we choose for ourselves. NO ONE has enough time to read all the "free" books authors want us to read because they're chasing after reviews. Offers of a "free" book by self-pubbed authors are so incredibly common and available they're very easy to come by. And NO ONE has any reason to accept such offers if they don't want to.
I think you suffer by an overblown sense of entitlement for thinking people should read a book they aren't interested in reading just because some author bugs them to read it and is willing to give them a copy.
YOU may feel "delighted and honored", but that doesn't mean everyone else has to feel that way about getting spammed and sent unwanted solicitations.
Free isn't a "pretty damn good deal" when it's a book you don't care about reading, or a book you're not going to like. And no one is obligated to "enjoy it", or "enjoy" being sent spam.
Sorry, going to file your overactive hyperinsultability, as well as, in this context, freestyle, too spread out definition of spam under "Everything Else That's Wrong With This World". Same question for you, and it's RETORICAL, in case it isn't obvious, just like my previous "insult" (What's wrong with you people?). Which, btw, didn't even manage to insult the OP herself, whom I had decent exchange with. So, IF YOUR TIME IS SO "PRECIOUS", and you can't afford to waste such a big chunk of it to politely refuse honest offer of something valuable and free by simply saying "no, thanks" (who's forcing you into anything??), WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, writing walls of text? I know answers to both questions, so don't need to bother, don't waste your precious time. You're too busy with important things, like trying to talk others into reporting this author. Me, too, have better things to do, like, reading the great book I was "spammed" with these days. I almost missed this little gem among all the REAL spam email I'm receiving, none of which offering anything of value, for free. I'm not yet as important as you to be receiving free books from all directions every day, but I hope I'll never be if the fact such books are "very easy to come by" means I'd lose some basic sense of gratitude, last modicum of humbleness and overpressurize my reservoir of entitlemet so much that I'd be blowing a gasket all over the internet at the slightest intrusion of my inbox. Cheers! Off to reading the goodreads.
Clearly you are not sorry at all for your hurling personal insults, idiotic judgement and overall boneheadedness.Which considering the source does not surprise me at all.
If you had a modicum of sense you would get it, obviously you do not.
Very likely you’re a pal of the spammer, or perhaps one of his sock puppets.
I wrote an email directly to the email on his website, and he replied within a couple of hours - I doubt he is doing anything devious here.
Okay Tom (who may be the author or a friend of such) let me try to explain it this way:You get a spam email offering you a book for free. Cool beans! Yay!
Oh look, now you have another, and another, and another! That one author got such good results now EVERYONE has jumped on the train and is trying to get you to try or buy their books. And now your inbox is just wall to wall spam, preventing you from using it for what it's meant for.
But wait, you say, that's not what's happening here? Okay, try this scenario instead:
You're on your couch, drinking some hot cocoa, reading your favorite book, and enjoying a little "me" time. Life is GOOD. Suddenly, your TV flips on. You can't turn it off again. The loudest, most obnoxious commercial plays, and there is nothing you can do to stop or get rid of it. Your phone rings, but damned if you can hear who's on the other end, because the commercial is just TOO LOUD.
And then it's over, the TV flips off, and your house is quiet again.
Tell me, do you suppose the person in that situation is GRATEFUL for the commercial, even if it was offering them something for free?
That's how a lot of people feel about their private inboxes. It's their personal space, their "me" time, the place they keep track of friends and updates they DO want. So when that obnoxious commercial comes through, they aren't GRATEFUL, they're HOMICIDAL.
You want someone to despise you and, by extension, your product? Advertise this way.
So please stop talking about people being "entitled" like it's some horrific thing--yes, they ARE entitled, as in, have earned the RIGHT, to their private spaces. They should be left alone when in them.
And growling at people who already feel homicidal? That's never gonna end well. I don't know what you were expecting.
A free copy is a nice gesture if it is offered properly, not from accounts that are immediately deleted or contain no identification. Why hasn't he sent the messages from his official GR account?
TOM "What's wrong with all of you, people?" as you so eloquently put it. Not everyone appreciates getting SPAM mail from people they don't know. Doesn't matter if they are offering something free or not, if you did not sign up for their newsletter, then it's SPAM and there is no "unsubscribe" or "return email address" to respond to this SPAMMER that you don't want his garbage emails about a book not interested in. He should be banned from Goodreads, that is not what this is about, he's looking for free advertising and annoying a lot of people. Obviously, if he needs to SPAM people to try to get readers, his books must not be very popular, that or he has an ego the size of a dinosaur and thinks everyone in the world wants to read his books. Either way, it's wrong, it's SPAM
Tom think about it as if someone is offering free ice cream, by shoving it in your hand then yelling "here ice cream!" then runs away. but you don't want ice cream right now. But he ran away so you can't tell him you're not in the mood for it. Now think if the same guy but pretending to be someone else keeps repeating the offer, forcefully handing it to you then running away. Think of it as someone offering something free that you don't want. Just cause it's free doesn't always mean it's good. If I go to a bar and the bartender says "free peanuts" and keeps putting a full bowl of peanuts in front of me everytime i take one. Ok dude i get that you have free peanuts now leave me alone, i'll eat some when or if I want one. If the author is not behind this then he needs to release a statement, if he signed up for a promotion service thats doing it, he needs to tell them to use only 1 account and slow down
Hey, I TRIED to get the "free book" but the download code doesn't work, so... it's just spam which promises something and doesn't deliver it.
Hey Tom, it wouldn't be so bad, except this book is complete crap. If someone gave me the new Salman Rushdie book for free I'd be happy, but this is like someone throwing a flaming bag of dog crap on my porch and then yelling "but it's FREE!!!"
I don't mind a free book but it's just weird he sends a message asking for a review and then deletes the account
If you're smart, you don't get the book. You shouldn't click on links from unknown people in your email.
Well, I'm smarter now. Brett Arquette is dead to me.
Wow. What is wrong with YOU, Tom? Maybe I get enough spam and don't feel like muddling through more. It's intrusive.
Something being free doesn't excuse it for being horrible. Also, asking people to go and like other 5-star reviews (This book wouldn't HAVE 5 star reviews if not for his campaigning) just reeks of desperation.
I got another email yesterday. It's really annoying, and the guy knows its spam because he's deleting the profiles after he sends it.
I literally just posted 30 minutes ago that Goodreads deleted his profile. See the comment JUST before yours...
Ah well. That's why it's spam, cause they just keep at it. If only they could use their powers for good.
I reported his profile about two weeks ago after he sent me this god-awful book. Looks like he was actively spamming the entire time (including yesterday) but they have finally removed the culprit. Apparently he has been doing this for some time now, so I would expect to see another profile pop up soon.
Bob Tom, what this author is doing is in violation of goodread’s Terms and Services agreement and is in fact in violation of the law - CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Check it out. There is a difference between advertising and spamming.
