Wow. Those professional review companies are pricey. What's the benefit?
As a debut author, I have to admit I blanched when I read advice pieces telling me a professional paid review was a marketing must. $495!!!! What?
However, look at this accompanying photo. Some potential reader went to Bing and typed in "is Delaware Before the Railroads a Good Book?"
Do all readers trust all search engine results? Probably not. BUT, neither do they assume that every review a search engine points them to will be a paid, and therefore positively skewed, result.
Furthermore, because Bing has chosen to highlight the result to this question, it implicitly seems to be approving of that search result. Pure gold, to my mind!
I DO think that the reputation of the paid reviewer matters. Booklife is the indie arm of Publisher's Weekly, and so has to be careful to maintain standards. THEIR review, if positive, is absolutely worth it.
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