Reviews, to pay or not to pay?
However, Jennifer Mattern in her article ‘Should Indie Authors Pay for Reviews? (Indie Publishing.com Jan 21, 2013) expresses alternative views:
- Not knowing if you are getting honest feedback. Reviewers may be ‘afraid of how you’ll react or they’re afraid others won’t pay them for the same; there are ethical paid reviewers, but you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference’.
- If you pay and insist on positive results; you ‘aren’t ready for honest feedback/you aren’t ready to publish’.
- Google: ‘Don’t like paid reviews’ meaning you can be penalised leading to people not being able to find you on Amazon.
There are some notable comments at the end of her article, which are worth reading, (Links to sources can be found on the Index page.)
‘Reason to pay for – reviews can help to sell books’ acknowledges Joel Friedman (The Book Designer, Aug 29, 2012) and that ‘lots of people are now trying to make money from self-publishers and many of the services being offered are from professionals who know their stuff and will work hard to help you make your book a success’ but then warns that paying for reviews is ‘dishonest to readers and cheapens the entire review process’. He also says that ‘going through the process of blurbs, testimonials and reviews is one of the best exercises in feet-on-the ground marketing.’
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