Guaranteed paid review
Foreword Clarion Reviews
Independent authors and publishers who want a professional review; booksellers, librarians, and readers who encounter the licensed review
In short
Foreword Clarion Reviews is the paid review service run by Foreword Reviews: you pay a fee, send the finished book, and receive a review of roughly 400 to 600 words with a star rating. You control whether it is published, and Foreword can license it into the wholesaler databases booksellers and librarians use, which makes it useful marketing copy for a book that missed the prepublication deadlines. Authors and publishers submit directly, and the fee on the official page is $579. Payment guarantees a review, not a positive one, and Foreword publishes the review under the Clarion name, so trade buyers may weigh it differently from an editorial review.
Payment guarantees a review, not a positive one.
Clarion Reviews is the fee-based review service operated by Foreword Reviews. An author or publisher pays, submits the finished book, and receives a review of roughly 400 to 600 words with a star rating on a five-star scale. The review is guaranteed to be written; the rating is not guaranteed to be high. With the purchaser's permission, Foreword posts the review on its website and licenses it to book wholesalers and industry databases.
The official page describes the service as open to any independently published book, including those from self-published authors and university presses, available for purchase in print or ebook format. You send two physical copies or an ebook, not both; ebook files go as PDFs under 25 megabytes or as a download link. Final copies are preferred, and the page says advance reading copies are reviewed as if they were final copies. Publication date does not matter, so backlist titles are eligible.
The page lists the fee as $579 and says the four to six week turnaround starts when the book arrives, not when you order. That is a delivery time, not a submission deadline. A co-branded landing page for IngramSpark customers shows a lower figure, so if you came through a partner, confirm the price at checkout rather than assuming either number.
Why it may matter
A Clarion review gives an independent title a professional, quotable review that can be licensed into the same wholesaler databases where booksellers and librarians see editorial reviews. Payment guarantees a review, not a positive one. The review carries the Clarion name, which identifies the paid program rather than the magazine's editorial section, and trade buyers may weigh a purchased review differently from an editorial one. Its value is a credible outside read and marketing copy, particularly for backlist books that missed the prepublication window.
Do not confuse this with
Checked against the official Clarion page. Confirmed: the $579 fee, the eligibility sentence, the copy and file rules, and the four to six week turnaround from arrival. Not confirmed: the partner price on the IngramSpark landing page, and the exact wording of who may submit. forewordreviews.com (opens in a new tab) refused our automated request directly, so confirm the price at checkout.
Clarion and Foreword Reviews magazine share a parent and a name, and nothing else.
- Foreword Clarion Reviews (this record): paid. A review is guaranteed to be written, backlist is welcome, and the purchaser decides whether it is published or licensed.
- Foreword Reviews magazine: free editorial consideration for independent and university press titles, at least four and a half months before publication, with about one in ten submissions selected.
Buying a Clarion review does not enter the book into magazine consideration. When quoting it, say Clarion.
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 14, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.
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