Support for Indie Authors discussion

Has anyone had a blueink review? I was disappointed in mine because it's pretty obvious that the reviewer didn't actually read my book. I'm guessing they skimmed through it briefly. The representative at my publishers office made this sound like standard practice, but that stuns me. How can someone review a book they haven't read. What good is it? Overall, it had a lot of positives, but I don't want a false review. That seems slimey-ish...?

Leslie wrote: "Has anyone had a blueink review? I was disappointed in mine because it's pretty obvious that the reviewer didn't actually read my book. I'm guessing they skimmed through it briefly. The represen..."

Leslie wrote: "Has anyone had a blueink review? I was disappointed in mine because it's pretty obvious that the reviewer didn't actually read my book. I'm guessing they skimmed through it briefly. The represen..."

Hi Leslie,
I've been a BlueInk reviewer for over two years. I cannot speak to your particular situation because of course, I don't know anything about it. But if you read the rules for reviewers on the BlueInk website, the rules are definite: "you must read the complete book from cover to cover."
Regardless of what your publisher's rep told you, I can assure you that for over two years, I have read every word of some pretty awful books (and some absolutely excellent ones) every time I reviewed one.

So if you believe the reviewer did not do that, email BlueInk's editor, give her some details that will help make your point, and ask her to rectify the situation.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm waiting to hear back from my publisher regarding some glaring discrepancies. Those who have read my book, and those who have read the blueink review are astounded, because it looks pretty bad for whoever actually did the review. Your comments give me hope that the situation will be rectified.

I've worked directly with Patti Thorn, BlueInk's co-founder, and found her to be dedicated to making each review fairly represent the book reviewed and beyond reproach ethically.
Some examples. There are times she has accepted my reviews essentially "as is," others where she and I traded emails until, working together, we both felt we had the review "right," and even one where she gave the book to another reviewer after both she and I had read it, agreed the book was excellent, but disagreed on whether it deserved a "star" rating.

Thanks Charles. I'm guessing Patti Thorn DID NOT review the review that was sent to me. Whoever did it doesn't even write in complete sentences. It is very unprofessional. I'm usually a pretty easy going person and give lots of leeway normally, but this isn't something I can let go.

Hopefully Blueink will do the right thing. Mostly, at this point, I am a little upset with my publisher who's immediate response has been to deny and defend at all cost. As a business owner myself I know that we all make mistakes. The difference between a good and bad company is how those mistakes are remedied.

Leslie wrote: "Thanks Charles. I'm guessing Patti Thorn DID NOT review the review that was sent to me. Whoever did it doesn't even write in complete sentences. It is very unprofessional. I'm usually a pretty ..."

I just want to jump in and interject here. This is why you look for sources that don't require you to pay hundreds of dollars for a book review. There are PLENTY of reviewers out there that will do it for free! That, and I could never be satisfied with anything less than a 5 star review if I actually PAID someone to review my book. That is all, carry on!
*I understand part of it is also paying for the 'privilege' of being in their magazine, but you can put your ad revenue to better use.*

Riley, I agree in hindsight. I bought a package through my publisher that included the reviews. I was led to believe that it was standard practice and didn't really do my homework properly. I'm paying for that now.

Leslie, We take your concerns very seriously and are investigating them currently. Our reviewer guidelines demand that all books are read fully from beginning to end. We will respond to you privately as soon as possible.

Patricia wrote: "Leslie, We take your concerns very seriously and are investigating them currently. Our reviewer guidelines demand that all books are read fully from beginning to end. We will respond to you priva..."

Thank you Patricia. If you would like me to provide you with the detailed email I sent to my publisher, please let me know. I would be happy to email it to you directly.

Hi-

Do NOT go for BlueInk in the future. They are unprofessional, and refuse to deal with specific points raised. Patricia (above) doesn't even wish to look up unknown words in the dictionary, or respond to the specific details of BlueInk's contractual obligations *after* quoting them back to me. Documentation here:

http://alexsheremet.com/blueink-revie...

Thanks,
Alex.

Hmmm... I'm sorry that happened to you Alex. I was actually quite pleased with how Blueink handled my complaint. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's how those mistakes are managed that matters. I hope they are able to resolve your issue satisfactorily in the future.

Hello Riley, I saw your comments about getting books reviewed, 'There are PLENTY of reviewers out there". I just had my book published by Outskirts Press and was wondering if you could give me some tips how to get reviews in and outside Goodreads. I will appreciate that a lot.
Babru Samal

Babru wrote: "Hello Riley, I saw your comments about getting books reviewed, 'There are PLENTY of reviewers out there". I just had my book published by Outskirts Press and was wondering if you could give me some..."

We have a write up just about that on our website http://SupportIndieAuthors.com!
You can read it here: http://www.supportindieauthors.com/fe...

Hello Riley,
Thanks for the quick response. I visited the url and for sure there are plenty of leads to follow up. I will start working.
Babru

Hello, all-

After 6 months of silence, I received a phone call from Patti Thorn this morning with an apology for BlueInk's behavior as well as a refund. I cannot take the article down, for ethical reasons, but have also- for ethical reasons- added the following addendum wherever the article appears:

[UPDATE 11/11/2015: I have just received a phone call from Patti Thorn, owner of BlueInk, indicating that she has refunded my money. She also apologized for the original review and admitted it should have been handed over to another staff member and re-written. So- I am thankful for her honesty and willingness to admit error. That said, I do wonder whether I’d have gotten such courtesy if I were some no-name hack with zero readership and zero pull. I accept the apology, and to BlueInk’s credit, they did not ask me to alter this article in any way, nor guilt, manipulate, or entice me with any promises.]

I have to say that I got a pretty fair shake from BlueInk. The review showed that the whole arc of the story had been appreciated (as opposed to James Burt's review in Foreward Clarion).

I was glad to find this strand because I recently shovelled out big bucks for a Blue Ink Review as well and was very disappointed.

My understanding of an "Editorial Review" was an unbiased, reader-focused review of one's work and the review I got was very opinionated and it was obvious the reader hated my work (not to mention missed the whole point). If I could've found one redeeming or usable quote in my review I would've published it regardless, but could not. I submitted an inquiry asking if there was anything they would be willing to do, such as social media postings or something to help promote me as an author, since I gave them $395 and now have nothing reputable to show for it. No word yet :/ Yikes...

Sarah, I’m a bit confused. On Amazon, there’s no excerpt for the book, and the publication date is 8/21, nearly two weeks away. Yet there’s a 5-star review, from someone who reviews lots of books and gives them all five stars. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon flags it.

I don’t know a lot about Blue Ink, but… This is your first novel and though your bio says "she quickly gained attention on Amazon and various booksellers' sites" I can find no mention of any previous publication, anywhere. So you may be overdoing it a trifle.

And…I looked at the review you spoke of, and don’t see a problem. They had nice things to say about the plot, and the characters. Their complaints were about the editing, and the realism of the dialog. And based on the example given, they were accurate. But even there, they were kind, and said it’s common in self-published books. They were especially kind with: “The intimate narration – as though Elle is confessing this whole story to a friend,” which is a nice way of saying the viewpoint is that of the author, talking about the events, not making the reader live them in real-time—telling, not showing.

Never forget, you paid for the review, you weren’t buying a friend.

My experiences with Blue Ink have all been positive, but it's good to see that they're willing to admit to their mistakes and rectify them. Re paying for reviews, the upside is that there are plenty of free sources out there, but the downside is that because they don't charge, they're usually booked (pun intended) to the gills, or your book is placed in a pool and whether you get a review depends on whether someone chooses to read it. From a marketing standpoint, if I have a new book to push, I can't afford to wait anywhere from 2 months to almost a year to get a review--or not get one at all.

So if you can afford it, a paid editorial review is worth it.

An editorial review is good, but it depends on who you get as to whether the you get something usable out of it. Reader's favorite you can pay for three reviews and I found that I got two out of three that were usable for quotes. It's cheaper than Blue Ink.

Now if it was only that easy to get reader reviews....

Jay wrote: "This is your first novel ... I can find no mention of any previous publication, anywhere. "

She's published several novels under another name.

My partner (a first-time author) just had two reviews come in, one from BlueInk and one from Kirkus. The BlueInk review was thorough, with some good criticism and some much-appreciated thumbs ups. The Kirkus review touched only on topics covered in the first 1/4 of the book, and the final chapter. The meat of the story happens (as with most books) in the middle, with some critical character development. That was completely missing from the review. I read afterward that Kirkus reviewers don't tend to get paid a whole lot, so maybe that's why the book wasn't read in full. Why pay for a review of a few chapters of a book? It was a lesson learned.

Who pays that kind of money for a review, and is that really honest?

Bonny wrote: "My partner (a first-time author) just had two reviews come in, one from BlueInk and one from Kirkus. The BlueInk review was thorough, with some good criticism and some much-appreciated thumbs ups. ..."

I paid Kirkus for a review and it was obvious the reviewer hadn't read the whole book, didn't understand it, and panned it inappropriately. The review could have been written by a poor high school student.

Not having either the book's name, I can't comment on it or the reviews, but in general:

First, it's a review, not a critique. So they don't have to read the entire book. You can tell the quality of the writing and recognize structural problems in 1000 words or less. And as for the flow of events within the novel, reading every word isn't necessary there, either. The idea is to tell the potential reader if the writing is captivating and the plot is interesting, notgive them a synopsis. In many ways, a review is a blurb written by an outsider.

The meat of the story happens (as with most books) in the middle, with some critical character development.

But unless the pages leading to it are, in and of themselves, raw meat that demands that the reader keep turning pages, they won't.

Again, I've not read the book, and I mean no insult. But, if the writing of that novel didn't make that Kirkus reviewer read every word, and praise them, who's at fault?

I looked at a few of the BlueInk reviews and I wasn't impressed. Their formula seems to be: Say something nice about the plot in overview, then try to be kind about the writing.

Their fiction reviews of books that a publisher would have rejected on page one because the author was still using their school-day report writing skills—rendering it virtually unreadable—had comments of:

"Unfortunately, the writing sometimes falters." and " This keeps readers from fully immersing themselves in the world XXXX has worked to build."

That's way past being kind. The thing to remember is that when you pay for a review, you're buying a product. If the New York Times reviews you, they choose to do it. And the one doing the reviewing has earned that position by having demonstrated the ability to approximate the average reader's tastes in fiction. Kirkis and Blueink's pay-for-review service has no such hiring criteria.

So, for a fraction of what those reviews cost, you can buy a handful of great books on writing techniques that will improve, not complement the writing.

Kirkus has great standing in the literary community and I'd pay them (and have) for a review. They are fair and at least honest. The review that I paid for was for a book that still hasn't been published but it fully pointed out my weaknesses. Sure it had a McGuffin but it needed more excitement and better writing. It was spot on.

I have paid for Kirkus Reviews several times. The first one I purchased because, as first-time writer, I wanted some feedback on my collection of short stories. My first review was written based on reading part of the first story and reacting with disgust to one of the characters. I complained to Kirkus. I stated that, as a former teacher, I expected a review to have at a minimum the same elements present in a sixth-grade book report: genre, identify audience, brief synopsis, response to writing quality, mention of notable positive or negative aspects of the book, and summarizing opinion. I did not expect a review to reject a book of realistic short stories based on disliking a character.
Kirkus agreed and I got a new reviewer, got a starred review, and made the list of one hundred best indy books. Since then, I have gotten around sixty reader reviews, all four or five stars, and people go out of their way to write long, thoughtful reviews.
In the end, all Kirkus has done for me in terms of marketing is give me quotes I can use in the blurb and in ads, though the second review was a boost to my confidence.

That is all Kirkus reviews are good for--use as quotes and if you got a stared review. They are editorial reviews and as such you can use the review for quotes on Amazon or in marketing if they are good. It does show some legitimacy but for $450, I'll pass for now.

I had a Kirkus review and wasn’t happy because the reviewer didn’t seem to understand the subject matter of a statement they made.

These review services are a waste of money, if you are looking for a review where a reader actually read and understood the words on the page with even a basic grasp of logic.

P.S. wrote: "Who pays that kind of money for a review, and is that really honest?"
I don't believe they are honest. I was hoping for constructive criticism at a minimum, but instead, it was extremely poorly written.

Like you, I had a review, and it seemed like they had someone with a limited understanding of English, like a grade school student, read it. The person wrote very poorly and misunderstood simple basics regularly. One criticism I had from the reviewer was that a city name (invented by the story) was misspelled. This sort of criticism is completely unusable since the city name was invented for the story and was also consistently spelled the same throughout.

James wrote: Paying for third-party reviews is a marketing expense. I do not expect much, which is why you need to pay for 5-6 or none. You just need one positive review to have a marketing purpose, and you can suppress the others.

Anyone who thinks that book reviews are predictive of anything regarding sales or quality or later impact should read this lovely take-down of the 'profession.'"

No links please

A review that you pay for should be from a reputable company. Of all of them out there, Kirkus is probably the best, and of course, the most expensive. I've heard that BlueInk is hit and miss. The same with Reader's Favorites. And the kicker is that they are only good to use for quoted or editorial reviews on Amazon.

I did one with Kirkus a few years back. It was decent and I got a quote out of it. But was that worth the $450 I had to pay. In my opinion, no. It was a waste of money.

So start with readers from your email list who will do an honest review for you when the book goes live. That is the reason you have one--fans to support you. Those reader reviews mean more than any paid review does.

B.A. wrote: "A review that you pay for should be from a reputable company. Of all of them out there, Kirkus is probably the best, and of course, the most expensive. I've heard that BlueInk is hit and miss. The ..."

Great advice B.A.

I'm pretty late to this thread, but years ago I paid for a review from BlueInk for my first published book. Based on what I got in return, I can say with certainty that the anonymous so-called professional who wrote the review only read the first three chapters plus the final chapter.

It was a lazy and thoroughly dishonest screed written by someone who skipped two thirds of the book and made selective quotations to make it seem as though they'd fulfilled their contractual obligation to read the book from cover to cover. The final insult was that the review came in the form of a shoddy PDF which downplayed the actual page count, making the book seem shorter than it actually was.

But as a newly self-published author, I felt there was no point in arguing since it was my word against this anonymous reviewer's word, so I quietly killed the review.

I have tried other editorial review services (not Kirkus) and gotten much better quality reviews and feedback, notably from people who have enough integrity and professionalism to attach their names to what they write, but were those reviews worth several hundred dollars a piece? Not really. Amazon customer reviews are worth far more.