PubbyReviews 124

I wanted more reviews for my books, and I'm getting them. Granted, I've had to pay a subscription fee and review some other books (some of which require a purchase) - but I read a lot anyway, and my average cost per review ($1 - $5 depending on what I choose to read and review) is far less than at places like Kirkus.

I didn't know pubby existed. I found them by accident because onlinebookforum services (which, by the way, I do not recommend, you will waste your money there). Pubby.co review exchange actually work. Now, sometimes the platform is a little buggy and they seem to have problems but their customer services would get back to you when contact them.

I do recommend them. I have not tried their marketing services so I am unable to tell you here.

Whenever I login to find a book to review, there are hardly any if any to check out. With such few choices, how will I find something I enjoy reading and how will I earn snaps to put my own book in the library to get reviewed? This has been such a disappointment and waste of time - constantly checking and nothing. Shared image shows current empty library.

I have enjoyed getting reviews and feedback on Pubby and the chance to review other authors' books. Reviews are a lifeline, and Pubby provides a chance for writers to help each other and learn from the experience.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Pubby. Yes, there will be people that don't understand your book and give you a bad review or write just one line. I'm fine with those because it reflects reality that not everyone will like my book or write long reviews. I can say that MOST of my reviews have not been like that and have been great. I have a quality cover and content so I'm not worried. Don't listen to all the whiny babies on here that trash Pubby; they probably have a trash book. Also, for all the babies that say Pubby approves reviews have no idea how the service works. Reviewers leave reviews directly on amazon from their own amazon accounts, Amazon approves the reviews not Pubby. Pubby "approves" that your review is posted and your request is complete. It blows my mind that people think Pubby has a say in what Amazon approves.

Apart from various pubby problems, pubby doesn't want to issue an invoice (he only sends an "invoice" on which there is only "Pubby.co" without any details of the company, even the country in which they operate or the full name of the company.) The company is completely unreliable, it should be dealt with by the crime fighting services.

My family and friends read my book and they all thought it was great when I put my book on pubby an author gave it a 1-star review it was a children's short story. How rude of an author to give my short story a 1-star review if it were me I would try and help other authors. Pubby allowed amazon to post the 1-star review thanks a lot pubby for nothing!

I have submitted five books to be reviewed through the Pubby website. Although it took me awhile to catch on to how the system works ( I grew up with typewriters), I was very pleased with the service ( and patience) Pubby Support gave me whenever I had a question. ( Thank you Bruce!)
I am not expecting to be a famous author ( or make money out of selling my books!) so this is a way for my books to be reviewed ( had one reviewed in Australia). It has also opened up to me a wonderful selection of books to read and review- something that I did not even think about when I signed up! I would totally recommend this company to anyone who would like to get their books noticed on Amazon. ( Just remember you have to accept the stars as it - celebrate the big wins and forget about the reviews that are not so wonderful) " You can't make ALL of the readers accept your writing ALL of the time but if you are able to have MOST of the readers like your writing MOST of the time.then you are successful! Thank you Pubby for offering this opportunity!

PUBBY is a unique investment of time and money.
I read and reviewed up to the limit of books (7 first week, 7 second week)
This was my first time for all things self-published, so the learning curve was a factor many times.

I had the poor luck to draw a harsh critique my second review, and it really stung for 2 days BUT MY POINT IS on the third day I received a 5-star review that healed my drooping wings and had me smiling again because I truly had achieved my dream of being a self-published author. I now have 8 reviews for my debut epic fantasy, and life as an author sparkles and seems full of bright promise.

You need 1500 snaps for each reviewer PUBBY request for your book, and you are given enough free snaps at the start so that once you've uploaded your book, you can immediately request a reviewer. The books you review have different numbers of snaps, mostly depending on length. You can also earn snaps for inviting friends to read for free and review the books available. When they turn in a review, YOU earn the snaps for the review. Haven't done that. I've reviewed 14 books to earn my 8 reviews, and most of them are 5-star, with thoughtful, encouraging comments. To know that I have readers who honestly like my work is priceless to me.
Happy 2023, and I hope you have a similar experience during the trial period.

For your book, you'll see the STAR value only when the review comes in. This is followed days later by a button that appears on the review near the star value. Pressing the button generates a URL link to the review that has gone live on Amazon.
The 12-month fee is paid as soon as the trial subscription ends, assessed annually.

I had a review and it was nice up until I seen where the reviewer cut me all the way done to nothing.

They promise more reviews than they can deliver-the one review I did get was a three star when all 30 something of my other reviews was 5 star and a few four stars. Very annoying because I saw elsewhere that a few reviewers on the site are just leaving 1 and 2-star reviews, and support just lets them.

Signed up for the free trial. First review (and last) came from someone who clearly didn't read my book yet proceeded to bash my cover and call me an amateur. It is obvious they have 'reviewers' (failed authors) out for a grudge with the sole intention of destroying other authors.

This is a fantastic service. I'm so grateful I've found it. I receive wonderful, thorough, specific reviews that really impress me. When I receive negative reviews, their constructive and give me great ideas for improving it. A lot of reviews on this website we're on are old so some of what they say doesn't apply anymore. One thing is that I think the price is $29.99 a month now. And I haven't had to deal with customer service so I can't comment on that. But if you need more reviews on Amazon, you've just found your miracle.

You can NOT delete your book from Pubby.
You can NOT delete your credit card from Pubby.
Reviews can be detrimental and these DO stay on Amazon.
Some reviewers are anonymous names.
Some reviewers are 'bulk' reviewers.

I feel I would be remiss if I didn't update this review when the quality of the service has changed. It has actually changed quite a lot in the last six months or so.

The main and most notable change is in the amount of work an author such as myself puts into the service, and the amount of service we get in return. It used to be, I could read five books and get one of mine read five times in more or less the same amount of time. It was fairly balanced. What's changed recently is the amount of time it takes to get a review. I submitted one book a couple months ago, and about a month later, when no one had taken up the book to review it yet, I had to change the price of the book and get those points credited back to my account. I currently have one book in there which is in cue for seventeen reviews/readers, and has been at that number for over a week without a single taker. I've found myself using pubby much less as a result, and am spending more time re-exploring other avenues of getting/giving reviews.

One other thing that has changed recently is the amount and quality of customer service. A couple recent examples come to mind.

The first was when I posted a permafree book and asked for reviews at 99 cents. It costs me an extra 300 points or snaps for each review but that's one of the positives about pubby, you pay more points to get read when your book costs more and you get more points the more you pay for a book. They don't have an option to get verified purchase reviews for permafree books, so I was basically giving away free snaps to other readers. But pubby put a sudden stop to that. Currently there is no way to get verified purchase reviews on permafree books through pubby, which effectively means that pubby reviews on permafree books are worthless. This would be an easy fix, I'd normally be inclined to email the company about something like this, but the way they communicate makes me feel expressly unwelcome to reach out with requests or complaints.

This brings me to the second example, the way they communicate and how it makes people feel unwelcome to reach out. I submitted a message a few weeks ago asking a question while asking to unassign some reads that weren't getting picked up. They granted my request, but didn't answer the question. Around the same time, I got an email from them saying they took back some of the points/snaps I'd earned while implying that I'd lied about submitting a review. Sometimes Amazon hides reviews due to their so-called 'sensitivity filter,' and there's not much one can do about that except re-submit the review and hope some other gatekeeper is in a better mood when they see it. But I can't fault pubby for taking back the points, the other author spent those points on a review they never got. What I fault pubby for is how they communicated the situation to me. They actually said in their email to me "We understand that life can sometimes get in the way. If you ever need to cancel one of your reading assignments in the future, click the book's title in the left sidebar, and click the gray 'Cancel Assignment' button." They're implying that I never submitted the review and lied about it. That was both insulting and unnecessary.

I gave the service five stars last year, but if I were reviewing it now, I think I would give it three. If I were researching it now for the first time, in light of how it's been working lately, I would not sign up for it. Hopefully they figure out whatever's causing that bottleneck in reviews and get it fixed. I'm worried they'll instead find this updated review from me and retaliate in some way, at which point I guess I'll just update this review again.

Pubby allowed a baseless, negative religious comment, in a review of one of my books, to be posted. I initially was getting great reviews on both of my books on their site then the reviews took a negative turn and I submitted a complaint about one being inaccurate. I received no reply from their administration. Then a few weeks later a very negative religiously biased review was posted and I immediately terminated my membership. I am the author of the book in question and was subscribed to Pubby.

I loved Pubby at first because of how fast the reviews were coming but after awhile most reviews are generic and you can tell that the reader never read your work. Most won't even buy your ebook either. Second, reviews are now disappearing from Amazon like wild fire. This has been happening from September 2021- January 2022. Don't waste your money on this site. It's not worth it and you will see your reviews deplete within a few weeks or month after it's been posted. I am beyond pissed off because of this and will be using more legit review sites that have real readers.

"Get 5-10 reviews with our free trial" they said. I paid $25 in one-time fees to get my book in their system for a "FREE" trial and got one review. Then I'd have to have spent money or reviewed other books to get more. That's not what I was there for. I don't have time to add more books to my list, and they claim to have a money back guarantee, but those fees I paid (again for my supposedly free trial) are apparently non-refundable. STAY AWAY!