Authors and publishers know that reviews and blurbs from reputable sources are the key to book sales. But with literally hundreds of thousands of books being published every year, it is impossible for every book to get the attention that its author and publisher hopes for from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, ForeWord, and other review publications.

If you believe recent polls conducted by YouGov in the U.K. and Oprah.com, the occupation of “author” is the most sought after in the Western world. With so many authors producing all these books, small and self-publishers often wonder how anyone can find success. Since a staggering number of books are competing for reviews in the same few places, niche titles and (sad, but true) books from self-publishers hardly stand a chance.

When ForeWord established Clarion reviews several years ago as a solution to this problem, the term “review for fee” carried a stigma. Many in the industry didn’t believe that it was possible to purchase an objective review. But Clarion demonstrated that it is possible to provide honest reviews and maintain a trusted reputation, and other providers soon followed suit.

Clarion reviews compare in all ways with the reviews in ForeWord magazine, meeting rigorous quality standards and minimum word counts that guarantee enough detail to reveal to buyers the essence of the book. Reviewers are carefully chosen for each Clarion book based on their writing experience and expertise in the book’s subject area.

Once a review is completed and the book is assigned a one- to five-star rating, the author is given the option to have the review posted on ForeWord’s Web site and licensed for publication in the bibliographic databases, Books in Print from Bowker, TitleSource 3 from Baker and Taylor, and iPage from Ingram. For many, the chance to have their book entered into these systems is worth the cost of the review. Reviews may also be published in full or excerpted in press materials and the author’s Web site.

If an author believes their review is too negative, they may choose to have it “killed,” in which case it isn’t published it anywhere. However, they still own the right to reproduce the review in part or in whole for their own use.

Authors should keep in mind that when using small print runs or print-on-demand technology, even a negative reviews can be beneficial. If a review mentions that a book has excessive typographical or grammatical errors, it is relatively easy for the small publisher to correct these mistakes, and then use in publicity that portion of the review praising the book’s strengths.

Writers appreciate constructive criticism, and they can use a Clarion review of their manuscript or finished book as a professional critique. As the publisher of a book that received a three-star review recently said, “we always look at any comments as a way to improve future writing.” Besides, everyone’s heard the phrase, “there’s no bad publicity.”

Two books recently reviewed by Clarion were published by a new independent house. They chose the option to hit the ground running with Clarion reviews of their first books, rather than waiting for the trade journals to make up their mind about a press that was very new to the industry. Since purchasing their first reviews, they have received a lot of great press from other sources.

Another novel that received a Clarion five-star review was The Lace Reader, the first title from the brand new publisher, Flap Jacket Press. The review won’t be posted until next year, when it may appear with the press materials of the HarperCollins edition, because the book was just sold to that publisher for $2 million.

More than 400 Clarion reviews have been purchased for books in categories including fiction, education, personal finance, health, physics, poetry, and politics. If reviews lead to sales, then any author could soon be on their way to that coveted coverage in the New York Times.

Whitney Hallberg is associate editor and Clarion editor at ForeWord Magazine. Contact her at whitney@forewordmagazine.com or 231-933-3699.