Guaranteed paid review
BookLife Reviews
Independent authors who want a professional review on a known timeline; readers and retailers who see the published review
In short
BookLife Reviews is a paid service from Publishers Weekly's self-publishing division: you pay $399 and a professional reviewer writes a review of your book within about six weeks. The review is guaranteed to be written, not to be favorable, and it stays private unless you choose to publish it, so its value is an honest outside read and quotable marketing copy. Self-published and hybrid-published authors buy this themselves; publishers and publicists are sent to Publishers Weekly's own system instead.
Payment guarantees a review, not a positive one.
BookLife Reviews is the paid review service run by BookLife, the self-publishing division of Publishers Weekly (PW). An author pays $399, uploads a final EPUB or PDF, and receives a professional review within six weeks, or four weeks with the expedited option (BookLife notes that some reviews, including expedited ones, may arrive up to a week late).
The review is guaranteed to be written. It is not guaranteed to be kind. Reviews are private by default; the author can choose to make one public on BookLife, and can pay separately to have it printed in Publishers Weekly as a paid placement.
The service is for individual self-publishing authors and illustrators. Publishers and publicists handling multiple authors are directed to PW's GalleyTracker system instead. Books must be in English, up to 150,000 words, and available for purchase in the United States. The guidelines list no excluded genres.
Why it may matter
A BookLife Review gives an independent author a professionally written assessment and, if it is good, a quotable line for the cover, the retail page, and the media kit. Payment guarantees a review, not a positive one. It is published under the BookLife name, which identifies the paid service rather than Publishers Weekly's editorial staff, and trade buyers may weigh a purchased review differently from an editorial one. It is most useful as marketing copy and as an honest outside read, not as a trade credential.
Do not confuse this with
Keep these two apart.
- BookLife Reviews (this record): $399, a review is guaranteed, the author controls whether it is published. It is written by BookLife's paid service, not by Publishers Weekly's editorial staff.
- BookLife submission to Publishers Weekly: a small consideration fee (on that record), editorial consideration only, no guarantee. If selected, the result is a genuine PW editorial review.
Paying for a BookLife Review does not improve the odds of a PW editorial review; the two tracks are separate. Describe the purchased review as a BookLife Review, never as a Publishers Weekly review.
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 13, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.
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