In light of recent events by Avalanche Press (Company bashing not desired)

[EricNoah]

Hey there folks --

If you check out the current news, or if you look up to Morrus' most recent post, you'll see that by and large much of this has been cleared up. A case of mistaken identity and other mistakes on the part of Avalanche Press.

So, what do you say -- is the question moot now? Or do we need some further discussion?

 

[Khan the Warlord]

Actually Eric, for me, the discussion would be far from over, as I question the validity of that e-mail and even found additional problems within it. (See my post after Morrus'.)

 

[EricNoah]

Oh, fine, be that way! *sulks*

 

[Mistwell]

And again to Mistwell: where do you get your information about sf&f book reviews working this way? I and one other person have told you from direct firsthand experience that you are wrong. If it was true then I would have been boycotted. In fact some of my reviewers where known for their snide remarks, and still we received advance copies week after week. Unless you have some firsthand experience that counters this then your opinion about how this works has no bearing on the discussion.

I do have first hand knowledge. I am not going to discuss how I have that first hand knowledge (nor have you told me how you have such first hand knowledge - nor should you here). And you are correct in that what I do or do not know about sci-fi books has very little to do with this discussion at this point. However, if you would like to take it to email (like I suggested we do earlier) on that particular subject, I would be happy to discuss it with you further.

 

[Khan the Warlord]

Oh, fine, be that way! *sulks*

Hehe... I made the famous Eric of the Noah sulk!

BWUAHAHAHA!

 

[Fred Delles]

(Assuming this is real and ENWorld is giving a reply.)

The folks can go on ahead and reply, but some of us might want to make this statement:

"Please STOP placing scantily-clad women on covers of games completely unrelated to them. I (as a male gamer), as well as some other gamers, both male and female, do not believe that sex sells an RPG in which the cover girl is unrelated to the subject matter (except for her little attire), and a good amount of women gamers find your covers ridiculous at best and offensive at worst."

I might now be more open to Avalanche's products, though I still want quality over just some cheap cover art. This is RPGing in a historical era, not the d20 Planet of the Babes RPG.

 

[jgbrowning]

Hey there folks --

If you check out the current news, or if you look up to Morrus' most recent post, you'll see that by and large much of this has been cleared up. A case of mistaken identity and other mistakes on the part of Avalanche Press.

So, what do you say -- is the question moot now? Or do we need some further discussion?

I'm tempted to be forgiving...

but... he did mention ENworld by name and i have a hard time believing that most publishers don't recognize ENworld off the top of their heads..

and the attitude expressed, even if expressed in a moment of anger/frustration, is still the attitude expressed. moment of passion arguements have never ment much to me.

so for me, no, my view of the situation has not changed due the apology. Although i respest his willingness to come forth publicly and say what he said, i have to admit to some reservations to the motivations behind such a statement.

ah well... i didn't by their stuff before so it really doesn't matter.. what matters is what the people who did buy thier stuff think.

just my .002$
joe b.

ps. i could of course, lack the necessasary info to form a better opinion about the subject, but more than likely i wont have the information i'd need.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

If you consistently give bad reviews to an author, that cannot be warped into good reviews, you will find your review copies will dry up from that author's publicity folks. It isn't a stated policy (though it is usually known by people in the industry). Usually, requests for review copies just go unanswered after a couple of bad reviews. It's never meant as an explicit bribe to give a good review, just an after-the-fact attempt to reduce the money going out the door in review copies to reviewers perceived as "bad".

So, what you're saying is, "Attempts to deliberately skew the review base should be acceptable because they happen all the time anyway."

Little too cynical for me.

 

[Buttercup]

I cannot believe the level of hypocracy, or naïveté, exressed in this thread.

Take down any single sci-fi or fantasy novel on your shelf. EVERY SINGLE ONE YOU TAKE DOWN WAS SENT FOR FREE TO A REVIEWER WHO WAS KNOWN TO GIVE GOOD REVIEWS TO THAT AUTHORS PRODUCTS. When a reviewer gave a bad review to one of those authors products, they were taken off the "free copy" list.

Maybe you didn't know that before (though it is not a hidden fact). But you do now.

Will you be now not buying any more sci-fi or fantasy novels? Or is it somehow okay in that industry, but not in the RPG industry?

I'm sorry, Mistwell, but this is not how it works. Most reviewers work through a periodical, such as Booklist, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, VOYA, Kliatt, Choice or a handful of others. The publisher sends copies of everything on their frontlist, or in some cases, as in a specialty review source like VOYA, all of those titles on their frontlist that are within scope for that publication. The review copies are then handed out to the reviewers, who might be on staff (as with Kirkus and PW) or might be freelance (Booklist and Kliatt). Those reviewers read the books, write their reviews, and send them in. The periodical in question then prints the reviews that they have room for, or that fit their criteria. For example, Library Journal only gives space to good reviews. All the books they received that get bad reviews just aren't mentioned in their publication. Kirkus, on the other hand, will happily trash a book. Nonetheless, publishers continue to send them tons of stuff every month.

Since every issue of every one of the review sources I mentioned above, plus a few more that I didn't name, crosses my desk, I think it's fair to say I'm familiar with the process.

 

[mirzabah]

Like many polls, this one is missing an important option:

• I never bought Avalanche Press product anyway, so no change for me

Or better still:

• Avalanche Press?

I'm another one who has an issue with their ridiculous cover art. If they feel that they need to put that sh*t on their covers to sell books, then you have to wonder about the quality of the content.