Comments on: Paying for a professional book review? Here’s how to avoid getting ripped off

By: Episode 433- Taking Stock and Measuring Progress - Sell More Books Show

Episode 433- Taking Stock and Measuring Progress - Sell More Books Show — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 11:02:20 +0000

[…] Tip #1: Slow & Steady Tip #2: Oh How You’ve Grown Tip #3: Review the Reviewers […]

By: Thomas Duffy

Thomas Duffy — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 20:25:39 +0000

I have so much to say and I feel I’ve said enough to BlueInk. I’m sure some people have had lovely experiences with BlueInk who write less frequently than I do. It was my belief that reviews drove sales initially especially if they were positive but regardless of the outcome of the reviews I’ve received (from any source), I’ve never seen sales go up. The only time I seem to sell books is when I interact with people in person. Again-my experience, probably not everyone else’s. I saw people saying bad things about Kirkus here which prompted me to post. I’ve always felt Kirkus was thorough in their analyses–again positive or negative. I re-read BlueInk’s review of my last book and felt it was rather harsh. I asked for a review and I got a review. Hopefully we get some positive posts here to lighten things up. Thanks for the reply.
PS Authors would probably like to hope the $400 they spend on a review would lead to sales. As you pointed out, not the case.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 19:56:57 +0000

In reply to Thomas Duffy.

I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed with their reviews, Thomas. Regarding this point — “$400 a review and not many sales to show for it!” — I’m not sure why you’re linking low sales to the review.

Sandy

By: Thomas Duffy

Thomas Duffy — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 11:59:46 +0000

BlueInk Review started off great with terrific reviewers. I appreciated the feedback on five reviews they did for me whether the reviews were positive or negative. Then, they started giving me reviews which were poorly done. For example, I had to write to them to have them acknowledge a book they reviewed was about the pandemic. How does that fly under the radar? They then added a sentence to the review to try to make up for their error. Then, more recently, they reviewed my last book without focusing in on the topic of religion (what the book was about) and making an opinion that a character was unlikable. Subjective? Yes. Accurate? Not so sure. I guess the message I am trying to get across is that I felt ripped off by BlueInk when they didn’t originally mention what my two recent books were mainly about (the pandemic and religion). It has steered me away from writing and publishing books as frequently as I was. Though I am sure I will publish again, I will have to avoid most paid reviews. Just not working for me. $400 a review and not many sales to show for it! BlueInk could improve by focusing on the topic the book is about before submitting a negative review to the writer. And yes I’ve been scammed by non professional book reviewers who took money and put something positive up that wasn’t so thought-provoking and probably bogus. I expect less from a $50 review than a $400 one, though. But, you shouldn’t have to tell a book reviewer company that the main premise of the book should be in the review. I don’t know. These last two reviews have been bugging me for two years. BlueInk at one point set the standard for me. Now I wonder how thoroughly they read the last two books I sent them. The pandemic book definitely raised an eyebrow when they didn’t mention the pandemic. The other book they could have read, but if BlueInk wants to provide me specific examples (at least three) of how my character was unlikable outside of the review, I’d be curious to see it.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 18:05:18 +0000

In reply to Elle. I've never heard of them, but thanks for the warning.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 15:08:38 +0000

In reply to Elle. Thanks for the warning, Elle! What happened? Sandy

By: Elle

Elle — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 15:03:43 +0000

I had a terrible experience with UpLit Reads and would caution others not to use them.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 13:40:38 +0000

In reply to Marcha Fox. Wow, Marcha! I hope you complained to Kirkus Indie with a request that they stop using that reviewer. People like that give the program a bad name, and you can't sell authors on services when people who have gone before you have a legitimate complaint about what they paid for. Your experience is with the reviewer, not the company, and that reviewer should have been ousted. Sandy

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 13:36:16 +0000

In reply to Karen.

Thanks, Karen. I see your logic. One of the takeaways for me from this discussion goes to Patti’s second point — who are the professional reviewers? That seems to make a big difference. A reader review service is a whole different animal.

Sandy

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 03:41:38 +0000

These comments just make me think it’s probably better all around if I go with reader reviews from a reviewing service. I’m just as likely to get good as bad feedback, and if I can get more eyes on my work, Amazon won’t care since the reviewers aren’t paid, unless you consider providing an ARC as payment. I volunteer with a reviewing agency that charges a fee to authors for providing readers who will write reviews. Authors pay for the service, and in exchange readers who receive free digital copies of their books leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as in blogs and other places online. I’d rather spend my money that way…it’s probably cheaper and at least some of the reviews will be fair and honest.