Interesting new review service. It’s brand new, so no word on the quality of these reviews, and you can’t get a sense of who comprises the pool of reviewers when sending in your money. But here it is:
How BookRooster.com Works:
1. Reviewers sign up to receive review copies of novels in their favorite genres. BookRooster.com reviewers are expected to review a reasonable proportion of the books they receive, and we read every review they submit to keep an eye on review quality and objectivity.
2. When you request distribution of review copies of your novel, we extend invitations to a select group of reviewers drawn from hundreds who have indicated a desire to review books in your genre. The invitations describe your book and provide a link for reviewers to request your book if they’d like to read and review it.
3. We send out review copies of your book (in MOBI format) to these reviewers on a first-come, first-served basis until at least ten reviewers post their reviews of your book.
Please note: BookRooster.com is not a pay-for-review service. Our reviewers love to read in their favorite genres and they will write objective, sincere reviews that reflect their real opinions about your book. For more information, you can read our Reviewer Guidelines.
Pricing and Scheduling:
We charge an administrative fee of $49 per book to invite suitable reviewers to review your book, to distribute your book to those who have agreed to review it and to track to make sure at least ten reviews are submitted by BookRooster.com reviewers.
It’s also a way for reviewers to get books to read…
About the Author: Henry Baum
I’m the author of The American Book of the Dead. The novel won Best Fiction at the DIY Book Festival and the Gold IPPY Award for Visionary Fiction. Largehearted Boy says it's "reminiscent of Philip K. Dick and Haruki Murakami, a book that boldly explores the future and defies genre." I'm also the author of North of Sunset, winner of the Hollywood Book Festival Grand Prize, and The Golden Calf - first published by Soft Skull Press, with editions in the U.K. (Rebel Inc.) and France (Hachette Littératures). Visit henrybaum.com for more information. I’m the editor of Self-Publishing Review.
Ron Fritsch said on June 16, 2011
Henry, I hope you, or other members of SPR, keep us advised as to whether Book Rooster (I love the name) proves to be legitimate and useful. If I take the plunge on this, I’ll let you know what happened.
Jon Konrath said on June 17, 2011
Now I’ve got that Alice in Chains song stuck in my head. “Yeah, they’ve come to snuff the rooster!”
Conchie said on September 8, 2011
Has anyone used this, and if so, what are the results?
Akshat Singhal said on December 22, 2011
Feedbacks regarding bookrooster have been quite negative off late. From taking months to get reviews to poor customer support, authors are sounding unhappy. Thats why i decided to drop bookrooster.
Instead i opted for TheBookplex which also works on similar lines and i am having a great experience with on time reviews and quality service.
E. Marx said on January 24, 2012
Akshat,
I posted a comment about Book Rooster and the terrible customer service. Is The Bookplex still working well for you? I will look into in. Any advice would be most helpful.
Thanks in advance.
Akshat Singhal said on January 30, 2012
It did…
And i even picked up a stake in that website.
I personally guarantee that you will not be disappointed at Bookplex! If you do, you can get hold of me.
joe keibler said on November 8, 2012
Akshat Singhal OWNS Bookplex. So he is posting a biased post against his competitor. How bad!
E. Marx said on January 24, 2012
Buyer Beware Book Rooster. I made a payment on Dec 14th for distribution of one of my titles for review. They immediately took my money but didn’t get back to me for a week to tell me my book would go out for distribution on Dec 30th and I would be updated on Jan 20th. Never got an update from them. When I went to check on the status on the Book Rooster sight it said that my request had been cancelled. I sent another email to customer service on Jan 24th I was told that my title didn’t have ‘wide enough’ appeal to garner ten reviews. If you can’t find ten readers for a book that falls under the historical, romance, and mystery category I don’t think you have much of a SERVICE.
Ron Fritsch said on January 24, 2012
E. Marx, I hope they at least returned your money!
E. Marx said on January 24, 2012
Ron,
They did return my money, but that’s after they held it for five weeks doing nothing. It was a very disappointing experience. So as I said buyer beware.
R.E. McDermott said on January 25, 2012
Guys,
I’m usually a lurker, but I do have a little experience on this one so I’ll throw in my $.02. Actually, BR has been around a while. I first signed up with them back in (I think) July of last year, shortly after I published my debut thriller DEADLY STRAITS, and after seeing a mention (kind of a semi-endorsement) on Joe Konrath’s site. My experience? So-so. I can attribute 6 or 7 reviews to them, the first 3 or 4 relatively quickly, the rest trickling in over time. I don’t think I got my “10 guaranteed” reviews, but by that time some of the other “review seed copies” I’d distributed started bearing fruit, so lost count.
I’m not really disappointed with them because I paid (at that time) something like $39 and they did get me started with a few reviews (albeit one of them was my single 1-star from a lady who stated in the review that she hadn’t read the book. I still chuckle over that one). I even defended them on Kindle Boards back around that time when there were a lot of complaints about them. My feeling then was that they were just starting out and folks needed to cut them some slack. Now however, they’ve been up and running a while, and they should be starting to get their act together. if people are still having negative experiences, I’d be wary. Hope this helps.
Christina Bell said on March 25, 2013
I was happy with a lot of my BookRooster reviews. However the negative reviews that I did receive were so far over the top ad cruel that I wonder if BookRooster is paying any attention at all to what people are writing. I probably had about ten reviews. Eight were very nice with some reasonable criticism thrown in. I took it on the chin and moved on. The negative ones were so petty and tainted by the reader’s unjustified expectations that I don’t even want to look at my own Amazon site. And the worst thing is- they are up there forever and it’s my own fault. Don’t do it.