Q: Is “The Book Observer” a real 501(c)(3) non-profit organization?
A: Yes. This can be confirmed by performing a Tax Exempt Organization Search on the IRS website.
Q: What services do you offer for free?
A: All book reviews are free. You can learn more about our free book reviews and all our other services we offer by visiting our Services Offered page.
Q: Do I get a better book review if I make a donation to your organization?
A: No. Though all donations are greatly appreciated, we do not guarantee good book reviews. We only offer honest book reviews.
Q: Can you guarantee that people will buy my book if we use your services?
A: No. No one can guarantee that. What we can guarantee is that if you take advantage of the Book Advertising Services that we offer, your book review will at least be seen.
Q. How long does it take to get a book review back?
A. In most cases, 30 days after your book review assignment is accepted by one of our volunteers. Once accepted we typically give the book reviewer two weeks to read the book and one week to write and submit the completed book review back to us. Once we receive the completed book review from the book reviewer it may take another week to check the review and submit it to the author for their feedback on if they feel the book reviewer really read the book or not. Based on the authors response it may take more time to get the review posted.
Q. I asked for a free book review but just got an email from you containing a few errors the book reviewer found while reading my book. What do I do now?
A. Those were sent to you as a courtesy showing you that your book does contain some errors that should be addressed prior to your book review being published. The email contains options for you but you don’t have to do anything. It is highly recommended that you do take some action so that your review doesn’t make reference to the errors that we sent to you and any other errors the book reviewer may find while reading the rest of your book.
Q. I requested a basic book review and was all excited when I received an email back with a link to my completed book review. It is a good book review but nothing is happening. It is just sitting there and no-one is commenting on it or anything.
A. We are glad that you are happy with your book review. The email you received also included recommended next steps that you can take to help get word of your book review out there. Did you do any self advertising of your book review by sending it out to all of your friends, family, co-workers, etc? Did you consider taking advantage of any of our advertising packages to help get your book review seen?
Q. Is it true that your book reviewers get paid?
A. Our book reviewers are volunteers that perform much of the required work in making your book review happen and visible. So, we only feel it fair that they get rewarded for their time and efforts. There are a few levels of reviewers. The higher the level, the more experience and qualifications that reviewer has and we often ask much more of our higher level reviewers than just reading your book and writing a review. So, in short yes some of our reviewers may earn a percentage of the amount donated for their time and work.
Q. My Starving Author Discount code expired before I had a chance to use it. Can I get it extended or get another one?
A. Unless otherwise stated all Starving Author Discounts codes are only good for for one use, cannot be applied with any other codes and do expire in 30 days. If you were issued one but failed to use it in the allotted time, you will have to request another code when you are ready to place your order for services.
Q. I got my book review back and now want to purchase advertising for my book. Can I get a discount code for that?
A. Yes. You are asked if you would like to receive a discount code for advertising your book when you are submitting your book review request. If you do not take advantage of the discounted advertising offered when submitting your book request, it is best to request a discount code at that time so that you can receive a better discount. However, you can also use the Author Contact Form to request an advertising discount code.
Q. Is it true that some book reviewers can start at a higher reviewer level than others?
A. Yes. It is possible for some experienced book reviewers, librarians, teachers and other professionals that love reading books and writing book reviews to start out at a higher level. They would have to be able to prove their experience and qualifications.
Q. Why are your book reviewers asked to start a personal blog and professional FB page?
A. A huge part of our mission is to help authors get their books and reviews noticed. Our book reviewers blogging about the book reviews they completed and other book reviews they read on their personal blogs and FB pages is a big part of it.
Q. I initially chose a free book review instead of a package deal. Is it too late for me to upgrade?
A. No. Use the Author Contact Form and select Special Package Request to send us your request. We will review your request and respond to you with the details.
Q. What is a Confidential Reviewer?
A. A Level III or above Book Reviewer that works in the background checking the work of other Book Reviewers. They check for plagiarism, verify that the book reviewers, posts, blogs etc. all meet our standards.
Q. Can I advertise my book on The Book Observers website without getting a book review?
A. Yes. However most authors want book reviews. Check out our advertising packages that we offer.
Q. I got a good book review from someone else. Can I use that book review on your website?
A. Yes. Our mission is to help get your book noticed. Use the Author Contact Form and select Special Package Request to send us your request. We will review your request and respond to you with the details.
Q. I am considering donating for a Package deal. Where will those funds that I donate go?
A. The funds from your donation will help cover salaries, rent, and other operating costs.
Q. I paid for a book review and I don’t like it. How do I get my money back?
A. All book reviews are free. What you paid for was the other services. If we failed to provide the other services that was promised, contact us so we can discuss your concerns.
Q. Where did you find the value of the services you offer listed on your book review request page?
A. We looked up the costs that some web based companies charge for the same and similar services along with asking writers and other academic professionals what they would charge to perform these services. We then based our values on the lower end of the responses we received back.
Q. I write books that contain a lot of graphic adult content and dirty language. Can I submit my books for a review?
A. Yes. When submitting a book for review you will be asked to select the genre and give a brief description of the book. This is used to describe the book to our book reviewers so that they can determine if they wish to read your book and perform a book review on that book or not. Though your book may be “R” or “X” rated, our book reviews and book covers used in our advertising of your book are “G” rated.
Q. Do you perform book reviews on books that contain strong political or religious views, hate speech, racial slang and other prejudices?
A. Yes, you can submit your book for review and one of our book reviewers may accept the assignment. When submitting a book for review you will be asked to select the genre and give a brief description of the book. This is used to describe the book to our book reviewers so that they can determine if they wish to perform a book review on that book or not.
Q. What if no-one accepts my book review assignment? How do I get my book reviewed?
A. We cannot guarantee that one of our volunteers will accept your book review assignment. Google has many search results on this subject that you can review to see if there is something you can do to improve your odds of getting a book review completed.
Q. I am writing a “How To” book on gardening. Do you verify information that I am putting in my book?
A. No. We do not perform academic or research work, fact finding or verify any information included in your books.
Q. I ordered a package with the Proof Reading and was sent a list of errors that was found while reading my book. Why am I only given two weeks to fix these?
A. Your book reviewer is sitting in limbo during that two weeks. They cannot post your review or take any other assignments while waiting for those errors to be corrected. Your email contains instructions on how to address those and we also have links on that subject on our resources page. Do keep in mind that your book review will not make mention of any errors that are corrected.
Q. I submitted my book for review. Now what?
A. We will review the information you submitted and if we find no issues with your submission, your book review request will be added to our active list of book review requests. We will notify you once one of our book reviewers accepts your book review assignment.
Q. Why are you operating two separate book observer websites?
A. The IRS views all advertising as Unrelated Business Taxable Income. So to help us keep things simple we separated our services so that reviews and related services are managed from the bookobser.org website and all advertising which is taxed is managed from the bookobserver.online website.
We will periodically update our Q&A page so check back often.