# Pubby Book Reviews: The New Way to Get Amazon Book Reviews



## pubbyreviews (Jul 25, 2019)

Check out Pubby book reviews at pubby.co!

Pubby is a new book review service that launched in Spring 2019. Instead of paying per review or grabbing a spot on a long waitlist, authors simply earn points (we call them "snaps") for reviewing other authors' books. The authors then use those points to get reviews for their own book. It is typically a 1:1 ratio of "give a review, get a review."

All the reviews are compliant with Amazon's policies because:
- You are not paying others to review your book.
- You are not directly exchanging reviews with another author. Once you review an author's book, they cannot review yours (and vice versa).
- You are not friends with the authors, nor do you have any social media link between you.

*Pubby isn't an author group or exchange program!* Unlike Goodreads groups, Pubby is run by non-authors who keeps everything running behind the scenes. That means you don't directly interact with the other authors--no messaging, no waiting for replies, no revenge reviews. We also offer a live customer support chat, and we validate the reviews on Amazon on your behalf. We enforce a strict 3-day turnaround policy.

Every membership starts with a 10-day free trial.


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## EmberKent (Nov 24, 2018)

I'm curious about the financials of this. 

I hope this doesn't get taken as being against the idea, as I actually think it's rather interesting (make a review, get a review, it's a straightforward idea).

But financially, this seems like it would be daunting for a self-publishing author. They would pay your platform $13/mo just to be there. That's more than Netflix, more than Spotify, more than Amazon Prime, so on and so forth. But joining only grants them access to the platform without any of the platform's benefits. 

So to make use of the platform after paying Pubby $13, they would then need to buy an available author's book. This can range anywhere from $1 to $10, typically. Let's assume you buy a $6 book.

Alright, so the author has invested $19 so far. Then they need to read the book. Depending on how fast one reads, this can take anywhere between 2 to 12 hours. Time is money, but let's assume the author's time isn't worth much. How about $3 an hour, and it took them 5 hours to read that book?

Now the author has invested $34. They've earned 1 review for 1 book. 

The above assumes averages, and it assumes the author also didn't pay for a larger plan (I see that it costs $85/mo if you have more than 10 published books). This doesn't seem like a cost-effective use of the author's time and money. 

Have I missed something in the above that would make this particularly more effective than other review services (both the scrupulous and unscrupulous)?


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## Jeff Hughes (May 4, 2012)

With all due respect... this is precisely the kind of thing that taints the self-publishing community.  Of course it's paying for reviews.  Its quid pro quo arrangement may not yet cross the threshold where Amazon rules it beyond the pale, but that doesn't make it okay.

Yes, reviews are important.  But unless they are earned legitimately, organically, they're little more than lipstick on a pig.

And we wonder why Amazon scrutinizes reviews the way they do...


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## J. Tanner (Aug 22, 2011)

EmberKent said:


> Have I missed something in the above that would make this particularly more effective than other review services (both the scrupulous and unscrupulous)?


They've mentioned the positives compared to something like the read/review circle groups on Goodreads that also (claim to) meet Amazon's requirements, and I would agree with them their system is superior. I think removing the pressure for highly positive reviews by anonymizing who's reading what is a real plus.

I also doubt you'd need to pay for the book since they mention uploading a MOBI/EPUB for your book.

So, for those willing to pay, and deal with the potential gray area of circular review exchanges I think it becomes just a price/performance/wait calculation between something like R/R groups, Hidden Gems*, or this.

*Not implying peer review, just that it's another paid option.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2019)

pubbyreviews said:


> Instead of paying per review or grabbing a spot on a long waitlist, authors simply earn points (we call them "snaps") for reviewing other authors' books.


Oh good grief... authors reviewing other authors violates Amazon's TOS (reviewing competing products is prohibited ie: other books). Also, you can call it what you want, but it's still a review swap, or a daisy chain swap as you have tried to disguise that it's a direct swap by doing a bit of sleigh-of-hand.

I can't wait to see all the hand wringing from authors who fall for this, get their reviews deleted or (worse case scenario) their account banned for review manipulation. Not to mention the subtle pressure at play of only giving other authors 4/5 star reviews in case they drop a low review on your book.


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## EmberKent (Nov 24, 2018)

Receiving a free copy helps on the financial side for authors participating in this, but it also reduces the positive effect for the book in question. Unverified reviews rank lower than verified reviews.


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## J. Tanner (Aug 22, 2011)

Tilly said:


> Oh good grief... authors reviewing other authors violates Amazon's TOS (reviewing competing products is prohibited ie: other books).


That's not accurate. From Amazon:


2. Are authors allowed to review other authors' books?
Yes. Authors are welcome to submit Customer Reviews, unless the reviewing author has a personal relationship with the author of the book being reviewed, or was involved in the book's creation process (i.e. as a co-author, editor, illustrator, etc.).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/customer-review-guidelines-faqs-from-authors




> Also, you can call it want you want, but it's still a review swap, or a daisy chain swap as you have tried to disguise that it's a direct swap by doing a bit of sleigh-of-hand.


Yup. That's the potential violation due to this from Amazon (emphasis mine):


4. Can I pay for someone to write a Customer Review for my book?
No. We don't allow any form of compensation for a Customer Review other than a free copy of the book provided upfront. If you offer a free advanced copy, it must be clear that you welcome all feedback, both positive and negative. If we detect that a customer was paid to write a review, we'll remove it. 
4.1 What do you mean by compensation?
Offering payment or *any other incentive *for a Customer Review is considered compensation. This includes giving someone money or a gift certificate to purchase your book. We consider incentives to be any type of reward that is given in return for a Customer Review, including but not limited to bonus content, entry to a contest or sweepstakes, discounts on future purchases, and other gifts. 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/customer-review-guidelines-faqs-from-authors


Getting a review in return would seem to be (an)other incentive.

Still, the Goodreads review circles have been running forever on a service Amazon owns without issue.

Could a paid alternative of the same basic idea be higher profile than running it on a platform Amazon owns? Time will tell...


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## BellaJames (Sep 8, 2016)

Tilly said:


> Oh good grief... authors reviewing other authors violates Amazon's TOS (reviewing competing products is prohibited ie: other books). Also, you can call it what you want, but it's still a review swap, or a daisy chain swap as you have tried to disguise that it's a direct swap by doing a bit of sleigh-of-hand.
> 
> I can't wait to see all the hand wringing from authors who fall for this, get their reviews deleted or (worse case scenario) their account banned for review manipulation. *Not to mention the subtle pressure at play of only giving other authors 4/5 star reviews in case they drop a low review on your book.*


These review swapping services seem pointless when another author is going to feel underpressure to give a 4 and 5 star glowing review.

There are a few odd authors who give 1 star reviews on Amazon or Goodreads but it's usually an author with a malicious mission to bring down the average ratings of a fellow author. The review just says something like 'needs an editor', 'couldn't even get past chapter 1' or 'i did not buy this book'. 
Someone was doing that on a bunch of romance and erotica books a few years ago.

I've rarely seen an author give an honest 1-3 star rating and write a review which highlights why they did not enjoy a fellow authors book.

I cannot see these reviews from authors being honest and helping other potential buyers to decide if they want to purchase a book.

Let readers buy books (including authors) and review them if they want to, giving their honest opinion. If authors give books away for an honest review, that's good too.


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2019)

From Amazon's review guidelines, the following is a *prohibited* practice:
_Creating, modifying, or *posting content regarding your competitors' products* or services._

Authors are prohibited from reviewing other authors. Do some do it? Yes. Do they get away with it? Some do. Does that make it ok? No.

Amazon is known to use a sledge hammer to solve problems. Personally I wouldn't want to be an author involved in a review trading practice like the OP's when Amazon decides to get cranky and smack down on it.


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## JEtterlee (Apr 13, 2020)

It's a great concept. But your customer service sucks. When I upload a book or make corrections, it says "approved in four hours." This has always not been the case. Usually it's the next day, and way over the stated time. You haven't been replying in customer support chat. And you've been very rude.


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## Trioxin 245 (Dec 29, 2017)

Authors reviewing each others work? What a great idea and I am sure Amazon is going to love this.


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## Trioxin 245 (Dec 29, 2017)

pubbyreviews said:


> Hey EmberKent!
> 
> I get what you're saying though, it can be a time commitment. A* lot of our authors seem to enjoy the experience and community feel, though.*
> 
> Thanks!


Really that is your response for calling out an overpriced service? People enjoy paying loads because of the community? Speaking of, I thought no one knew what authors were participating, so what community are you speaking of? And what experience? Shoveling over cash for a service that violates TOS? That is really the worse customer service response I have seen in years. Reeks of we all know what...

The thing is new authors come here and are duped into these services and its a shame the mods allow these posters to do this.


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## markpauloleksiw (Jan 15, 2019)

$12.99 is a lot of money per month per author...to keep the lights on when you add it all up. 

Mark


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## justbae (Aug 5, 2019)

This is an excellent service that complies with the Amazon's TOS. I've used it for months and you are not paying for reviews. No one knows who reviews what and you actually review other books as well.


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## markpauloleksiw (Jan 15, 2019)

It is not whether or not you think you are paying for a review. It was what Amazon thinks.  Similar approaches/models have paid a price in the past 18 months and been shutdown. 

Be cautious.

Mark


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## dianaleston (Jul 13, 2020)

I would urge others to be wary when using this. There are no guidelines in place for submitting reviews. Unfortunately, that means that most reviewers cheat by copying and pasting book descriptions as their reviews instead of actually reading the book. This has happened to me three times now in the past few months. It is sad that authors would do this to other authors, but it is a reality and once those reviews are posted, you are stuck with them.


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## Zita Harrison (May 9, 2017)

I checked them out. Books are reviewed within one to four days. I had a book "reviewed" within minutes after I requested a review during a 10 day free trial...??

You have to review other people's books to earn "snaps" to get a review for your book.  Most of the books require purchase, so in addition to paying the monthly fee, you have to buy the book you are interested in reviewing. 

The whole thing felt fishy and unethical. Amazon removed one of the reviews I got from them.

Needless to say I did not continue past the 10 day trial.


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## GrumbleGrumble (Oct 13, 2020)

I've used the Pubby service and, for the most part, the users are on the up and up. Very rarely do I suspect a reviewer hasn't read the book. ALSO, it's not like the authors just blow each other all day, giving each other five-star review after five-star review. To my own frustration, I've received a number of 3 and 4-star reviews, but usually the review shows that the reader was an idiot. For example, one of my books is titled "...BOOK FOUR..." and the reader didn't realize it wasn't a stand-alone book until she was half-way through and got mad about it and gave me a full star penalty because she was hoping to read a stand-alone book. She also didn't understand a certain grammatical rule that's actually quite common, and counted a point against me because I "kept getting it wrong" (though I was actually doing it right, she was just a moron, like one of those people who don't know the difference between "then" and "than" or "their", "there", and "they're".).

HOWEVER ... I will say that I'm ending my pubby subscription because their customer service is absolute garbage. I once asked a question that all it took was for the support person to look at my account to resolve, but she was being lazy and didn't feel like bothering to look, so she just gave me a quick BS answer and tried to get rid of me. Also, they seem incapable of verifying when you post your reviews to Amazon, and when they can't do their job properly, they lock your account so you can't get more reviews until they can finally figure out what they're doing. I've had to send them screenshots of my last dozen or so reviews to prove they've been posted, and my account is still currently not allowing me to be reviewed.

Overall the service would be good, and I find it to be as ethical as possible given the setup, the problem is that the staff is lazy and incompetent and penalize their paying customers for their own failings. Also, as with all reviews (I suppose), you're still subject to idiots giving you bad reviews because they're not bright enough to know what they're doing.


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## BilboMaggins (Aug 8, 2021)

any other reviews


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