ripping off the little guy >:(

It’s what I had in mind, almost, but at the same time, it’s totally not. And these have me fuming:

Kirkus Indie
BlueInk Reviews

Both venues are charging self-published authors several-hundred dollars for a review.

As far as I know, publishers do not pay any reputable book reviewer (like Kirkus, or Publisher’s Weekly) to review their books. Correct me if I’m wrong, please, but I believe they just submit the books, two copies, a couple/few months before the release date, and the books get reviewed. Free.

None of these places will review a self-published book though. Even most independent book bloggers will not review a self-published book.

I read somewhere (can’t remember where), that the reason they’re offering up these services is because there are far too many books for them to review everything (fair enough). And that great small-press and independent books are being pushed aside (fair enough). So they thought they’d offer up this service, for a fee – but charge only the self-published authors? Big publishers still get their review for free.

Now if they were charging everybody a fee, that would be fair. If the fee was something a little less astronomical than four-hundred-freaking-twenty-five dollars! But they’re not charging everybody. Only indie authors, the little guys with the smallest budgets, and that makes me irate. >:(