Who makes money reviewing? I guess influencers could be called reviewers? Or are they a non-opinion reviewer? I’ve never been sure what an influencer is.
I make no money reviewing. I receive a book in exchange for my opinion. The author has no guarantees and I’m under no obligation to auto-like their work.
Sounds risky. Sounds – why? Why spend hours reading and writing a…book report?…for a book I might not like?
This publishing industry is not for the faint of heart. It’s not the glamourous life we see on TV. It’s sure not Murder, She Wrote. If you are in this industry you know the frustrations. The gut clench when you find a new review – who’s the reader, what did they think, are they real. What do they want in return – it happens. There are writers who will leave a great review wanting one back.
An unknown reviewer can’t be questioned. They can’t be communicated with…not that reviewers really want to discuss the final review as that’s almost always an argument.
No one can question the validity of the stranger reviewer.
No, I’m not saying writing-friends, writers under the same publisher, aren’t being honest. I’ve reviewed authors I know, we accept the distance between friend and professional.
But, how will the non-writers know this? I have stated it in my reviews. I keep to my site only for reviews…Amazon plays games with reviews.
Mix up your reviews. Search out places with no connections to you, at least have some degree of separation from you.
The only cost should be a copy of your work.