You’ve Got to be Kidding

Mark this one down in the you’ve got to be kidding me category. Thomas Nelson has announced that they are rebranding Book Review Bloggers as BookSneeze. I know Mike Hyatt is a fan of Seth Godin and all of that, but this takes the cake. The name doesn’t fit the image I have of Thomas Nelson. When I think of Thomas Nelson, I think of a old respectable company. I think of Bibles. I think of quality. What I don’t think of is snot coming out of my nose—until now. I joined Book Review Bloggers and review a few books through that program. I have one book that I haven’t had time to review. I was thinking of rushing through it and writing a review, but with the name change, I might just forget it. (Thomas Nelson, you can have the book back, if you want it. I would just as soon never say that I am reviewing a book through the BookSneeze program.) 

Comments

Anonymous said…
whinge whinge
January 12, 2010 at 7:38 AM
Ryan Geiger said…
If you think an old company, maybe that is why they changed it. Old doesn't work anymore.
January 12, 2010 at 7:41 AM
Anonymous said…
at least your honest. Clever doesn't always translate into practical, eh?
January 12, 2010 at 7:53 AM
Shea Terry said…
Catchy Name...I like it!
January 12, 2010 at 7:56 AM
Timothy Fish said…
Old doesn't always translate into behind the times. Thomas Nelson is proud of their history and yet they continue to innovate (which is how companies survive to become old in the first place). Given that their primary customer base consists of Bible believing Christians, age and respectability are good things, but by pulling out this term that Seth Godin dreamed up--a term that isn't even a buzzword and is quite gross--I believe they are hurting the image of their company more than they are helping it.
January 12, 2010 at 8:26 AM
Anonymous said…
You're being a little silly?
January 12, 2010 at 8:42 AM
Michael Hyatt said…
Timothy, I appreciate your candid feedback. You might be right. Time will tell.
January 12, 2010 at 8:44 AM
Anonymous said…
I don't like the name either, again, it speaks of snot.
January 12, 2010 at 9:12 AM
Anonymous said…
Ditto, I don't like it! They can do better for "heavens" sake.
January 12, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Anonymous said…
Mike Hyatt is not right all the time--its downgrades the company --again!!
January 12, 2010 at 9:50 AM
Anonymous said…
What rule book says sneeze=snot? When someone sneezes what do people typically say? God Bless You or Bless You right? Why not think of "BookSneeze" in that sense instead of immediately crying "gross"? You're defining it something disgusting by choice. It's all about perspective really.
Besides that, everyone sneezes, everyone has snot, everyone farts, everyone poops, everyone is human...what difference does it really make in the grand scheme of things? It's all under the sun.
January 12, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Aaron Reddin said…
Book Sneeze is brilliant!! Send your book to me, I'll review that thing!
January 12, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Timothy Fish said…
Anonymous 10:00,

I suppose you could be right that I am defining a sneeze as something disgusting by choice. But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter what I think? I don't think so. If I'm the only one who has images of icky green stuff on the pages of a book, then it doesn't matter. But how many other people will get that same image stuck in their head and what impact will it have when people read the statement, I am reviewing this book for BookSneeze?
January 12, 2010 at 11:35 AM
Anonymous said…
just bookmarked your blog, Aaron. Excellent most recent post!
same anonymous as above ;)
January 12, 2010 at 11:36 AM
Anonymous said…
Timothy,

Fair enough, and true, in the grand scheme of things it is simply your viewpoint of the new title. We're all entitled to our own opinion and actually I respect that you are open and bold enough to share yours. It makes for really interesting dialogue to consider all opinions too.
I likely wouldn't have ever found your blog, and have enjoyed reading this morning. :)
I do hope you reconsider reviewing books for Thomas Nelson despite the name change. You are good at it and it's something you obviously enjoy, maybe you can overlook the name? Just a thought and thanks for the respectful discussion!
January 12, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Anonymous said…
Thats why Michael Hyatt is the head of Thomas Nelson. And you are?
January 12, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: WestBow Press

Image
T oday, I’m writing a book review unlike any I have written before. Actually, I’m going to I’m reviewing two books and I haven’t read either one. As you may recall, some time ago, Thomas Nelson announced that they were entering the vanity press market, using the imprint WestBow Press. The first books out of that arrangement are making their way down the pipeline, two of which you can see here. The first thing I noticed when they arrived was the size of the box. I arrived home and saw the box sitting on my front step. My first thought was that they had only shipped on of them. The box is the same sized box Amazon.com uses to ship individual copies of my novels. I opened it up and found both novels stacked neatly, one on top of the other. Both books have the dimensions 6” x 9”, a fairly standard size for non-traditionally published books. Publishing a book with that dimension simplifies the process when a book will be published both as a paperback and a hardback. One of the books is p...
Read more

Review: Raider Publishing

Image
A few weeks ago, I received a request from someone who had come across the popular Review: Westbow Press post. This reader requested that I look at Raider Publishing . After asking this reader a few questions via e-mail, I learned that she had used them to publish a book and was disgruntled with them. One of her complaints was that Adam Salviani was not responding to her e-mail and he was “unavailable” when she called his office in New York. This was brought on by her concern because she had not received an advance copy of her book and found that it had been published without her being informed. In her e-mail, she stated that she had been in contact with other customers and they had received the same treatment. I did what I normally do when I receive a request like this concerning a company I don’t recognize. I looked for as much third-party information as I could find on the web. Interestingly, I did that search before I realized she was disgruntled and I found relatively little to...
Read more

Is Tate Publishing a Scam?

Image
T oday, I want to take one more look at Tate Publishing and Enterprises LLC. In case you missed Tuesday’s post, Tate Publishing is a subsidy press that focuses on unpublished authors. They charge a $3,990 publicist setup fee, but they do appear to have sufficient staff to justify their claim that they have allocated $27,000 for each book. Today, I want to look less at promises and more at results. In the interest of showing rather than telling, take a look at the video below: One of the services that Tate Publishing provides is that they create fifteen second spots like the one above and run them on cable networks. They promise 80,000 impressions. Or to state it another way, they promise that 80,000 people will see that commercial. Someone from Tate Publishing is welcome to correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they charge an additional fee for these commercials. The way I would expect this to play out is that each commercial will air one time with about 80,000 people watching. T...
Read more