A reader emailed me just now, asking if I think it’s ethical for him to charge authors in return for him reviewing their books in his new book review newsletter.
“I’d like to pass my costs on to publishers or authors who want their books reviewed,” he said.
That’s a horrible idea, for several reasons.
—How can he be objective when somebody has paid him for a review? In the real world, trade magazines and sometimes even newspapers will take a person’s money and write a nice story about them. That’s called “advertorial.”
—Publicity Hounds who don’t like what’s printed about them are starting to fight back by posting comments about specific reporters that have misquoted them and media outlets they think are biased. BL Ochman, an expert in online PR, posted an item about this a few days ago in her blog. She referred to a New York Times article that discussed how subjects of news stories are posting entire transcripts of interviews they do with the media, as well as the back-and-forth email messages between them and reporters, so the public can see how the finished piece was far different than the actual interview. Can’t you just see an author blogging about the bad review they got in a book review newsletter, “particularly since the review cost me $50”?
—If this publisher wants to make money from the newsletter, and the content is good enough, he can charge readers for it. Or he can sell ads.
I’ve never heard of paying for book reviews. There are far better ways for authors and publishers to throw away their money.