Support for Indie Authors discussion

I apologize if this is posted elsewhere... I did a search and didn't find it.

I was just wonder what people's experiences have been with read and review programs to get more reviews? I learned about them a year ago and thought it was a good way to get more reviews without having to (let's face it!) beg family and friends.

I signed up for the Choosy Bookworm program and it has not been a good experience. They promise about 40 interested readers and a ~50% review rate. It cost $150 and after four months, I have gotten only ten readers and two reviews--not worth it! I had heard good things about them, but this was incredibly disappointing. (I asked a couple of other authors being advertised there and they had similar bad experiences, so maybe it used to work but no longer.)

I'm trying the program on authorsxp now and it seems to be going better so far.

Has anyone had good luck with these programs?

Paid reviews are paid reviews, regardless of whether the company taking your money states otherwise, this is in violation of Amazon tos and FTC rules. The grey area these companies are exploiting is that they do not compensate their reviewers, but the free book in exchange for a review is compensation and needs to be noted as such.

The (few) reviewers I got did note in their review that they received a free copy and gave an honest review of their own free will.

I've done Read and Reviews on Goodreads. I've done it through a Goodreads group. This cost no money whatsoever. I just gave the readers free copies of my books. It was the same as ARC's except I did this after my book came out. I believe I got 5 reviews on Goodreads because of it, which was what I wanted to get anyways. So, I would say that I had good luck with the one that I've done.

Which Goodreads group, Emma?

Honestly, I am beginning to feel like a complete idiot for signing up for the Choosy Bookworm thing. But in spite of what I thought was a very nice note at the end of my book requesting reviews, it feels like it's so *hard* to get reviews.

Shut Up & Read is the group I'm part of. I try to give back and review other people's books as well. A little hard when I'm pressed for time.

I know there are other groups that do Read and Reviews, but I honestly haven't looked to into them. I joined Shut Up & Read to find new books and their Read and Review was just an added bonus to it.

Thanks, Emma! I'll check it out! I have done a couple of review groups on Goodreads, like swap reviews and review group. I think it's preferable when it's a group where the readers get to choose the book they want to read instead of being assigned, so the reviews don't start with "this isn't a genre I like so I'm not going to give it a good review."

Not a problem. It is nice being able to pick and choose which books you want to review and which ones you don't.

Annabelle wrote: "I apologize if this is posted elsewhere... I did a search and didn't find it.

I was just wonder what people's experiences have been with read and review programs to get more reviews? I learned abo..."

I've used AuthorsXP Read & Review. I've gotten 12 requests and had 6 reviews, all pretty good. I've also had back and forth with most of the requesters, so they are now added to my email list for promotions, etc. Not bad for 12 free books.

I think authorsxp is a better choice if you are going to do read and review. I would honestly warn anyone against Choosy Bookworm. Their offer is essentially fraudulent.

Annabelle wrote: "I think authorsxp is a better choice if you are going to do read and review. I would honestly warn anyone against Choosy Bookworm. Their offer is essentially fraudulent."

A. wrote: "Annabelle wrote: "I apologize if this is posted elsewhere... I did a search and didn't find it.

I was just wonder what people's experiences have been with read and review programs to get more revi..."
Thanks you two! This is helpful.

Christina wrote: "Paid reviews are paid reviews, regardless of whether the company taking your money states otherwise, this is in violation of Amazon tos and FTC rules. The grey area these companies are exploiting i..."

Kirkus offers paid reviews. I'm sure that they're not violation of FTC regulations

John wrote: "Kirkus offers paid reviews. I'm sure that they're not violation of FTC regulations "

And Kirkus reviews may not be posted as customer reviews or else they violate the FTC regulations. Editorial reviews, as we have noted, are different.

I haven't used for my upcoming book, but have used authorsxp read and review to get books to review.

Gisela wrote: "Annabelle wrote: "I apologize if this is posted elsewhere... I did a search and didn't find it.

I was just wonder what people's experiences have been with read and review programs to get more revi..."

Annabelle,
have you tried the Amazon top reviewers? I wrote two books about this topic, the blue one details how to do it right. These reviews are free but you'll have to provide a free review copy.

The biggest issue is that Amazon removed the top reviewers email addresses but there are still quite a few who review books. You 'll just have to look in the reviewers' profile descriptions to find the addresses. I'd say there may be about 500-600 of the top-10,000 who still accept review requests.

You can also can foreign reviewers, simply replace the .com with
.co.uk
.ca
.com.au

to get to these lists.
Hope this helps,
Gisela

Comment deleted for: Self promoting, off topic, and suggesting review swapping.

I tried eBook Discovery's and Story Cartel's Read & Review ads with no luck. Different books. One review each. Not worth the $ for me.

A Fantasy wrote: "Sort of on topic... "

Not even close to on topic. And it's not appropriate for our forum. If you have a beef with an author, take it up with them. This isn't the place to discuss it.

EBook Discovery did refund my $ when my book only got one review. At least they have good customer service. Otherwise, I don't think the read and review sites that charge are worth it in my experience.

Annabelle wrote: "I think authorsxp is a better choice if you are going to do read and review. I would honestly warn anyone against Choosy Bookworm. Their offer is essentially fraudulent."

I recently paid for a promotional package with Choosy Bookworm, I didn't see any offer of reviews (paid or otherwise) on their site. Perhaps they've amended their offering since you last used it?

Sherell wrote: "I found an interesting article that has helped me find bloggers to review my novel. Thought I would pass it along to see if it helps anyone else. Go to the IndieView website or google it. It has li..."

Don't get hung up on blogs and bloggers.

My wife's book has a blog by Gary Sinise on the cover. It didn't fly off the shelves.

What is this "Authors XP?" I googled, but it seems... I don't know, a bit sketchy to me. What's the catch? Is it worth it? How does it even work?

Has anyone used onlinebookclub.org? The prerequisite is to pay for a book review. Does this service work? Is it worth it?

Andres wrote: "Has anyone used onlinebookclub.org? The prerequisite is to pay for a book review. Does this service work? Is it worth it?"
Never heard of it, but any service requiring payment for a review would violate Amazon's terms of service.

Agreed, if you plan to use Amazon as a main source of distributing your product, you need to make sure they BUY from your Amazon page, and that you do not pay anyone for a review, because it will not be accepted by Amazon (you need legitimate reviews there). Amazon also has discretion of which comments/reviews they allow and which they do not. Supposedly (and I don't know if this is hearsay, but I have seen quite a few people mention it), they do not allow people who have not purchased at least 50 dollars worth of products through Amazon to keep their reviews up. This is either because they have not got enough information on the person to consider if they are a reliable review, or this is their way of getting more money. But, I do know that they require that much in spending, and it is likely due to their own setup on how they make products viewable to potential buyers (through suggestions). One way or the other, do not pay for someone to review your book unless it is strictly through Goodreads, or if it is only for your person benefit in knowing where you stand with your readers. If you want to have legit reviews on Amazon, make sure they purchase it through Amazon and that they typically read your genre, because it will be used in a formula to determine who to market it through in their system.

Good luck!