Reviews, to pay or not to pay?
Once you enter the arena as a self-published author, the enormity of the community you find yourself in, can be quite daunting. The dreaded word ‘marketing’ comes into play and the dream becomes a reality. The largest part of being successful in sales appears to be reviews, which in itself is really quite obvious as you don’t have an Agent or Publishing House telling the world that yours is the book to buy. It’s up to you to find people to pass this message on.
As Naomi Blackburn says in one of her articles on reviews (Critique Clinic, Feb 20, 2013) ‘When it Makes Good Sense to Pay for a Book Review’ it ‘can be an important tool in the book marketers tool box’ and lists the benefits as:
- Professional, quality review from a reputable critic.
- A positive review from a respected organization increases credibility and perceived quality of self-published book.
- Their market relevance makes them a good tool.
She makes an interesting marketing comparison between Underwriter’s Laboratories, which tests the safety of electrical products being placed in the consumer market and Kirkus/Publisher’s Weekly covering the areas of:
-Use of professional staff;
-do you pay for review; are you required to use it;
-are they an established organisation?
-and is there a guarantee of a positive outcome?
The point is made that as a business, a book review is on par with other forms of advertising.
41