As you build your street team, your review numbers will naturally climb. But getting reviews is hard early on, and even when you’re established, it’s good to have a reliable review service you can lean back on.
Because of Amazon’s ever-changing guidelines for what reviews are legitimate and how readers can enter reviews, many review sites have come and gone over the years, and they often don’t stay around long. Paying for reviews is strictly banned, and so is blatant review-swapping. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t workarounds where you can get extra exposure and a list of detailed, honest reviews testifying to your story.
While the options are constantly changing, here are the top three book review sites of February 2022 with an overview of how they work and what they offer writers.
At its heart, Pubby is karma-based. You get a certain number of “snaps” when you sign up, and you can earn more by reading and reviewing work from other authors. You can use these snaps to boost your own book to reviewers and get more reviews.
Pubby has a lot of unique advantages, including the potential for unlimited reviews and the option to pursue verified purchases—which cost more snaps but look so much better on Amazon! If you want to check it out, Pubby does have a free ten-day trial where you can try their system and get a set of reviews without spending a dime, determining if it’s a good fit for you before you commit to a monthly subscription.
BookSirens is perhaps the most talked-about review site. Its platform focuses not only on getting posted reviews of your book, but on getting influencers to share the word. This means you can get publicity as well as reviews from book bloggers, book Youtubers, BookTokers, as well as micro-influencers from every platform.
BookSirens has two payment options, either per book or per month, meaning that you can fit your promotions to your level and choose to have ongoing campaigns or quick bursts whenever you have a new release.
If you’re looking for something minimal and hands-off, Booksprout is a solid option. Booksprout offers advanced protection against free-book-snatchers and piracy, while still having a large network of reviewers. It’s also largely hands-off, meaning that after you upload your book and choose the date you want reviews by, Booksprout takes care of the rest.
Booksprout also wins on the price front. It has a generous free plan which allows up to twenty reviews per book. While there is no good way to enforce that every ARC taken will get a review, reviewers are held up to strict expectations, and it is possible to kick out reviewers who never leave reviews.
How do you get early reviews for your books? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. You can also click on the blue button for further discussion on my Facebook group for self-publishing fiction writers.