Valentine's Day Redux

Had I gotten the galleys for two Valentine's Day novellas before February 14, I would have gotten the reviews to my editor so that the stories would have been highlighted on or before the day in question.

I still don't understand why the review copies of  John C. Houser's Valentine Shower and Bru Baker's Campfire Confessions were sent after the fact.  Once upon a time, I was a PR person for a small publisher.  I remember having trouble convincing editors why it was important to get galleys out to review outlets in a timely manner.  Any publicity at any time was okay with them, but not for me.

And something like Valentine's Day novellas being reviewed before Valentine's Day seems like a no-brainer to me.  Obviously not to Dreamspinner, the publisher of these two stories.

The overall concept of a Valentine's Day rainbow, with covers in the colors of the rainbow--in this case green for Baker's title and blue for Houser's--is a clever one.  Perhaps Dreamspinner has enough paying members that it doesn't need outside sales, in which case promoting these stories to reviewers isn't necessary.

But I've yet to see a publisher that turns away sales, as this one did, by not sending review copies in enough time for reviewers to recommend the books as perfect add-on Valentine's Day gifts.