As real as it gets

I recently read an article about a company that would give your book a review for a price. They claim that the reviews aren’t biased and the reviewer will be honest if they didn’t like the book. Now, I know hundreds if not thousands of these companies exist so I’m no dummy, but it seems to me that it would be bad business to give an author a bad paid review especially if the author has several books under his belt and may use the service again. This leads me to the conclusion that investing even one penny into these services is not worth it. Now, you may say well, who cares if the review is fake, if it’s favorable it will get more people to read your book. That may be true in the short term (very short term) but will most likely be detrimental in the end. Here’s why. Suppose you pay for ten different reviews that will be sent out across the web. These are, of course, glowing adorations of your work. Now, Amazon has a verified purchase deterrent from these kinds of fake reviews but that’s a whole other animal exclusive to Amazon. What about all the other sites the review will be on? Okay, so you have these ten amazing reviews of your masterpiece that the world is now discovering and reading. Suddenly, you see your sales numbers go up. “Ah,” you think to yourself, “the dream is happening. I’m going to be rich and famous.” And then, about two weeks later sales stop. You wonder why and Google your book to see what’s happening. That’s when, horror upon horrors, you see not only the ten glowing reviews of your book, but also dozens and dozens of bad reviews. So many bad reviews that the ten are eclipsed in a sea of negativity. “I’m ruined,” you think, and hang your head low. Don’t let this happen to you. Don’t pay for fake reviews that only trap eager readers who will then turn against you when they realize your stuff is crap (if it is). With my books, I don’t have that many reviews yet but the reviews I do have are one hundred percent real and honest! Not one friend or family member has written anything on my behalf. And you know what? The good reviews keep coming and my sales keep increasing. Just check them out and you’ll see. How’s that for honesty?