Making the most of Kirkus Reviews

[Jaime]

Stephen,
I got a wonderful review from Book Viral this morning !
Something to be happy about !

[Sean]

I read the first page of this feed and it's getting late, so I'll just ask... are there any "pay for review" services that charge under $50? I'm thinking in the $10-$45 range.

[Amie]

Sean wrote: "I read the first page of this feed and it's getting late, so I'll just ask... are there any "pay for review" services that charge under $50? I'm thinking in the $10-$45 range."

I'm not sure about the various "pay for review" services out there. But I did find the free review service from Reader's Favorite to be worthwhile pursuing. You can add that one to your list, if you haven't already done so.

[Stephen]

Amie wrote: "Sean wrote: "I read the first page of this feed and it's getting late, so I'll just ask... are there any "pay for review" services that charge under $50? I'm thinking in the $10-$45 range."

I'm no..."
Great tip about Readers' Favorite. I went for the $59 express review.

[D.]

I was thinking about entering the Wishing Shelf contest which will also do a review. Entry fee is $45.

eBook Discovery has a read and review service for $48 where they post your book for 5 days and readers can download it for free. They're encouraged to review the books they read. I didn't have luck with that and only got one review. I contacted them and they posted it again for free.

Story Cartel does the same thing for $25 and they post it for 3 weeks but I also didn't have much luck with them and they posted it again. I can't really recommend these sites because they didn't seem to work for my 2 books.

[William]

I never have have nor will I pay for a review. I would also question if anyone has ever had paying for reviews or other 'autor services' for that matter paid off?

[Stephen]

I haven't previously paid for a review. Readers' Favorite says they review books for free, but it can take several months. I paid for faster response. I've found that it's very difficult -- even next to impossible -- to interest professional book reviewers in reading and reviewing a self-published book. I was hoping to get some pro feedback through Netgalley. I got several mostly favorable reviews, but none from reviewers at recognized publications. My book has been well received by readers on Amazon and Goodreads, which has been very gratifying. But I can't quote them.

[D.]

Reviews are hard to come by but they help sell your book. Most readers don't do reviews. My goal in trying to gain more reviews through read and review sites was that it might help me get a BookBub promo. BookBub can launch a book or author.

[Stephen]

I made my first stab at at BookBub promo recently, with the most commonly noted result: nada. I'll try again in a month or so.

[Jaime]

Silence is Golden !

[Tavi]

Making the most of Kirkus review? Don't pay the enormous and outrageous fee of $425! Make a donation instead!

[Gisela]

Stephen wrote: "I haven't previously paid for a review. Readers' Favorite says they review books for free, but it can take several months. I paid for faster response. I've found that it's very difficult -- even ne..."


Stephen, major publications (e.g. NYT, WaPo etc) do not review self-published books or books published by small imprints any longer.

During the Great Recession most of these publications laid off editors. By the time that dreadful period was over, book bloggers had taken over hence newspapers let it be.

My advice is to contact known book bloggers.
A second option are writers' magazines.

Since print magazines have limited space you'll probably reach your goal faster if you seek coverage in an online publication.

[Joni]

There are many free services.
I never understand why pay for reviews. It's not like it will magically generate sales. Readers are not stupid, if reviews are paid for they are biased to some extenet.

Besides the token free of websites that may have to handle loads of volume, I fail to see how you can justify throwing money away. 50$ to review the book? terrible practice, in my opinion.

[Gisela]

Joni wrote: "There are many free services.
I never understand why pay for reviews. It's not like it will magically generate sales. Readers are not stupid, if reviews are paid for they are biased to some extenet..."

Joni,
Even though I am not a Kirkus fan (I don't think that they write very good reviews) I will admit that a favorable Kirkus review helps to get books in public libraries.

I had one of my books, an email "how to" book for STUDENTS reviewed by Kirkus. I marketed four (4) of my books to libraries, this student edition got purchased most often.

But here is the catch:

Among the four books I marketed is also my a "grown-up" email book edition that was featured in an extremely reputable magazine and also sells around the world. It was not purchased as often as the student edition that I had reviewed by Kirkus.

So I asked a librarian whether the Kirkus review "made the difference." She told me that yes, librarians religiously read the Kirkus review magazine, but libraries really buy according to their needs. My student edition might be more attractive because college students who NEED to borrow books from libraries will in fact borrow it. Also, HS teachers may want to borrow it, as well as parents. Lastly, most libraries offer teen-programs.

Summing it up: a favorable Kirkus review will help to get the attention of librarians but they will only buy if they have a demand for the book.

[Gisela]

Stephen wrote: "I just had an extraordinary email exchange with John Reese of BookViral. I plan to share it here, but I will wait until he has had a chance to read and perhaps react to my response."

Thank Stephen,
I can't wait. This sounds exciting. :))

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Team wrote: ""

Team Goofwell, I've asked you a number of times not to spam our pages and not to post links. You continue to ignore the request. Please stop.