1lilithcat
Currently, as I understand it, reviews on some "pay for review" sites are okay if that site also has unpaid reviews. See https://www.librarything.com/topic/363492#8673702
I've seen a lot of these reviews, generally posted by the authors, and I wish the default would be not to allow such reviews, unless the author affirmatively states that they have not paid for the review. So many of these sites are mere marketing schemes, and, frankly, I find them untrustworthy.
I've seen a lot of these reviews, generally posted by the authors, and I wish the default would be not to allow such reviews, unless the author affirmatively states that they have not paid for the review. So many of these sites are mere marketing schemes, and, frankly, I find them untrustworthy.
2gilroy
I would like to add that if we're going to lock down the published reviews, we need to lock down the pay for award schemes too.
Both have the same thought process behind them -- pay me money, we give you something to help market your book, without doing the work ourselves.
Both have the same thought process behind them -- pay me money, we give you something to help market your book, without doing the work ourselves.
3lilithcat
>2 gilroy:
Those should go, too. Or allow, on the Award page, a description field such as is available on the Series pages. Then we could put "WARNING: author paid for this award!".
(I don't spend time on awards, so was unaware that those existed. Though when I was working I would occasionally get offers to be in various "Top Lawyer" lists, for $$.)
Those should go, too. Or allow, on the Award page, a description field such as is available on the Series pages. Then we could put "WARNING: author paid for this award!".
(I don't spend time on awards, so was unaware that those existed. Though when I was working I would occasionally get offers to be in various "Top Lawyer" lists, for $$.)
4gilroy
>3 lilithcat: There's a lot of them. This award is just one, but I think it might finally be defunct:
https://www.librarything.com/award/9034/American-Book-Fest-Best-Book-Award
It was like $125 to enter and the winner got ... stickers! And a mention on their website. And ... not much else.
https://www.librarything.com/award/9034/American-Book-Fest-Best-Book-Award
It was like $125 to enter and the winner got ... stickers! And a mention on their website. And ... not much else.
6karenb
I too would like guidelines for what is allowed as a published review.
Kirkus* requires payment to review indie/self-published books. Figuring out if an author paid for a Kirkus review involves extra work, but it's theoretically possible to determine. If these paid reviews are acceptable on LT, yes, a label would be good.
* (For those who don't know, Kirkus is a trade publication that started only with unpaid reviews.)
Kirkus* requires payment to review indie/self-published books. Figuring out if an author paid for a Kirkus review involves extra work, but it's theoretically possible to determine. If these paid reviews are acceptable on LT, yes, a label would be good.
* (For those who don't know, Kirkus is a trade publication that started only with unpaid reviews.)
