Book publisher prefers poor customer service to a simple fix …

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If you have liked some of the WaterBrook Multnomah titles I have recommended — or appreciated being steered away from a few! — then you’ll have to wait on any further recommendations since I won’t be reviewing for this publisher, at least for a while.

With my relocation back to California to launch a new ministry, I have had to set up a post office box as a means of receiving my mail for a while. When I notified WaterBrook Multnomah of this change, the response was that they will not send review books to a post office box. Contrast that with the responses of other publishers who had no problem with the change, and with Thomas Nelson Publishers adding, “Let us know if you need anything else!”

It’s odd how publishers will recruit someone to review their books, but too consistently provide poor customer service to such people who are providing a service for them. Reviewers provide publishers with almost free marketing and sales, all for the cost of a book! Yet, WaterBrook Multnomah noted they are busy with 11,000 bloggers and have to keep things automated and cannot (will not) make exceptions.

It isn’t that they cannot mail to a post office box, it’s they won’t solve a very simple procedural deviation, but instead opt to dismiss someone who doesn’t fit exactly how they want to do things. To cover for this, they pointed to shipping by UPS and that such shipment requires a signature. My response to that was every book I’ve ever received from them was left for me without a signature, and the post office has my signature on file as a program it offers to receive mail requiring signatures!

Publishing is a business, and some publishers treat those who benefit them as just another number, rather than someone who is contributing to their success. In the business world, that’s simply called bad customer service. Because of it, I’ll be spending more time sharing with you reviews and recommendations from other publishers.

There’s a lot of good reading out there!

Scotty