Kirkus Review

I think if your book were to get a Kirkus Star and feature in their print magazine, it could possibly be worth the money. But even still, it's almost $500 -- and even if the review is positive (but no star) that's a lot to spend with uncertain results. And if it's negative, it could really hurt you as their reviews are quite high profile.

Personally, I wouldn't spend the money. I'd just focus on other, cheaper, promotional outlets for authors.

It's a personal decision, obviously. A few writers do seem to have seen success as a result of paid Kirkus reviews.

But I would not do it. People sometimes write asking me to review their book, touting their positive Kirkus review. I know those reviews are supposed to be objective, and not all of them are glowing. But I can't help it. Knowing the author paid for the review gives it less value in my eyes.

Because I'm a reviewer, and I would feel extremely uncomfortable giving an objective assessment to a writer who had paid $500 in hopes of getting a promotional tool. I can't speculate on the quality of the reviewers involved; maybe they are rigorously objective and brutal. But if it were me, and I were forced into that position, I might do a lot of damning with faint praise and write a lot of wishy-washy equivocations. I've seen reviews like that, and they don't impress.

What you need is a review from someone who chose to review the book because it actively interested him/her. There is no substitute for that element of free choice (as opposed to paid assignment). Even if the review ends up lukewarm or negative, it may help sell your book to people with the same interests as the reviewer.

(NB: Most book reviewers are paid, of course, just not by the author, and not very much (it's the least cost-effective journalism you can do). And because there are so many books, they have a great deal of choice about what they review. Chances are, if they choose your book and you're not famous, it's because they think they'll like it. They have no time to waste on anything else.)

I don't know how many options you've exhausted, but I would look around for niche publications/blogs with audiences who might have a special interest in your novel and focus on getting free reviews from them.

Kirkus is notorious for harsh reviews. Even in books they give stars to, they usually find a flaw. There's no difference with the paid reviews. They can be brutal. You might look through the Indie reviews on their site before you make a decision. In the recent paid reviews, for example, one I saw had this gem:

The disjointed narrative is likely to alienate some readers, especially near the end, when it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s actually happening

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Once it's posted, it's posted, and no take-backs or do-overs. but there are some advantages to reaching the audience, and there are usually some quotes that can be garnered from the whole, like this in the same review: "A surreal, sometimes-difficult narrative that will reward patient readers."

Is that enough of a win for the money? Maybe. Depends on the reader and whether they've read the full review or only the bit you post. A great majority of genre readers have never heard of Kirkus and really don't depend on them for advice. But a lot of literary and non-fic readers have and do.

Bear in mind that a paid-for Kirkus review is very unlikely to have the same reach that the free ones do: it is very unlikely to help get your book into bookshops or libraries, for example.

Are you writing a second book?
Is it a sequel to this one?

Folks do talk online about having multiple self pubs out, especially if a series, raises your profile and your popularity - if only because the reader can see they are not starting a series that is unfinished.

So if you are working on a second book, my "take" - from a position on the side of the pool, not actually swimming in it (yet) is to get the second one out and look at promoting both of them, possibly having a brief special deal period of the first in the series (if it is a series).

To the OP: if I had the money to spend, I'd invest in advertising instead, at top-tier places like BookBub or ENT. You're much more likely to see a return on your investment, compared to Kirkus reviews.

My experience with Kirkus: I paid for a review of one of my novels and found that a) the reviewer wrote a summary of the book, which anybody could have seen from the blurb; b) after that, I was bombarded with e-mails asking me if I wanted to pay for their such-and-such promo plan. I told them I had a publisher, and no, thank you, but I kept getting these e-mails until I was quite short with them. I think it was because they assumed I was self-published. Anyway, I didnt like that.

HOWEVER, the one paragraph of the review which was actually a 'review' and not a summary of the story, was very positive (not a 'star' review, though), and it's been used by my publisher in marketing the book. Also, somebody in the industry saw it, was looking for that particular kind of novel, read the book, liked it, and it was subsequently picked up for Audio. The Kirkus comments about my writing and characters, story etc, are on the back of the audio book so they obviously thought it was a good thing to have. So, for me, looking at the advance I received and the royalty statements, I think it was money well spent. Would I do it again? Yes, if I had a book I thought could fly a little longer/higher I might take that chance and fork out. HTH.

oceansoul said:

I think if your book were to get a Kirkus Star and feature in their print magazine, it could possibly be worth the money. But even still, it's almost $500 -- and even if the review is positive (but no star) that's a lot to spend with uncertain results. And if it's negative, it could really hurt you as their reviews are quite high profile.

Personally, I wouldn't spend the money. I'd just focus on other, cheaper, promotional outlets for authors.

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Just to say that when I received my review I had the option to not allow it to be published. You have to agree not to use the review, quote any part of it etc., though. Once you publish the review then Kirkus have the right to also publish it on their website and wherever else they like. But that ball is in your court. Some people get such awful reviews they opt not to allow them to be published. Had this happened to me I would have done the same and quietly forgotten it.