Would you pay for Advance Review Copies?

[Marty Shaw]

I recently found out an online magazine, Rumpus, is going to start a "fairly unique sort of book club" in June. For $25 a month, you'll be able to receive an unreleased book to read and review, and the best review of that book will be published on the site.

Personally, I'm not thrilled with this "unique" idea. Why are we paying for the honor of promoting an author's book to increase his/her sales in addition to providing free content for their site?

What do you think about it?

Source: Media Bistro

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

I'm not crazy about it, either, for the reasons you've already mentioned, Marty. =S

Yes, they should be paying the reviewers--not the other way around--especially if one has no control over the genre of the book or other factors. (Why pay to read a book it would normally be a chore for you to read?)

Besides, twenty five dollars a month and you have no guarantee that you'll be published??? It's not a very good deal.

And what if the book isn't that great and you write a poor review? Will you even have a shot at getting published?

I suppose if you want your name to be better known in the blogosphere or in the industry, so that you can get free ARCs from other publishers and more followers on your own site, then it would be a good thing to try. But remember that there are still no guarantees about being published.

[The Girl from the Ghetto]

Sounds like a dumb idea, to be honest.

[Book Calendar]

Baen Books does this with their E-ARC program, slightly less than a hardcover, more than a paperback. It works for them. I bought one of their books. It is not a unique idea. http://www.baen.com I would only pay for something that I wanted to read immediately. There is no review though.

Of course if you join Netgalley, you can get electronic arcs for free. These are however not hardcover books.

[Monique Burkes]

I'm not liking the idea.

[Thomas Watson]

This feels horribly exploitative to me. The idea of paying someone for the privilege of writing reviews for them is fairly ghastly, especially when they may have hundreds of other 'reviewers' doing the same.

What really confuses me is the fee. If I've read correctly, you'd be paying them $25 a month for ONE book of their choosing. I know you're getting the chance to read the book before the general public, but it seems to me that you're paying way over the odds for it.

Horrible idea that will probably make someone in a suit rich, and a lot of honest/gullible people unhappy.

[Lindsay_Reviews]

Yeah, I'm thinking "No Thanks" the minute someone says I have to pay to be included. Especially for something like this where I would be doing the actual work. Seems a bit shady.

[Mary Salvato]

Some might be interested, but not I. I'll keep my blogging free thankyouverymuch.

[Stephanie Suesan Smith]

For the reasons mentioned, I would decline. I choose the books I review and if I pay for them it is because I want one I can't get, not because some suit thinks I am a sucker.

[e-mail]
http://blog.stephaniesuesansmith.com

[Marian Perera]

For $0.00 a month I already get ARCs from Sourcebooks, and for an equally low fee my reviews are published on my own blog site as well as Amazon's or B&N's.

When my book was released and I needed people to review it, I gave them free copies. I certainly didn't expect them to spend their money to promote it!

[Kathleen Garber]

Um NO! I MIGHT have paid $1 if I had lots of money and I wasn't able to get free review copies, but that's not the case (either of them.) Why would I pay $25 for an ARC whose review MIGHT get published when I could buy a brand new book for that price and read it whenever I wanted.

[chrisbookarama]

Sounds scammy.

[Marie.]

I totally agree!