Are Kirkus Reviews Worth It?

Sonya Heaney

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Personally, I view Kirkus reviews in a similar light to Harriet Klausner reviews: I ignore and am unimpressed by them. Other people might have a different opinion.

I'd rather spend that money on advertising/promotion on popular sites that cover the genre/s I write in. (For example, for US$50 you can buy a month of advertising on major romance book site Smart Bitches Trashy Books.)
 

InsomniaShark

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From the Kirkus reviews I've seen, it seems like the majority of each "review" is summarizing the book, and then there's a couple vague sentences at the end praising the book (and maybe one sentence with a vague criticism). So they don't seem helpful.

I rely mostly on blog reviews and customer reviews. Do you have any extra ARCs laying around? Maybe you could offer them to some bloggers for review, or offer them in giveaways on LibraryThing or GoodReads (they both have programs where members can volunteer to read/review a book, then after a certain amount of time a set number of members are selected by a secret algorithm, and you're given their address to mail the book to).


edit: To clarify, I meant I rely on blog and customer reviews as a reader when figuring out which books to get. (And I participate in LibraryThing and GoodReads as an early reviewer).
 
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Paul Lamb

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Honestly, I would be skeptical of the value of any paid-for review. I suppose there's a lot of lip service to being fair and balanced, and no promise of a good review, but, c'mon, you're paying someone to review your book. Likely it's going to be generally positive. So what value can you take away from that?

Similarly, if I read a review that I know's been bought, how much am I going to trust it?
 

Polenth

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The issue is that places like Kirkus and Publishers Weekly aren't really aimed at readers. They're aimed at other publishing professionals. Self-published authors are trying to reach readers, who won't be reading those reviews.

I had a review from Publishers Weekly for one of my books (it was free... I didn't pay them anything). It didn't do anything for the book.

The best places for reviews are book bloggers and the like. Their audience does consist of readers, so that sort of review usually means a few sales. You also can do this for free if you send digital copies, so it doesn't matter as much if it doesn't work out. Given the subject, you might find general parenting bloggers who'd take a review copy as well.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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As a book reviewer, I look askance at Kirkus Indie reviews because I’ve seen positive ones attached to books I wasn’t impressed with. Some journalists won’t know the difference between regular Kirkus reviews (free to trade publishers, aimed at librarians, often very negative!) and the paid reviews. But to reach readers, yes, blogs are the best idea, unless book bloggers aren’t really a thing in your genre.
 

veinglory

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Kirkus Indies is also very happy to give you a review saying your book is rubbish, which you pay for. I've seen those too.