The review game.

[John M. H. Pratt]

Thanks for the input on my first discussion everyone. My next dilemma is the review game. Do I pay for reviews? Do I "pad" my amazon reviews by asking friends to write? My book is 29 pages, less than 850 words, and would only take a reviewer 20 minutes to read - should I pay someone $150 - $300 to review it? Please give me your thoughts.

Thanks,

John

[Alison M.]

Don't ever pay anyone to review your books. That's incredibly sleazy.

If you do anything, you should send your book to book bloggers/reviewers. They'll do it for free.

[John M. H. Pratt]

Sleazy? I thought it was part of the industry, I've seen sites advertise that looked legit...I did send my book to the bloggers/reviewers but I thought getting multiple reviews was a key to selling more books?

Thanks Alison!

John

[Alison M.]

As a reader, I find it very sleazy. To me paid opinions aren't honest opinions. How can I trust anything that's being said about your book?

Multiple reviews are what you want but I don't think paying for them is the way to do it.

[John M. H. Pratt]

Thanks Alison.

[ManOfLaBook.com]

"part of the industry" is have other authors review your book, giving you good marks, in the hopes that when the time comes, you'll return a favor - I believe the most famous ones are done under the banner of the New York Times.

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Ms.Tiptress]

Agreed!

[Eylat Poliner]

Never pay anybody to review your book.  Ever.  I have gotten several people to review the author I work for, without having to pay for the review.  What is your book about. 

[John M. H. Pratt]

It's a children's picture book story about a family of robins. It's 29 pages and less than 850 words.

[Natasha House]

Aw, I'd like to review it!  You can contact me through my blog http://author-reviewer-garble.blogspot.com/

[John M. H. Pratt]

That's very kind of you Natasha, I went to your site but didn't see a way to contact you. Nice site by the way! When you have a minute I'm at [e-mail]

Thanks!

John

[Jenna Lynne]

I would write an amazon review for it too! I blog about adult books but am a teacher and write reviews on amazon/goodreads for every book I purchase for my kids. Let me know if you're interested. :)

Here's my blog: Between the Bind

[TJDell]

You should never pay for reviews.  The most compensation you should offer a reviewer is providing them with a free copy.  Amazon actually has a policy against hosting paid reviews, and they will delete them.  Besides many readers know who the 'professionals' are and it will give you a negative stigma.

 

The people charging for reviews have to make it sound legit, but they are just trying to take advantage of newbie indies :(

 

Hang in there the reviews will come eventually, and keep plugging away at bloggers and on goodreads.