Jody Rein is starting a new business called BlueInk Reviews that offers to write "authoritative and objective" book reviews for a fee. Their primary target is self-published authors, and the fee will be $395 for a standard review and $495 for a Fast Track review. The reviews will run on their website and Amazon, among others. For books that get starred reviews, the organization will offer ads (for additional money, of course) and they'll give some free ads to the books that win an Editor's Choice Award. (You can read more about this at the Writer Beware Blogs.)
I have no reason to doubt Rein's sincerity or honesty, but boy do I see some problems with this!
1. Objectivity. If you pay me $395 to review your book and it sucks, am I going to feel totally free to say so? Let's face it, a lot of books, both self-published and traditionally published, do suck. Let's say for the sake of argument that the reviews are totally candid. That means the site will have (let's say) 50% negative reviews. Will authors be inclined to pay for reviews when the risk is high that they're paying for a negative one?
2. Credibility. Will reviews that come from a paid source be taken seriously? I doubt it.
3. Openness. Will the reviews that are run on other sites including Amazon be identified as paid? They should be.
I understand the self-published author's frustration at not getting reviewed. Of course the majority of traditionally published books don't get reviewed, either.
My advice would be if you have $395 or $495 to spare, spend it on getting advice from a PR person or publicist with lots of experience in promoting books, not on a paid review.
(You can get lots of tips about how to market your book in my book, "Your Writing Coach," available from Amazon or other online or offline booksellers.)
