Jim Cox Midwest Book Review on Charging for E-Book Reviews

I have a high regard for Jim Cox and Midwest Book Reviews. Jim, along with his dedicated team of book reviewers, has been publishing print book reviews for a long time.  He is one of view reviewers who reviews independently published books. With the event of e-books, Midwest Book Reviews has a slew of them coming in. They are one of view reviewers that will consider reviewing e-books. But, Jim has established a policy of charging a reading fee of $50 for e-books. After an author complained, he felt the need to explain.

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From a personal viewpoint, I do not feel this will diminish Midwest Book Reviews value. They still do not charge for print books.

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I’d be very interested in your comments. I realize this is a long post, but it will give writers an idea of why it is difficult to get books reviewed and why sometimes, it is necessary to charge a reading fee.

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In a message dated 4/1/2011 11:09:39 A.M. Central Daylight Time, rgoudeau84@gmail.com writes:

Mr. Cox–Jim–this doesn’t answer my concerns. But thankfully Diane has already been in touch. She said she’ll get back to me when she returns from her four day sailing trip.I hope we can reach an agreement that doesn’t smack of my having paid for her review. You may know that your new policy of charging $50 to Indie authors has caused quite a flap on several writers’ websites, so I’m not alone in being confused–esp. since you are the very first one to have condemned the practice of charging for either a “reading” or review or whatever you choose to call it.Everyone is upset that with Midwest’s stellar reputation this cloud has appeared on the horizon to dim it. And to find that you’ve preached one thing and now espouse another is a surprise as well as a large disappointment.

As I told Ms. Donovan, I would hate to think that my desire to work this out will result in your telling me just to get lost. I truly value a review by you.

Sincerely,
Renee Goudeau

I want to thank Renee for her communique and thought my response to her would be of interest to others:Dear Renee:What ever arrangement you and Diane mutually agree to is just fine with me.

With respect to our new policy of charging a $50 “Reading Fee” for ebooks, manuscripts, proofs, Arcs, and pdf files —

It’s because my roster of reviewers have traditionally and consistently passed them all by and selected traditionally published print editions of finished books instead.

The reason for this is that they are all unpaid volunteers whose only compensation for their time, effort, and expertise is to keep the book(s) they review.

Most of the time the reviewer then sells their review copy for whatever it can fetch at their local used book store as a way to derive a financial revenue from their work.

It should be noted that our volunteer reviewers own all rights to their reviews and that publishers who furnish a gratis copy of a book for review have the right to utilize resulting reviews in their efforts to marketing their book. This is the traditional quid pro quo of the publishing industry.

The nature of the publishing industry is steadily evolving from print to electronic. Time and technology marches on. Whole new generations of readers comfortable with digitally published books and are increasing the digital book market share of publishing, while older generations more comfortable with print published books are dying off — and the market share of print books is decreasing accordingly.

Meanwhile, volunteer reviewers who review as a hobby, and free lance reviewers who review as a profession, are trying to figure out ways of being financially compensated for their labor. Digital editions of books (as well as manuscripts, proofs, ARCS, and pdf files) simply can’t be sold to a local used bookstore like print editions have traditionally been. So the only way for the reviewer to be compensated is the charge a “Reading Fee” up front.

Editors of book review publications and web sites (especially those who do not accept any advertising money from the publisher industry — or anyone else) must also seek revenue to cover operational overhead expenses. The sale of review copies (that did not end up with an assigned reviewer) to a local used bookstore is usually the source of such revenue. And the same problem of a digital book having no resale value like a print book applies — to the discrimination against accepting and assigning out ebooks.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. That’s what’s being asked of a reviewer with respect to ebooks, manuscripts, proofs, ARCs, pdf files — and heavily marked “Not for Sale” stamping on print editions of books submitted for review.

There’s also another issue at play — the dramatic increases in the numbers of incoming requests for ebook reviews from ebook authors and publishers that necessitates some way of paring down the numbers of such requests to a manageable size. Charging a “Reading Fee” seems to serve that purpose quite well.

So the primary issue for reviewers and the readers of their reviews is: — Will a “Reading Fee” produce an unfairly biased review.

The primary issue for book review editors continues to be: — How can I get volunteer reviewers to accept a digital book review assignment when there are so many print titles in competition for their time and attention?

As of now, the only answer I could come up with is a $50 “Reading Fee”. So far there have been 3 Kindle books reviewed under those terms and it’s gone pretty well. I’ve just completed editing/reviewing an unpublished manuscript of a novel for $50 — and after it was done the author felt like adding an unsolicited second check for $150 because he’d liked what I did so much that he wanted to express his gratitude to me.

I should also note that reviews of print editions of books here at the Midwest Book Review are still, and will continue to be, free of charge with the assigned reviewer’s only compensation being able to keep the book(s) they review.

I welcome open discussion of these issues and policy decisions. Please feel free to post my response to any of those author discussion groups you mentioned. I write a monthly column of advice and commentary for the publishing industry called the “Jim Cox Report” (you’ll find them archived on the Midwest Book Review web site at www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/jimcox.htm) and will be featuring our exchange in the one I’m currently preparing for April 2011 for the benefit of others who have similar concerns and questions about my new “Reader Fee” policy with respect to digital publishing.

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review
www.midwestbookreview.com

Maralyn Dennis Hill
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623 252 1939 , 6322 S Sky Ct, Gilbert, AZ 85298, E-Mail: MDHill@noralyn.com
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In a message dated 8/15/2010 8:41:58 P.M. Central Daylight Time, brownl38@yahoo.com writes:

Dear Lawrence:What you are up against is a combination of factors among which are:1. The recession compelling the major publishing houses to decrease their lists and making it harder than ever for first time authors to get published by them.

2. Trying to sell to the major houses yourself. They prefer working with literary agents rather than authors.

3. Although you mention positive reviews you made no mention of your sales record for this title. For self-published authors trying to interest a major publishing house in their book one of the fundamental conditions is the ability to document strong sales figures.

The one thing that would not be an impediment is using the Mossad as a ‘bad guy’ element in a suspense thriller.

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review

In a message dated 8/30/2010 1:48:46 P.M. Central Daylight Time, helycres@yahoo.com writes:

Thanks,
Helen Rivas-RoseI never promise reviews. What I most probably said (because I say it all the time to inquiries by authors and publishers) is that we give priority consideration for reviews to small press and self-published titles. But that’s no guarantee that a given title will be able to receive a review assignment. The reason for this is that each month we receive an average of 2300 titles and I’ve got 76 reviewers to try and cope with it all. We also do not charge for our services in order that we may avoid any conflict of interest issues.With respect to your specific book — it arrived safely, passed our initial screening, and is currently awaiting review assignment. Consulting my records I find that it has about another six weeks of such eligibility before having to be removed to make physical space on our shelves to accommodate the influx of new submissions.

If/when it makes the final cut and is reviewed in one or more of our monthly book review publications, a copy of that review and a notification letter are automatically sent to the publisher.

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review

I’ve always considered my function as the editor-in-chief of the Midwest Book Review to be as much an educational one as a literary one.