It never gets any easier.
For almost 27 years I have been writing reviews in Collectors’ Corner (formerly Comics Corner).
The majority of items I review are provided by different
companies and publishers as free samples.
Occasionally I have to return a big ticket item, but by-in-large,
most material I keep.
I am dependent on review samples arriving on a regular basis.
There are ebbs and flows.
Depending on the time of year and what’s going on in the various product
and publishing businesses, review samples can trickle in or abundantly flow.
Still, the waiting is the hard part.
With the advent of the internet I am able to contact
businesses much more efficiently.
But there is a downside.
Because the internet is so accessible the number of other ‘reviewers’
has increased, as have the requests for review samples. There only so many that can go around.
In my opinion is only a relatively small number of
legitimate review sites. Most other
review requests are just to get free stuff.
I may get stuff at no cost (monetarily) but it takes a
lot of time and effort on my part to write reviews and to make them so they are easy and
enjoyable to read. Plus I have to set up products to take photos.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. Try writing reviews for 27 years. I have written literally thousands of them-many
which have never appeared online.
They were done before the advent of the web. I printed them in a monthly newsletter-8
pages-9 point type-with ads and taken to the printer, delivered to businesses
and hand-addressed and mailed to manufacturers and publishers. Those were the days.
It can be frustrating when it comes to procuring review
samples. Some companies refuse to
provide samples and yet still want me to promote their product.
Others promise samples and never deliver and still others
start out giving me samples only to pull out because of staff changes or new editorial
policies.
Some companies even want me to guarantee that their
product will sell better because of my reviews.
Certain businesses think that Collectors’ Corner is a
storefront and I’m wanting samples to resell. Others demand promises of huge
audiences and profits and unrealistic demographics.
Come on guys! I’m
only one guy! If I could guarantee
massive sell-outs and multi-million readers I certainly wouldn’t be writing
reviews. I would have been a millionaire
a long time ago!
And yet-I love it!
It’s a struggle at times and it can be frustrating.
But there’s no better feeling than to hear that readers/manufactures/publishers
love my reviews, share them with other people and appreciate what I’m doing.
So, I’ll keep trudging away. I’ll attempt to be witty,
relevant and do the very best job I can.
I appreciate the companies and publishers who support my
efforts and someday…someday, I may get a lot more companies to come around and
provide review samples.