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A few months ago, I signed up for a Kirkus review. Today I got an email from them saying that they noticed I haven't set up my Kirkus Pro Connect page (as though they're a little surprised I haven't done that).

Apparently, this is a service they offer that creates a listing for my book. The idea is that publishers, agents, and film executives are eager to read through the Kirkus Pro Connect database to find indie-published authors who they can sign. The service "only" costs $299 (a one-time setup fee).

I'm skeptical that it's worth the fee. But it doesn't hurt to ask: Have any of you signed up for this? If so, was it worth it?

I haven't, but I'm also interested as you are. Good question.

Kirkus is highly reputable in the publishing world, and that’s why it’s so expensive. I personally don’t think it’s worth it, but that’s just me.

What do you get for $300? Not just a review, I hope!

Anna Faversham wrote: "What do you get for $300? Not just a review, I hope!"

Peter wrote: "Kirkus is highly reputable in the publishing world, and that’s why it’s so expensive. I personally don’t think it’s worth it, but that’s just me."

I think we're talking about two different things, so I should clarify:

Kirkus Indie is the branch of Kirkus Reviews that works with self-published authors. As with several other critical review sources, you pay them for a review (roughly $400 to $600 depending on length). If they don't like your book, they'll give it a negative review. The Kirkus name carries enough weight that some authors decide it's worth the high cost.

Kirkus Pro Connect, which I'm asking about, is a separate but related service. Once you receive a Kirkus review, they contact you offering this service at an additional cost. I'm wondering whether any of you folks have used that service, and whether it's worth it.

It seems strange to me that it is considered fine to pay for any review. I won't be buying one!

Thanks for clarifying that there's two separate services.

Paying for the Kirkus review is fine. but anything else is a waste of money. Use the review for editorial comments on your book and in your descriptions. That's all it 's really good for, but because of their reputation, a good review will help you. If you are looking for a publisher, you'd better off spending the money on a conference in your genre and talking to the publishers that show up there. Not only do you actually meet them, you get immediate feedback on your short blurb that you use to get their attention and the premise. I actually had a couple who asked for the first three chapters and a synopsis, but being new....they all sucked and I didn't get picked up. That was fine as I'd rather do it on my own being a independent old person who is somewhat headstrong and dislikes the formulaic types of books unless I want mindless reading where I can tell you the whole story in less than a paragraph.

What do they mean by your own 'page?'

Is it a one-sentence description?

Do you get to choose the blurb they use?

Will they immediately (if not sooner) try to up-sell you to a bigger and better 'page?'

Do some vetting before you take the bait.

Anna Faversham wrote: "It seems strange to me that it is considered fine to pay for any review. I won't be buying one!"

These are not reviews posted on sites about your book, which is pretty immoral. It's a review by a professional reviewer. Since it's extremely difficult to get your book reviewed by sending it all over the country and crossing your fingers, this is a legitimate option. If the reviewing company charges, that means they can forecast income and afford to hire people to do the reviews in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe everyone isn't willing to wait around for 3, 6 or 12 months to see if someone they sent their book will review it.

You may believe that if you paid them to review it that the review will, therefore, always be good. That's not the case. If it were, then their reviews wouldn't be worth a nickel to anyone in the know.

Thanks, Elliot. What you say makes a lot of sense.

I'm still not forking out $300.

Anna Faversham wrote: "It seems strange to me that it is considered fine to pay for any review. I won't be buying one!

Thanks for clarifying that there's two separate services."

"Something freely given is worth nothing" (ie You get what you pay for)
or
"Time is money"

Either way agents and rights buyers don't have time to trawl through amateur half-baked reviews which is not the 'coverage' they need to assess a property.

That will cost them (like the paid review) a few hundred bucks at least to reader/writers whose judgement they trust

TRUST being the key word. If the industry trusts Kirkus reviews they are worth every cent.

I was wondering the same thing. As we all know, as self-published authors we have a steeper hill to climb when getting publicity for our books as we don't have a major publisher behind us.

Did you end up doing this, Andy?

Publicity is an animal of a different color and don't pay for it. The one line reviews on Amazon from readers will end up meaning more than that Kirkus review in the long run, but that Kirkus review will give legitimacy for your book, to it does have value if you get a really good one. If it is mediocre, then you can use the best part, but it isn't really going to be a big help.

Over all, organic reviews on Amazon will help sell your book more than any publicity campaign, or paid reviews. You can put out publicity notices without paying someone to do it but it will take research as to who to send it to at the various publications and media sites. There are better ways to spend your time than sending out publicity notices.

Since publicity was mentioned, the advice I've heard consistently is the second book helps sell the first, the third helps sell the second and so on. I haven't seen anyone suggest that publicity, sales, etc. are gained by writing one book only. There are a few, very few, who had tons of success with one book but they were traditionally published and rare.

I have bought into both Kirkus Indie Reviews and into Pro Connect, which is supposedly skimmed often by agents, publishers, and film rights people. I'll let you know if anything comes of it. At this point, I'm thrilled to have the Kirkus review to lend credibility to my publishing launch on Sunday... Pro Connect? It's probably going to be a hit or a miss, but since this book meant a lot to me I figured it was all or nothing this time around.

I just got my own Pro Connect invite. I got a second email saying my book/review would be included the September issue of Kirkus Reviews. I was asked if I wanted to advertise as part of that. It costs nothing additional to be included in in Kirkus Reviews (I guess they keep it limited to ten percent of reviews over a certain period of time). Has anyone used Kirkus for promtions beyond excerpts from a review?