I was reading a blog post by Monica Jackson on Blogging in Black that interested me simply because it’s something that’s been on my mind lately. Should I start charging for reviews? Somebody sent me a message asking me if I did on MySpace. (http://myspace.com/joeyreviews add me)
At this point, no. But in the future, I hope to broaden the amount of outlets that I have to put my reviews on. When that happens, I might consider charging a fee to review a book. Now that I think about it, I might charge the fee only if I’m going to broadcast it on multiple outlets. Otherwise, send it, I read it and it gets reviewed…
Monica stated that her ideal world would have reviews and advertising at separate entities. The reality is that reviews are indirectly advertising and marketing. It’s advertising in the sense of promoting the book in a public forum. It’s marketing because the strategy of getting reviews for a books is executed in hopes of generating sales of the book.
Another reason I should be compensated is the amount of time it takes to read a book and write something significant. I takes way more than 60 minutes to accomplish this. Why shouldn’t I get paid for my time and effort? Theoretically, you are not going to send me a book for it to “probably” get reviewed. No, you’re sending that book expecting proper time and effort goes into it to see what it’s about.
Right now, I have about 40 books to review. I’ve had to stop accepting books, so I can focus on the ones I have. The cool thing is that I like to read. I especially like to read books that everybody doesn’t know about. It makes if more fresh that way. But if I’m going to put your book out there, shouldn’t I make something off the front end?
What happens if you pay for a review, and I think you book sucks? Shoot, I might just give you your money back. Better yet, half…I still had to suffer the reading of it, lol.
At this point, I’m just coming up with ideas. But I might be asking for a little ching-ching if I’m going to be doing a lot of promoting of my reviews.
That is to say that you have an audience that reads and values your reviews. This will determine whether you can charge or not. I have gotten book sales off of reviews, so I know the importance of having rave reviews. I also have reviewed books in the past, so I know how time consuming it reviewing can be.
Book reviews are a valuable resource that most authors I know use as marketing materials, so since reviewing books and posting them on multiple forums is a service I don’t see any objections in getting paid for it.
I agree with you 100%. As a reviewer you are taking your time and effort and upon completion you will in return tell people about your review.
The author then gets sales and etc so reviewers should get paid too! As a reviewer myself I know this all too well and the reality is that authors send you books for review they are looking at that as another avenue for advertising and bottomline we should get paid!
Are we gonna get paid? Well that all depends on the that particular reviewer but for myself I am constanstly thinking of ways to to offer authors different promo packages so that it can be a win/win for all parties involved.
Great Blog!
To be honest, at this point I would not pay for a review simply because so many reputable organizations, newspapers, and magazines do them for free. But, if I had the budget for it I would be all about supporting a reviewer.
Monica Marie Jones
I must disagree on the point of being paid for a review. As one who seeks them with a very low-to-no budget, I personally feel that the free book itself is fair compensation. If I’m being charged for the review, then shouldn’t I be compensated for my book?
If the reviewer is feeling burdened by the number of books received, then perhaps that person should limit the number s/he allows to be reviewed within a certain period of time.
Now, the PROMOTION of a book is a bit different. Depending on a person’s media outlet, the number of people s/he reaches, and providing s/he can provide some solid numbers that his/her review greatly increased book sales, then compensation may be warranted. A review PLUS wide promotion of the title may justify some “ching-ching”. But a review alone, no. Why? Because ultimately it is still up to the author to promote the title, with or without glowing reviews.
I get so tired of people thinking that a free book is sufficient compensation for the time and effort in reading their book. It’s not. Point blank, plain and simple. It’s not like I’m reviewing books because I can’t afford to buy certain books that I really want to read.
And giving your book to a reviewer means that you are giving a book to a person who plans on releasing the review on some type of medium. I mean, let’s be real…
If someone’s review gets your book two sales, then you have profited. If it gets you three sales then you have more than broke even. But what does it get the reviewer?
Hm.
What does an author look for in sending a book to a reviewer? The author looks to give their book to a person who will publish their opinion to be read by a group of potential buyers. Right? Right! So an author is looking for free publicity and thinking the book is payment enough? Wow.