Kirkus

[JT Conroe]

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Kirkus will provide a review of an indie book for $425. Any thoughts?

[I. J. Parker]

That sounds like good advice.

[Dana King]

The best promotion I got for my e-book came from writers I had established relationships with over the years. I send them "ARCs" of the e-book when it was released as a thank you for their support and friendship over the years. No strings attached. No requests for reviews, interviews, or mentions in their blogs. Directly or indirectly, I received half a dozen reviews and three interviews, plus several recommendations just from that.

It's lie everything else. You pay your dues, you help others without expecting anything in return, and things come out all right in the long run. Our definitions of "all right" may vary, and we may be talking about the looooooong run, but those are matters of scale.

[JT Conroe]

I have gotten some very nice reviews from some fellow authors and I will continue to pursue this as I believe it is the best option open to me. Unfortunately, the authors I know do not have large followings (yet) that could have a significant impact on book sales. I imagine this is true for most indie authors.

Anyway, I still have my $425 which will buy a lot of beers for my easily corruptible writing buddies.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

It also doesn't hurt to review other well-known authors, and let them know about it. I reviewed a Vincent Zandri novel and posted a link to it on his facebook wall. An hour later, my site crashed from all the traffic. A good problem to have, no doubt, and I got some play from Vin for my stuff. It's all about working together. 2 + 2 = 5.

[JT Conroe]

A great suggestion. Thanks.