Short answer: How much money do you have? 😉
Long answer: There are lots of places to get reviews for your book! even if you’re self-published.
- Editorial reviews: There are some big names from the traditional publishing world that will happily review your book for, like $500. If you are made of money and willing to spend $500 for an ego massage and validation, go ahead! I got these for my first book and they made me feel really good about myself, but they didn’t sell books. That said, they’re not worthless, the editors are professionals who know how to turn a nice phrase and you can pull quotes out of the reviews for your marketing. Look for free options, or options that won’t break the bank. Fair disclosure: a lot of these places will review books for free if one of their reviewers WANTS to, but if you want to guarantee a review you need to grease a palm. Decide what you think is reasonable, and do not blow your entire marketing budget on this. (Say, decide one under $150 is reasonable, or one under $75 is reasonable.) These generally do not sell books on KDP and even if you have a brick and mortar strategy, don’t go broke doing this. I sent out a lot of free copies that didn’t get reviewed, FWIW.
- ARC Services. ARC stands for Advance Review Copy. The idea is you give people a free copy and they give you an honest review. This is standard practice in the traditional publishing world, and is totally legit (as long as it’s an honest review–no “I’ll give you a free copy if you give me five stars” business). Also, as the word “Advance” implies, these are more effective before launch. Here are the ones I used for Immortal Gifts:
- NetGalley: This is a big deal in the traditional publishing world. It’s also super pricey; find a co-op or writer’s organization to get a better deal. The people who download your book will be book bloggers, influencers, bookshop owners, librarians, the press, etc. They will review your book where they review your book (perhaps even privately to their library board). You pay your money and let them read. (Note: because they are accustomed to traditional publishing, NetGalley has a reputation for being harsh.)
- Edelweiss: This is very much like NetGalley, but not as famous or expensive. Looking at who downloaded my book the times I’ve used it, it’s libraries, booksellers, and things like Teen Vogue. Again, they will read your book and they will review it where they review it. You are not paying to appear in Teen Vogue (and if anyone offers you a chance to do that, run away.) Some of my NetGalley readers posted reviews on Goodreads; none of my Edelweiss readers appear to have done so (but this is not what I am paying Edelweiss for).
- Book Sirens: This is an ARC service that concentrates on getting reviews onto retailers. The people downloading your book will not be Teen Vogue or Rolling Stone, they will be passionate readers who read A LOT of books. If you really want Amazon reviews on launch day, this is where you go. Note: Your book has to be approved for Book Sirens, so please have a good cover and description and be professionally edited.
- Booksprout: This is an ARC service like Book Sirens, but they’re a monthly subscription and they’re focused on reviews on launch day. People get mixed results; I always get reviews from them but a friend of mine never does. Like Book Sirens, these are passionate readers who read A LOT and appreciate feeding their book habit with free new books.
- Email book bloggers (and bookstagrammers and booktubers and booktokers) and offer them free books in exchange for an honest review. This is FREE but also I admit this is kind of a slog and you are likely to get ignored. These folks get a lot of email from authors who want their book reviewed and your chances are better if you can make your book sound appealing and are professional and polite. I will say that I signed up for a service that claimed that they had a huge database of leads for this, when when I got there most of the sites hadn’t updated in over two years. Do your own google searches. Look for who reviewed your comps! You will likely have a low success rate with this, but again, it is FREE.
- Many authors recommend setting up a google form and collecting readers from their newsletter and social media. This apparently works great for some authors but Book Sirens worked a lot better for me. Perhaps because this is my debut novel? or maybe I didn’t flog it enough. 😉 Either way, money cannot change hands or else it violates the retailers’ terms of service. (You pay for access to the pool of reviewers in the services mentioned in item 2; the reviewer does not receive anything but the book.)
ANYWAY. Yes. Get those reviews!
