Bloggers Are Still Important to the Publishing World, but They’re Disappearing

by Anne R. Allen

This week I’ve been hit hard by signs that publishing industry bloggers are disappearing into the Substack world of “become a paid subscriber to continue reading this article.”

But it’s also obvious the publishing world still needs us!

How do I know? This week, I’ve been buried in emails from book marketing people. It’s so overwhelming I sometimes feel I’m the only blogger left standing. Some emails are obvious scams, but others look pretty legit. But there are so many, I feel like I’m under attack.

There apparently aren’t enough bloggers to go around anymore, so those of us who are left are being hit by everything the scammers and marketers have got. Every minute of every hour. Over and over again.

Instead of the usual 10 queries per week from people who want to guest post on this blog on topics they “know your audience will love” like men’s sexual health, pet hygiene, and dating in Mumbai, I’m getting 20+ pitches an hour.

And every publicist in the world seems to think Ruth and I write book reviews and do author interviews. (We don’t.)

Plus the blog spam has quintupled in one week. I used to get a few spam comments a day from tech services and porn sites, but now I get dozens, advertising everything from airport transportation services in Port-au-Prince, to putting a spell on your ex. But most are indecipherable to me (and probably most of you) because they’re written in Cyrillic or Japanese.

The point is I’ve had well over a hundred of these pitches and at least 300 spam comments in the last week. So publishing people apparently still need bloggers. I guess we still must have some power to move things along in the business.

Book Trailer Creators are Multiplying like Bunnies on Crack

Then of course there are the book trailer* people. They are legion. I’ve heard from well over a two hundred in the last week — sometimes 10 an hour. Some want me to advertise their services and give them backlinks and free recommendations.

But mostly they want me to hire them to provide a trailer for my “book” (always assuming I’ve only written one, of course) which they LOVE.

So can’t I just send these solicitors and their bots to spam and hope for the best? Sure. But they follow up 4 hours later — before the spam elves have got the memo — whining about the fact I haven’t responded yet. How dare I eat or sleep or have a family? Don’t I know I’m the source of free labor the book marketing world counts on?

They may mostly be bots, but they’re clever bots that don’t get caught by the spam elves or the blocking algorithms.

This is brute force attacking. It’s like the brute force hacking attempts that have shut down this blog many times in the past few months. It’s enough that I think of giving up the blog and maybe giving up the Internet entirely and moving to a Unabomber cabin somewhere in the deep woods.

*BTW, I know readers are supposed to be influenced by non-verbal advertising on TikTok and Instagram, because readers hate — you know — reading. But how many sales are really generated by book trailers? This is how many books I’ve bought because of a book trailer: ZERO.

Bloggers Make the Book Marketing World Go Round

I think the very first thing they teach in marketing school is that bloggers are like fat bottom girls. We make the world go round. Here are some of the remarkable things marketers seem to believe about bloggers.

Bloggers are a Free Labor Force

Many people in the business believe we are magical minions who will do anything you ask — for absolutely no compensation — as long as you act rude and entitled.

Bloggers will Review Any Book

Some bloggers write book reviews, so marketers in need of reviews send queries to a bunch of random bloggers — not bothering to find out if that blogger reviews romantasy or erotica or whether they write reviews at all. Who cares? The point is to let those bloggers know who’s boss.

Bloggers Love to Promote Your Products and Services

Some bloggers recommend products and services, so marketers of those products and services expect ALL bloggers to recommend their products and services. Out of the goodness of our hearts.

Bloggers’ Guidelines Should be Ignored

Marketers must be taught that they’ll get cooties if they ever read guidelines on a blog. It is up to the unpaid blogger to copy and paste their guidelines into an email so the highly paid marketer doesn’t waste any of their precious time doing homework.

Bloggers are Mind Readers

I put this blog on hiatus for six months last year after I got pushed too far by a marketer who not only refused to send me copy for her guest post on time, but refused to tell me what book she wanted me to spotlight — although I asked several times. Then she had a temper tantrum because I spotlighted the wrong book! How dare I not read her teeny, tiny mind?

Does this Stuff Happen on Substack?

This is why bloggers are disappearing, folks. I don’t know what it’s like on Substack, but I suspect authors aren’t expected to do all this stuff over there. On the other hand, I suppose it’s exciting to know we have so much power that all these people want to get publicity through our blogs.

I’d love to hear from bloggers who are sticking it out. Or the ones who have quit or moved to friendlier waters. Did this kind of stuff happen to you? Do marketers expect you to do their work for them? Did you simply have enough?

Do let me know in the comments.

by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen and annerallen.bsky.social) July 20, 2025

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