Is there a reliable way to get book reviews?

This is the bane of any self-publishing writer, but reviews are what we succeed or fail by ultimately because everyone wants to know the opinions of others before buying and reading. I see two problems:

1. If someone reads a book they like, they often just enjoy it and don't post a good review unless they explicitly become fans.

2. If someone reads a book and doesn't like it, they are much likelier to post a bad review because people remember things they hated more than things they loved.

Eventually I may resort to something like hiring people on a site like Fiverr.com to post reviews at $5 a pop. Other than explicitly paying for it, I don't see a reliable way to get reviews. Most people are lazy, even when it comes to helping someone they enjoy reading or benefit from reading.

Are there any reliable ways to get book reviews without paying?

Getting reviews without paying would probably take forever. I once paid someone on fiverr to do something for me to get publicity. I don't really know what he did but I saw my book on a few sites. I also paid someone else on fiverr to give me a review.

I do think it's very hard. A real struggle, unless you're a big somebody, or you've got loads of books and then maybe buyers of one book will buy more, increasing your chances of one of them getting a review.

That's why I'm taking a break from writing books and working on an information product instead. It's a shame, because I love writing books and I would like to do more of it. But it's so hard to get sales and reviews. I read lots of books and I don't leave reviews often. It's just one of those things. You read it, then you move on. Only if I feel really strongly about it will I do it. It would be good if you had to leave one, or at least leave a star rating. They should make it compulsory before you buy another book.

Sometimes I wish there was an internet mafia that you could pay to get people to do what you want.

Once this forum gets more members, hopefully we'll be able to have a good little network where we can all help each other. I think that might be the only way to do it these days. The strangers of the internet don't care and the "Good Ol' Boys" club of the internet doesn't care about the Little Guy, so we have to form our own little internet mafia.

I'd be willing to write book reviews for you guys in exchange for the same courtesy when I release my own books.

Also I'm wondering if anyone is interested in doing purchase exchanges on fiverr to bump up our reviews and level up on there? When you start hitting level 1+ things really start taking off and you can make a full time income on there. Problem is when you first start out you barely make any sales because they only promote sellers who have a lot of sells on there

cbcsurvivalist wrote:I'd be willing to write book reviews for you guys in exchange for the same courtesy when I release my own books.

I'm in. However, we would have to be cautious because I've been told that Amazon might punish users for doing mutual reviews. We would need to think of a way around it. Perhaps registering a new account for each new review for a particular person. I'm very interested in developing this idea, but right now I don't know how. But we do need a network of writers who will take action and help each other because the "Good ol' Boys" club certainly isn't going to let us in.

Also I'm wondering if anyone is interested in doing purchase exchanges on fiverr to bump up our reviews and level up on there? When you start hitting level 1+ things really start taking off and you can make a full time income on there. Problem is when you first start out you barely make any sales because they only promote sellers who have a lot of sells on there

I noticed before that only established users get any attention. Do they punish/ban users who mutually help each other?

Hey, maybe that's how we could start doing things: using Fivver to buy book reviews from each other, which would build up two things at once.

Thoughts on any of these things?

cbcsurvivalist wrote:I'd be willing to write book reviews for you guys in exchange for the same courtesy when I release my own books.

Also I'm wondering if anyone is interested in doing purchase exchanges on fiverr to bump up our reviews and level up on there? When you start hitting level 1+ things really start taking off and you can make a full time income on there. Problem is when you first start out you barely make any sales because they only promote sellers who have a lot of sells on there

I'm going to be needing a book cover soon. Is that something you can do?

Admin wrote:

cbcsurvivalist wrote:I'd be willing to write book reviews for you guys in exchange for the same courtesy when I release my own books.

Also I'm wondering if anyone is interested in doing purchase exchanges on fiverr to bump up our reviews and level up on there? When you start hitting level 1+ things really start taking off and you can make a full time income on there. Problem is when you first start out you barely make any sales because they only promote sellers who have a lot of sells on there

I'm going to be needing a book cover soon. Is that something you can do?

Unfortunately I'm only a newb with Illustrator at the moment unless your looking for an amateur book cover

Ghost wrote:

cbcsurvivalist wrote:I'd be willing to write book reviews for you guys in exchange for the same courtesy when I release my own books.

I'm in. However, we would have to be cautious because I've been told that Amazon might punish users for doing mutual reviews. We would need to think of a way around it. Perhaps registering a new account for each new review for a particular person. I'm very interested in developing this idea, but right now I don't know how. But we do need a network of writers who will take action and help each other because the "Good ol' Boys" club certainly isn't going to let us in.

Also I'm wondering if anyone is interested in doing purchase exchanges on fiverr to bump up our reviews and level up on there? When you start hitting level 1+ things really start taking off and you can make a full time income on there. Problem is when you first start out you barely make any sales because they only promote sellers who have a lot of sells on there

I noticed before that only established users get any attention. Do they punish/ban users who mutually help each other?

Hey, maybe that's how we could start doing things: using Fivver to buy book reviews from each other, which would build up two things at once.

Thoughts on any of these things?

Unless they find out somehow I doubt it. I have purchased my own service before to try and get more exposure but there's only so much sales you can do yourself before they catch on. If we do this, we should pm each other with our links. You need 10 sales before you can hit level one. So in order to make this work, you would need either 10 people in on it (ideally) or create multiple accounts. I'm predicting we would need an initial investment of about $40 to get the ball rolling because fiver takes $1 a sale, but once we're at level two, the sales will roll in regularly and we'll be featured on the front page.