Tom Schantz , well known in book circles for running the RUe Morgue bookshop in Boulder for many years, unearthed this scam from www.bookreview.com:
Get your book listed on BookReview.com!
Here at BookReview.com
we often find ourselves digging out of an avalanche of newbooks. After much consideration, we have decided to offer two new [paid] services to help you get your book listed and/or reviewed on BookReview.com quickly and easily.Our New Author Listing will allow you to post a description of your book in our New Author database. Your listing will include the title, author name, isbn number, category, publisher, web address, and a description of your book. It will automatically link to Amazon.com so that visitors to the site can purchase your book. While the listing is not a review and therefore can not be used in your promotional materials, it is still a great opportunity for publicity. Your book will be searchable by author or title in our advanced search section. Each New Author Listing costs $20, which can be paid with MasterCard or Visa on our secure server, or with a check via snail mail.
Our Express Review Service guarantees that your book is placed at the top of the reviewers’ pile. At a cost of $125 per book, this service guarantees that one of our professional reviewers will read and review your book within 15 business days of receiving it. The review will be posted on BookReview.com as well as Amazon.com and will be eligible to become a BookReview.com Book of the Month.
Once the review is completed, you are free to use any part of it in your promotional materials as long as BookReview.com is credited.
Paying for a review… now there’s a good idea. I wonder if they will even let you write it yourself…or do they charge extra for that?
Obviously, there’s no limit how far some people will go to take advantage of authors desperate for publication and recognition. I wonder how many iUniverse/Publish America authors, who’ve already paid plenty to get their unpublished books published, will shell out for this scam?
They seem to have three judgment categories: very good!, excellent! and must read!
And they’re all written by Harriett Klausner. Or, to be more accurate, I haven’t found a review that wasn’t written by her.
This is my vision of heck.
HK reviews everywhere. It’s almost impossible to beat her to reviewing a book at Amazon.
But if you need someone to read and review a book on a deadline, she’s a great person to turn to. She can crank them out like no body’s business.
Harriet Klausner seems to review for dozens of websites as well as posting on amazon and barnes & noble. She has never given a bad review — at least as far as I can tell. But her name doesn’t seem to have any clout as far as bookcover blurbs go… I think I’ve only seen her used on one book, a paperback mystery by Catherine Dain from Worldwide.
I’ve seen her show up a few times. But the number of interviews she gets is amazing.
Heck, she uses the exact same review at every site. How do I start submitting to multiple places?
As the Associate Editor at BookReview.com I am in charge of the Express Review Service. Your assumptions are completely wrong. Our service does NOT promise a positive review. If you wish to see proof, email me and I’ll show the slams I have posted on some of our Express Reviews. Paying for our service simply buys you a timely review, something that cannot be promised by any free review service. Every writer providing a review deserves to be paid for the service. This does not mean paying for a rave, it means paying for the reviewer’s time and written word. Every writer is entitled to reimbursement. And lastly, Harriet Klausner is not one of my Express Reviewers. She does post her reviews to the site but she is not on the staff at BookReview.com. My reviews have become blurbs on numerous bookcovers and can be found all over the internet, but it is not my goal in life to become the number one reviewer at Amazon.com. My goal is to give authors what they ask for…a review of their work. Sometimes I have to give bad news, sometimes I do give a rave, but in the end, authors respect what I have said about their book. Can you buy MY respect? Nope. But you can get a review from us within 14 business days. And that’s no scam. Perhaps in the future you should do your research before claiming something is a scam. Research is always the best investment you can make in your writing. It’s a shame you neglected to do so.
Sure, a reviewer should be paid. By her editor, not by the person whose work she is reviewing.
You argue that the reviewers, despite being paid by the author or publisher for their comments, can maintain their objectivity and journalistic integrity. Paying for a review, you say, doesn’t guarantee a rave or that the reviewer will tread gently.
Okay, for the sake of argument, I’ll take your word for that.
How could anybody respect a book review that’s paid for by the author or publisher? How could anybody trust a critic who takes paid by the subjects of her reviews?
Of course the assumption is that a review that’s bought and paid for will be positive. If a book gets a negative review from her, I’d have to figure the author’s check bounced…or he wouldn’t kick in the extra $50 for a rave.
You don’t seem to get why anyone would question the validity of a review that’s paid for… or a critic who is in the pocket of the author or publisher. You also don’t seem to grasp the major ethical problems, either…or how the practice creates a glaring conflict of interest.
Would you respect a movie review from a critic hired by the studio? Would you trust Consumer Reports on their review of a car, appliance, or other product if they were paid for the review by the manufacturers? Would you respect a restaurant review from a critic who was paid by the chef?
Apaprently, you would.
As a publisher, bookseller and a professional book reviewer (The Denver Post, What Do I Read Next?) the payment of a fee to insure a review–even if that review is unfavorable–is unethical. I recall when a friend’s book was blasted in a Times review, he was depressed until I told him that in one week all anyone would remember was that the Times had reviewed it; the week after that people would remember it as a favorable review.
Yes, reviewers should be paid (we are) but the money should never come from the people who are being reviewed. Period. You can call it anything you want but I call it unethical.
Buying Praise
The following comment from Bill Williams was posted in the back-blog discussion a blog entry of mine regarding an iUniverse author who feels that I’ve pissed on her parade by slamming vanity presses. Her book was positively reviewed by bookreview.com,
Buying Praise
The following comment from Bill Williams was posted in the back-blog discussion a blog entry of mine regarding an iUniverse author who feels that I’ve pissed on her parade by slamming vanity presses. Her book was positively reviewed by bookreview.com,