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.
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