Kirkus Sells Reviews

[I. J. Parker]

I'm still stunned. Apparently this is a fact. See David Montgomery's Crime Fiction Dossier blog for more.
This news has been so well suppressed that I recently mentioned a spam offer as a "scam" on my page. Apparently it is not. You and I and everyone else can pay Kirkus to have their book reviewed.
How does everyone feel about this?

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

I'm bad. I rarely read reviews. Sigh.

So I'm wondering, are these paid-for reviews along the lines of an "advertorial" in a newspaper or magazine and are they clearly noted as paid reviews?

[I. J. Parker]

I understand they are published separately and under a slightly different heading. Their usefulness lies in the fact that they can be quoted as "Kirkus" reviews.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

Very interesting. I know that in our paper, we'll occasionally have someone buy an advertorial and use the same fonts we do... however, it must be clearly marked "paid advertising" and they cannot say "as reported in The Progress" or something similar.

It is disturbing when you mix what is essentially paid advertising with legitimate editorial content.

[I. J. Parker]

I agree.