Malasz

Over on the Tenka International blog, Michael Norton wrote a post entitled " Book Reviewers Don’t Charge Enough, And Why You Under-Appreciate Them ". In it, he explains the importance of book reviews in promoting one's work. While on the surface that seems like a no-brainer, he emphasizes the importance of book review blogs and how they help to spread the message about your book. Book reviewers are the people who take the time to set up a website and cultivate a dedicated audience. They are under-appreciated by most independent authors, because most writers have no idea how to effectively market their work, and thus fail to see book reviewers as what they are: hubs, trusted by pre-established audiences, that directly influence awareness and conventional opinion of a writer’s work. Norton then attacks the idea that book reviewers should be giving it away for free. Many reviewers read and write for free, under the insecure belief that admitting that they’re professional cri...

First, let me emphasize that New Podler Review of Books does not and never has charged money for book reviews. The only payment we get is a copy of the books we review. So the following article and questions are simply posted for conversational purposes. The New York Times has a story on the rise and fall of GettingBookReviews.com , a service owned by Todd Rutherford where, for a fee, authors could commission several dozen 5-star reviews and get them posted on Amazon and other online markets. “I was creating reviews that pointed out the positive things, not the negative things,” Mr. Rutherford said. “These were marketing reviews, not editorial reviews.” In essence, they were blurbs, the little puffs on the backs of books in the old days, when all books were physical objects and sold in stores. No one took blurbs very seriously, but books looked naked without them. One of Mr. Rutherford’s clients, who confidently commissioned hundreds of reviews and didn’t even require them to b...