Support for Indie Authors discussion

Has anyone ever used Hidden Gems to get reviews? Is it a scam? Does Amazon leave these reviews up? They give an ARC of your book to uncompensated subscribers who they claim leave a review about 80% of the time at a cost of about $2 each for the service to arrange it. It seems too good to be true.

Hi Jordan - I have not used it personally but my cousin is an author and he had success with Hidden Gems (eg. number of reviews, not necessarily number of good reviews of course!).

I've seen it mentioned enough times on various forums that I believe it to be real - though if anyone has heard differently I'd definitely be keen to know.

Linda wrote: "Hi Jordan - I have not used it personally but my cousin is an author and he had success with Hidden Gems (eg. number of reviews, not necessarily number of good reviews of course!).

I've seen it m..."

Thanks for the info! Did your cousin feel like he got really harsh reviews?

Jordan wrote: "...at a cost of about $2 each ..."

According to what I'm seeing, you have to request at least fifty reviews and, if you get that many, will be charged a total of $140. That's close to $3 a review. The very minimum you will be charged, if they can't find enough readers for you, is $20.

Overall, it sounds pretty sketchy.

Thanks, Dwanye. I'm comfortable with their rates I think, as along as they deliver what they claim.

I can't see the point of paying for reviews that may or may not show up and Amazon will likely remove if they catch on.

They don't really claim to deliver anything, if you read their web site carefully. So, you're paying for, potentially, nothing. You might end up paying twenty dollars for one review that Amazon will likely take back down.

I used IndieReader for a very similar “deal” and got 2 reviews. I canceled when after several months I didn’t get any more. They reimbursed me for the reviews I didn’t get, only to come to find one of the only two reviews I’d paid for was taken down lol. I found that A LOT more reviews come from just doing free promos.

Same here, Leah. And, in my opinion, they're more honest than those coming from readers who feel obligated to a service to provide reviews.

Leah wrote: "I used IndieReader for a very similar “deal” and got 2 reviews. I canceled when after several months I didn’t get any more. They reimbursed me for the reviews I didn’t get, only to come to find one..."
Good to know. Thanks for the feedback, Leah.

Dwane, you’re probably right. Jordan, no problem.

I'd steer clear of 'paid for reviews'. The whole thing reeks of blood-sucking if there's no guarantee and Amazon doesn't like it either.

Sorry to be so blunt but the only way to get more reviews is to write more books so that each feeds the other and reviews trickle in. Yes trickle, and that's if you're lucky.

Of course, if you have one of the big publishers behind you they may do things differently - so that's another way to get reviews! But we like being Indie, don't we? For good reasons.

Concentrate on the writing and let the reviews take care of themselves. Easy to say, hard to do!

Linda wrote: "Hi Jordan - I have not used it personally but my cousin is an author and he had success with Hidden Gems (eg. number of reviews, not necessarily number of good reviews of course!).

I've seen it m..."

I think they were ok overall, not too harsh! Yes it's hard to know with these sorts of things... paid-for reviews do have the benefit of convenience, without having to wait for them trickle in... but perhaps not worth it necessarily?

I'm still experimenting personally, I'll let you know if I have any good tips :D

I used them. I didn't get a lot of reviews but it was a YA book and they told me they were still building their YA list plus it was a sequel. I wouldn't use it for a sequel again but I would use it for a first in series.

Thanks for the info Linda and CL!

I had a good experience with them. My book is a post-apocalyptic book, which isn't their specialty. They focus on romance, and I believe they are currently building their other genres up. I had 15 people sign up for my book, and I received 13 reviews within about a month of it closing.

I felt the reviews were very fair. The criticisms that I heard were not unfamiliar from what Beta readers had told me. Some of the reviews were not very thoughtful, but the majority of them you could really get a sense of whether or not you touched them through your writing.

Overall, I was very pleased with Hidden Gems.

Robert wrote: "I felt the reviews were very fair. The criticisms that I heard were not unfamiliar from what Beta readers had told me. Some of the reviews were not very thoughtful, but the majority of them you could really get a sense of whether or not you touched them through your writing."

Not sure why this should matter. Reviews aren't for the writer, anyway. Readers should not be required to be "fair" or "thoughtful".

With that, a gentle reminder that our code of conduct discourages discussions on reviews. Because of the topic, I've been allowing people to talk about whether they got reviews or not, etc. but let's steer clear of discussing the quality of the reviews.

Dwayne wrote: "Robert wrote: "I felt the reviews were very fair. The criticisms that I heard were not unfamiliar from what Beta readers had told me. Some of the reviews were not very thoughtful, but the majority ..."

I'm not here to argue, but I would like to respond since it doesn't appear that I broke any Group Rules. I was simply trying to give some honest feedback to a question that was asked. I thought that was the point of this discussion.

"Not sure why this should matter. Reviews aren't for the writer, anyway. Readers should not be required to be "fair" or "thoughtful"."

I believe reviews are for both the writer and the readers. I have received excellent feedback from reviews that I consider in my future works. This is raw, genuine feedback on what people liked or disliked about your book.

And I never stated that they should be required to be fair or thoughtful. I was simply stating that I believe Hidden Gems reviews were.

I was also responding about the quality of review because of what
the original poster asked in message #3.

"Thanks for the info! Did your cousin feel like he got really harsh reviews? "

You let that question go without any moderation from your end, so I responded to their question.

Robert wrote: "I'm not here to argue, but I would like to respond since it doesn't appear that I broke any Group Rules."

#5 - Reviews happen. We aren't here to discuss them or swap them.

Discussions about drive-by ratings and negative reviews are discouraged. Do not discuss what you feel are your reader’s “responsibilities” to you. We understand that negative reviews can be hurtful and upsetting, but this is not the place to vent about them.

Comment deleted. Topic closed.