I foolishly posted a request for reviews of my book in one of my longtime Goodreads Review groups. Sadly, this group doesn't seem to have a moderator and has become a free-for-all. As far as I am concerned, in this particular group, if people are not reviewing or requesting reviews they should be kicked. One person, however, has posted an ad for casinos and it seems that most of those who had a legitimate interest have gone--except the plethora of hopeful authors seeking reviews.
This group was designed for people who like to review books (i.e. on their blog) and who may not have the funds to constantly purchase books for said review. Unfortunately, it has also been inundated with authors who want reviews and who frequently will ask you to swap for a review after seeing you post a book for one. Even though I specifically responded to one of these authors and said I was not interested in a review swap, another one posted and asked for the same thing. I don't ever recommend doing a review swap. I will post on this later.
Since I did not realize it was no longer a useful, moderated group, the "foolish" was that I offered my email so that I could be contacted for a copy of the book if anyone was interested. Naturally, I was spammed by the members of this group who should have not been members.
Some of these spammers actually insulted and threatened me--telling me if I didn't want to pay for a review I was not serious about my work. If anyone tells you this, they are full of bologna. Not paying reviewers is standard, but paying for a review to be posted on Amazon violates Amazon's terms of service.
Now, if you want the New York Times to review your book, paying $20,000+ is standard. However, everyone should realize companies pay big bucks for those, and readers should take them with a grain of salt. There is also Kirkus, which is, I believe, $450. Paid reviews must, by Amazon's terms, be on the page and not part of the regular review section--and real paid reviewers adhere to this.
The spam I got was all the same: Buy my review. Some people tried to hide it on websites that offered free reviews, but only guaranteed paid ones. This is similar to what Reader's Favorite does, except Reader's Favorite has been around a while, it actually does review books for free, it does not offer to post on Amazon (where paid reviews can get you and the reviewer banned), and it has a real annual competition that you may or may not win if you pay to enter it. Is is small scale? Yes. Is it real? Yes. Unlike hiring Joe Smooth to write a smashing book review for you and then leave the marketing all to you, Reader's Favorite will post the good reviews on their website and in their newsletter.
Most of you who have been following me know that I review for them. But like all my work, I work for them because I believe in what they do.
Low reviews are not posted--and some people might take issue with that. I do not because I am not forced to give a good review--whether the person paid or not. I also am okay with this because I never have to post any of my reviews anywhere. Why would I want to post a bad review to my blog? Do I really want to share with you what not to read--or an example of how not to write a book?
Reader's Favorite and the authors market my reviews. Technically, even when I give a bad review, the author could take the positive things I say and post those without the negative to his/her Amazon page for the book. Reader's Favorite reviews are not in the actual "Review" section of Amazon, but posted on the page by the author instead--in compliance with Amazon's terms of service.
Another reason I support Reader's Favorite is because a low review should be a learning opportunity for any author. However, with independent publishing posted low reviews can ruin the author permanently. Big traditional book companies who can not only send free books to the New York Times but also get the editors there to read them by paying for a review, or they may have a group of screened willing reviewers who react positively to anything. Therefore, big publishers can get not only bad books to make money but also help bad authors keep publishing their books. That's not fair in my opinion. So, Reader's Favorite offers indie authors a way to screen their own less than stellar books, to learn from mistakes, and to invest in promoting books that get higher reviews.