Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Buying Book Reviews on Fiverr

Do people actually do this? Apparently so. Is this legal or, I don't know, ethical?

I have recently seen mentions of paid product reviews and paid book reviews through Fiverr. (It has apparently been going on for awhile, but sometimes I think I must live under a rock because I'm oblivious.) So today I decided to check it out while browsing around the site. I honestly could not believe it! There are many people who are charging to do book reviews. And not only that, some of them are charging extra to post it to the various retail sites or Goodreads. I even saw quite a few which say they will give you a "positive" or "glowing" review. From the looks of things, some authors are snatching up the opportunities.

I must say that I am disappointed. When I check out the reviews on a book, or any product for that matter, I am expecting it to be the reader's honest opinion. For some reason, I don't think we are getting that from a paid review through Fiverr or any other paid site. I have been reviewing books as Krazy Book Lady on and off for 3 years now, and while I have chosen to not post reviews for books I didn't enjoy, I have never once charged for a review.

Judging from how many sales some of these people on Fiverr have, it makes me wonder if I've been going about things the wrong way...

What do you think about paid reviews?

1 comment:

  1. I actually had to tweet this post because I thought I'd seen it all. Honestly, if someone really wants to pay someone to review a bad book (I'm assuming the books are bad, otherwise an author wouldn't need to pay someone to review it), then by all means. Readers aren't fooled by glowing reviews. A quick look at the cover, blurb, and sample pages and we'll instantly know if the reviews seem shady or not. And it's not doing the author any good because word of a bad reputation spreads fast in this industry. Not worth it!

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