Blogger Talk #1: Pet Peeves

Since I don't have as many books to review nowadays (work and being a grown-up really gets in the way of fun, haha), I'm going to start a weekly segment called Blogger Talk. Feel free to participate in this and post your links in the comments. If we get enough bloggers participating, then I will start a Linky for it. To kick things off, I'm going to talk about the things that really bug me as a book blogger. I hope you guys let me know the things that bug you, too, in the comments. I'd like to get a dialogue going with these. I want to talk to you all more than I get to. :)

Publishers not informing reviewers that a book is part of a series
One of the things that bugs me the most as a book reviewer is when publishers put books on NetGalley and Edelweiss without telling us that the book is part of a series... and that the book uploaded is #2, 3, 4, etc., in the series. When I click on a book to review, I don't want to have to read 7 books beforehand just to review it, especially when the review is due very soon. I just don't have the bandwidth to take on such a task. I have deadlines that I'm working around with these books, as all book bloggers do, and I wish that publishers would be more cognizant of that. Also, sometimes when they don't tell you that the book is part of a series, and it's not clear on GoodReads either, you end up reading the book and it makes no sense because all of the explanations happened in the first installment. Well, then the book is going to get an awful review, which isn't good either. For situations like this, I just don't even try to review the books anymore. More often than not, I write a note in the review box on NetGalley or Edelweiss to let the publisher know that I won't be reviewing the novel since it's part of a series and no one thought to tell the reviewers this. It hasn't seemed to make a difference because the publishers still do the same thing, but at least I don't feel like I'm the one dropping the ball.

Random people who use your comment space to write their own reviews
Whenever this happens to me, I mark the comment as spam. I mean, wtf? Get your own blog and work hard to maintain it if you want to review things. Don't take up my space. Yes, that might make me sound bratty and selfish, but I've worked my butt off to build and maintain this blog. It's my space, and while I like to hear what other reviewers thought, I don't want someone trying to steal my thunder with a 12 paragraph long review. It's bad manners. Period.

1-2 Chapter teasers on NetGalley and Edelweiss
If I wanted to read a sample or teaser, then I'd have one sent to my Kindle. To me, NetGalley and Edelweiss are for books that are to be reviewed, not chapters that publishers want to taunt readers with. Then when we don't review the one chapter teaser, our review percentage drops, making it harder for us to get books to review, which makes our blogs less interesting and gives us less stuff to talk about. It's just a crappy deal all around, and NetGalley and Edelweiss shouldn't allow it, in my opinion.

Awful grammar in reviews/comments
Yes, I am a grammar nazi. I'll admit it. But in my opinion, if you're going to be critiquing someone else's writing, then the least you can do is write decently yourself. If you don't know the difference between then and than or you're and your, then chances are you also don't know what good writing is. Educate yourself before trying to pretend that you have an intelligent opinion on something. It'll make people take you more seriously.

That's all I can think of right now. What are some pet peeves that you have as a blogger? Do you think my pet peeves are ridiculous? I'd love to hear your ideas/opinions!