I'm confused....

Hello, there. I am writing my blogs more diligently in the last couple of months, but not this one. It's not because I didn't want to write, but I had nothing to write about because I'm waiting. Waiting to hear back from Kirkus Review Indie about my book review.

Well, I heard back yesterday, but I'm perplexed by the request more than anything. When I signed up for the Kirkus Review Indie, I had two options to choose from - upload a digital copy of my book or send in two hard copies of my book. Being an old-fashioned person that I am, I chose to send in two hard copies (they were 400+ pages x 2) to the Kirkus Review office in New York. Kirkus Review received my book on 5/6, and yesterday, 5/27, it requested that I send in a digital version of my title that they want to keep on hand for "fact-checking" purposes. What does that mean? Why does it need to "fact-check" fiction, not even historical fiction, but commercial fiction? Can anyone tell me? I'm too new to this process, and I don't know what it means.

So..., I wrote back asking if there are any concerns. If this was a standard practice. And he replied back and said that they like to fact check their reviews against the text of the book and "the digital versions are very helpful in aiding that process." I guess that's an explanation, but if I had wanted to send a digital version, I would have done that from the beginning, instead of spending the money on postage to send 800+ pages to them.

I'm just wondering....if this is a standard practice. When I review a book, I do it with a real book, not an e-reader. So, why can't they just use my manuscript (2 copies) to write the review and check it against that. The info hasn't changed, right?

I guess I'm a little weary of sending a digital copy of my unpublished manuscript to anyone. Any advice on this? I'd really appreciate it.

Kirkus Review Indie

I don't know if I need to explain about Kirkus Review Indie, but here it goes. I first came across the information in an article about Darcie Chan's success on Amazon. I think she sold 140,000 copies of her book online, and she attributed a lot of that success on Kirkus Review Indie.

What Kirkus Review does is... it will review your book for a fee ($425 or higher for faster return). The author will get 250 - 350 word review on the book. It doesn't promise anything, except that it will be reviewed by one of their qualified reviewers.

"Our reviewers include librarians, business executives, journalists from national publications, PhDs in religion and literature, creative executives in entertainment and publishing industries as well as other professional reviewers."     - Kirkus Review

This service doesn't guarantee a good review, just an objective review.

I guess that's the beauty and the strength of Kirkus Review Indie. That it doesn't guarantee a good review, but an objective review. So..., what am I going to do with it? I've done a little bit of research, and people have used it in two different ways basically, if the review were positive.

1. Use it to find an agent. Some authors have used it to find an agent in two months!
2. Use it to market the book on Amazon.com via Author Central, as well as book lover sites, such as Goodreads.com, etc.

Obviously, getting a good review would be a start. So, here I am, crossing my fingers for a good review.

Wish me luck!