Pubby
Reviews and Complaints

As someone deeply involved in the world of book reviews, I must say that Pubby is a platform that elicits mixed feelings from its users. While some have found success in receiving reviews and engaging with new content, others have faced challenges and frustrations. It's evident that Pubby's approach to facilitating reviews is not without its flaws, leading to varying experiences among authors. As you consider utilizing Pubby for your review needs, it's essential to weigh the pros and cons carefully and approach the platform with a discerning eye.

I have been with Pubby for a little while now. I have to say despite a lot of negative reviews I have had nothing but a great experience so far! Let me pin point some things. First the customer service is not as bad as people are saying. Yes you do get a response. Sometimes it is an automotive one, but that is just letting you know someone will be with you shortly. People are getting mad over customer service not getting to them so late in the night. I do not think they work 24/7. If I know I am leaving a review at a late time I know not to expect an answer until the morning. As for reviews, I would say that I have received very honest reviews so far. Yes some are only a few words and some are not as descriptive. Out of all review that have been left maybe 5 have been removed. But I end up getting my snaps back for those. All in all I can not complain. The price for the subscriptions are a little on the high side but totally worth it. I have and will continue to recommend other authors to this site!

I'll go ahead and address the customer service issues upfront. Yes, too often the response is canned, copied, and pasted. I'm okay with that. For the small monthly fee, I am not expecting a dedicated customer service rep. Each time I have pressed Pubby on a missing review or been dinged when an Amazon review I posted did not go live, the Pubby team honored my effort.

I have used Pubby since the fall of 2019. I have reviewed hundreds of books through Pubby and received over a hundred reviews in return.

Not all the reviews of my books are favorable. I have received 1 star reviews that came close to personal attacks and 3 star reviews from those who didn't read the book, but I have also received many 4 and 5 star reviews.

Any review service is only as good as those reading the books and writing reviews. This includes NetGalley. Pubby does seem to attract a lot of self published authors, so that needs to be figured into your review expectations. If an author cannot get published by a traditional house they may not be able to recognize quality writing when they read it.

But overall I have found that for great books, books traditionally published or professionally edited and proofed, Pubby is a good option.

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.

So, I recently gave Pubby a try and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. First of all, let me tell you, there are no ACTUAL READERS on the website. Just other authors, who are reading and for the most part, trashing your book. It's like a big book club for authors, but with a price tag. The membership cost is $240 per year, which is pretty steep if you ask me. And if your book is on Kindle Unlimited, that will cost you an extra $14.99. If your book is to be 'purchased', it will cost you another $14.99. If you want a 'recommended reader' who likes your genre, that will be another $14.99. Oh, and if you provide a PDF copy of your book, that will cost you an extra $9.99. It's like baggage fees at the airport, it all adds up. All of these costs are REAL and required just to get your book listed with the service. And although calling Pubby 'a service' is a joke, it's more like a money-grabbing scheme.

Now, after being 'listed,' you'll want to get your book put into rotation so that 'readers' can see it, select it, read and review it. But this will cost you too, you have to use SNAPS - the currency of Pubby's website. Here's an example: If you read a book that's free and about 50K words, you'll earn about 1200 SNAPS. But it will cost you more than that to have someone purchase and read YOUR book. My book is 4.99, so it costs about 3500 SNAPS every time I request that it be put up for selection. So you should expect to read 2 or 3 free books for every review you request. Or expect to purchase a book that is the same cost and word count as your book. And even then, you may not get a review for a week or two. The website says you can expect to get up to 5 reviews a week, which is a total lie. It may take a week or more for someone to select your book to read.

Then, after a few weeks or months, the reviews which you have paid for in terms of time and effort (gathering SNAPS by reading other books) and writing & posting your own reviews - will simply disappear. And customer service will do nothing about it. It's a total rip-off.

Honestly, I would not recommend Pubby to anyone. The cost is too high and the service is not worth it. Yes, you may get some reviews, but it's not worth the time and effort to get them. Plus, the reviews disappear! It's ridiculous. Save your money and spend it elsewhere on more worthwhile services.

Listen up, folks, and don't let those whiny one star reviews steer you away from Pubby - the real deal for authors. This website offers exactly what it promises: a platform for authors to review each other's works and exchange tokens for their own reviews, no bullcrap swaps here.

The dashboard is simple as pie, and you'll get the hang of it before you can say Jack Robinson. Now, customer service isn't the fastest thing in the world, but it'll get your issues sorted out eventually.

But here's the deal, people. Some of the authors who've been dissing Pubby are probably getting what they deserve. They can't recognize their flawed writing for what it is: pure mediocrity. But the reviews are pretty fair, I gotta admit. You'll get good feedback if you're willing to take the critique, and your work will get the recognition it deserves if it's really good. It's like throwing your book into the shark-infested waters of the review world. You've got to be ready to listen to some nasty criticism and grow some thicker skin. But the rewards are worth it if you got a little talent. Shoot, I've seen some of my work go up in ratings thanks to this platform. It works if you're willing to put in some time and effort.

Now, before you go thinking this service is perfect, there are a couple of pesky problems that drag it down a notch in my book (pun intended).

Firstly, there aren't always a ton of books available for review, so you might have to spend some time searching for your next target.

Secondly, the price is a bit high, if you ask me. Now, $150 is something I could live with, but nearly $250? Smells fishy to me.

But, here's the kicker that really bothers me...for some ridiculously stupid reason based on sheer greed, some authors can force reviewers to buy their book before they can review it, even if the reviewer is already paying for the review service! What kind of OGILVY is that? If I can pay for the service and I'm giving my opinion on your work, I shouldn't have to shell out more dough for your book on top of that. That's just low and sneaky. Come on, Pubby, you gotta fix this [censored]. All books need to be available for download or through Kindle Unlimited. End of story.

So, there you have it, ladies and gents. Pubby has its issues, but it's still worth checking out. Give it a whirl if you're willing to put in some effort and take a risk on the wild world of book reviews.

I am a big fan of Pubby! I've been using this site for over 6 months and I have to say, I'm very impressed. Let me start by talking about site administration. There were a few times where I needed to reach out to the admins of the site. Whether it was because of something they controlled or an issue I found with a book on the site, the team was always very responsive. Their chat feature is fantastic, and each time I contacted them, I received a response within the indicated time frame. Sometimes it was just a few minutes, while other times it took a few hours or until the next work day, especially if it was on a weekend or late at night. But no matter what, the response was always polite, helpful, and professional.

Now onto the service for authors. I've used Pubby to find reviewers for my books, and I have to say, I'm thrilled with the results. After 40 reviews, only one was less than excellent. The majority were extremely helpful and thoughtful. I think that a mix of three, four, and five-star reviews are much more beneficial to potential readers of a book compared to all five-star reviews. I don't think Pubby is a place where you'll find "rote" reviewers just giving everything five stars for the sake of it. If that's what you're looking for, then you should look elsewhere.

Finally, let's talk about the service for readers. This is the most enjoyable part, in my opinion. When you join this site, you're agreeing to review other writers' books. Thanks to Pubby, I've been able to read so many wonderful books by both new and established authors. I've tried genres that I never thought I'd be interested in before, and I've thoroughly enjoyed them. I even read a book II of a series and ended up buying book I immediately because the book was so engaging. Before I accept a book to review, I usually go to Amazon to check out the author's background and any other books they've written. I've found that most of the titles in question already have a good number of reviews, which then confirms my opinion. If I find the book isn't my cup of tea, I decline it as an assignment and look for something else.

Overall, I would highly recommend Pubby to anyone looking for an excellent book review service. The admins are responsive, and the reviewers are honest in their critiques. It's a fantastic way to discover new authors and expand your reading horizons.

Yo, I gotta say, Pubby is a pretty dope tool if you're trying to get reviews for your book. I mean, you gotta put in some work by reading and reviewing other books or doing whatever else they ask for "snaps," but then you can use those snaps to get your own book up on Amazon for a review. Now, I've seen some haters on SiteJabber saying that nobody reads the books and just gives rubber stamp five-star reviews, but that's straight up not true. Personally, I read the books I review, and I've been real enough to give some negative reviews, even a one-star one or two to some truly garbage books. And most of the people who reviewed my books seemed to have read them real close, giving real unique observations that ain't just copy-pasting other reviews.

Sure, there might be some slapdash reviewers out there, or maybe some lazy folks who didn't even read the book, but they're a small minority. Maybe they're just tryna slack off on the review writing, who knows. Anyway, I only dock Pubby one star 'cause sometimes they have trouble verifying my reviews, even though they're definitely up on Amazon. And sometimes the books I agreed to review just straight up disappear from my account. But Pubby has been pretty good about fixing these problems in the end, so I ain't too mad about it.

Overall, Pubby is a good tool to get readers and reviews, but you can't expect every book you read or review to be a masterpiece every single time (though most of 'em are pretty darn good, and I've even bought some based on the reviews). And you can't expect every review of your own book to be five stars and gushing with praise, especially if you didn't put in the effort to craft and edit it real good. But hey, it's still a solid service to get your book out there and get some attention.

Pubby is a service that I have utilized in recent times, and I must admit that it's not a bad service. For the most part, the reviewers here are genuine and honest. I rarely suspect cheaters or fake reviews. That's cool, right? What's more, the authors don't just give each other high ratings all day; they offer honest reviews. They won't award you five-stars just for the sake of it. In fact, I have had some three and four-star reviews, which were a bit frustrating but overall not too bad.

Let me give you an example. I have a book titled "… BOOK FOUR…." The reader didn't realize that it wasn't a standalone book until halfway through and got annoyed and deducted a star because the person wanted to read a stand-alone book. Can you imagine? That's not all. The reviewer did not understand certain grammatical rules that are quite common, and they said I kept getting it wrong. But the truth was, I was getting it right. I mean, how do you differentiate between 'their', 'there', and 'they're,' 'then' and 'than,' when someone doesn't understand the basic rules?

However, I must say that I have decided to end my Pubby subscription due to their lousy customer service. Ah! These guys have no chill when it comes to customer service. I once asked a question that could have taken an account review to resolve, but the support team refused to do it. They were lazy. That's not all. They seem unable to tell when I post my reviews to Amazon, and when they can't do their job correctly, they suspend my account. For real? They even give excuses instead of helping out. I have to send them multiple screenshots of my reviews to prove that they have been posted, and even after doing so, my account is still not allowing me to be reviewed. Crazy!

Overall, I think the book review service is ethical and good, despite the setup. However, the customer service team is incompetent and self-centered. They penalized me for their inadequacies. As with all reviews, you might face some errors from some ignorant people who don't know what they are doing. Trust me; it's inevitable. So, in conclusion, Pubby is an excellent service, but you might run into some customer service issues.

Hey, folks! I just wanted to give you a heads up about Pubby. It's a website where you can get anonymous reviews for your indie books and discover new authors. Personally, I've been using it for almost a year now and I've found quite a few good reads thanks to this platform.

But listen up, there's a catch (isn't there always?). Pubby has been accused of incentivizing positive reviews, so the authenticity of recent reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. I mean, who doesn't like a little bonus for a five-star review, am I right?

Anyway, back to my experience with Pubby. In theory, anonymous reviews to support fellow authors are a fantastic concept. However, the execution of this idea leaves a lot to be desired. You see, while most people who sign up for a verified purchase of your book will leave a genuine review, some bad actors are slipping through the cracks.

I'm talking about those individuals who sign up for a verified purchase, never even bother to read the book synopsis, and then leave a bogus review. Not cool, man. This type of behavior can have severe consequences for the author, as Amazon has been known to ban authors due to fraudulent reviews. I've brought this issue up with Pubby's support team multiple times, but the most they seem to do is offer me a partial refund in their point system "snaps."

It's frustrating because I genuinely believe that Pubby has the potential to be something great. However, they need to take constructive criticism and make some changes if they want to succeed. I'm willing to give them a few more chances, but if they don't pull themselves together, I may have to pull my book from their site.

If that happens, you better believe that I'll be speaking out about Pubby and warning other indie authors to stay away. I don't want anyone else to fall victim to a scam. On the other hand, if Pubby improves, I'll happily recommend it to my author friends and let them decide if it's worth the expense (and trust me, it's not cheap).

So Pubby, hear me out. Do better. If you do, you have the potential to be a game-changer for indie authors. But if you don't, then I'm afraid you'll just be another failed app that didn't listen to its users. The choice is yours.

Pubby is a website that offers a simple way for authors to get reviews for their books. The process is straightforward: authors review other works, and in turn, receive reviews for their own books. With Pubby, authors have options for offering free reviews, Kindle Unlimited reviews, or verified purchases reviews, all of which must be posted exclusively on Amazon.

It might appear as though authors are purchasing reviews, but the website operates on a token system called "snaps." An author must have enough snaps to offer their book for review on the marketplace. Snaps are earned by reading and reviewing other authors' works on the site. Therefore, it can be considered a community of authors and readers helping each other. Pubby has a "readers" program, but it is our experience that most users are also authors. Nonetheless, at $20 a month, it is a worthwhile price to pay for access to the service. If an author is organized, they can receive numerous reviews (an average of 3-4 per week), which is the ultimate goal.

The reason an author uses Pubby is to acquire Amazon reviews as they are factored into an author's success. In this case, reviews are the virtual currency for books on Amazon and are essential for a book's ranking. Pubby can help to elevate the review count for an author's book, but there are some tips to keep in mind.

Firstly, the quality of reviews is not always good. As a result, don't expect most people who are reviewing your book to have read your book. Secondly, an author must be sure to include informative information with strategic buzzwords in their posting, for review writers to use these words in their review. An author should not use Pubby until they already have ten reviews from friends and family, as Pubby reviews are a cascade, meaning they are based on a book's previous reviews. As a result, if an author has numerous 3-star reviews, Pubby reviews may also be middling, even though they didn't read the work itself. It's always best to have around 10 4-5 star reviews before using Pubby, as this will increase your chance of receiving reviews of the same ranking.

Overall, Pubby is an exceptional site that can provide authors with Amazon reviews. It's a user-friendly site that is easy to navigate. If an author is organized and sets appropriate expectations, they will profit from Pubby's service. It is a numbers game, not a quality one, as concerns mostly the quantity of reviews received.

Pubby is a book promotion service that allows authors to get their books reviewed by Amazon customers. The process starts with a free 10-day trial period, but after that, it costs $11.99 per month to promote one book. The monthly fees increase with the number of books you want to promote, and yearly payments are also available.

However, what Pubby doesn't tell you upfront is that you will need to read other authors' books to acquire "snaps" that you can exchange for review requests. Each book you read earns you a certain number of snaps, but some books are only worth a few, unless you buy a Kindle Unlimited account.

It can take thousands of snaps to get a single review, and some books may require a mandatory Kindle Unlimited account, which makes it difficult for authors on a limited budget. Paying extra for a quicker review will also cost you more snaps, which ultimately means reading even more books.

Pubby users can only select two books at a time, and they have to wait for Pubby's approval to post their reviews. Pubby may take up to four days to approve reviews, and there is no notification email to confirm registration.

Adding to the woes is the poor customer service offered by Pubby. Users may not receive responses from customer service, whether it's automated or via email, leaving them stranded.

Overall, it seems like Pubby has a lot of hidden costs and requirements. The wait times for reviews are long, the fees add up, and the customer service is not up to par. Although Pubby has received good reviews in the past, its current state suggests otherwise. The pandemic could have played a part in Pubby's current state, and hopefully, it can improve for its users' benefit.

So, lemme give y'all the lowdown on Pubby, the review service. Now, I gotta tell ya, things have changed quite a bit in the last six months or so. I mean, we're talkin' big changes here, folks.

First off, let me tell ya about the amount of work that authors are puttin' into this service, and the amount of service we're gettin' in return. It used to be that I could read five books and get one of my own read about five times in roughly the same amount of time. It was all balanced out real nice like. But things have changed, let me tell ya. Now it takes a heck of a lot longer to get a review. I submitted a book a couple months ago and when I hadn't heard from anyone after a month, I changed the price of the book and got my points credited back. Ain't nobody got time for that! And now I have one book in there waiting for seventeen reviews and ain't nobody takin' it. I've found myself usin' Pubby way less these days. I gotta go find other ways of gettin' and givin' reviews.

Okay, now let's talk about the customer service, or lack thereof. I posted a permafree book and asked for reviews at 99 cents. It costs me extra to get those reviews, but that's the way it works. But guess what? They put a stop to that. Now there's no way to get verified purchase reviews for permafree books through Pubby. That means Pubby reviews for permafree books are pointless. Ain't that just grand?

And don't even get me started on the way they communicate. I messaged them a while back askin' a question and askin' to unassign some reads that weren't gettin' picked up. They granted my request, but didn't even answer my dang question. And then they sent me an email saying they were takin' back some points I earned because they thought I lied about submitin' a review. Can you believe that? The nerve!

I gave Pubby five stars last year but now I gotta give it three. If y'all are lookin' for a review service, I suggest you look somewhere else. Hopefully they figure out what's been causin' these problems and fix it up. But if they don't, I'm just gonna update this review again.

I'm gonna be honest, I was pretty excited about the idea of Pubby at first. Like, you pay for a membership and then your book gets read and reviewed by other members, right? Seemed like a no-brainer to me. But let me tell you, the execution is all wrong.

First of all, their customer service is hot garbage. Like, I don't even know who they have on their "team," but they've got to be the worst in the industry. There's been times when the system hasn't worked properly and they've accused me of not posting a review, even though I know for a fact that it's right there on my Amazon account. And then they'll deactivate your account for no reason whatsoever. It's like they're trying to penalize you for something that's not even your fault. I mean, come on, it's not that hard to check Amazon and see that the review is there.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, my friend. The real problem with Pubby is that most of the people who "read" your book didn't actually read it. Like, not even a little bit. The very first review I got was from someone who clearly had no clue what was going on in the story and just made [censored] up as they went along. They even called a character who died in the first chapter a "main character." Like, what? And then the next nine reviews I got were just copies of that first one. They didn't read the book either, or else they would've known that the first review was full of [censored]. Instead of getting legit reviews from people who actually read my book, I got one nonsense review that was copied over and over again. Like, what a scam.

And if that wasn't bad enough, they've got this whole "recommended reader" thing where you pay extra to have people who supposedly like your genre read your book. But most of the people they recommended were college-age boys who clearly don't give a crap about historical romances set in the 1600s. So then you end up getting more nonsense reviews from people who never even read the damn book.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the reviews being taken down. Amazon is sooo picky about what they allow, and I've had like 15 reviews taken down because they didn't meet some ridiculous standard. Like yeah, some of them were pretty bad, but others were totally normal and still got removed. It's like Amazon is finally catching on to Pubby's sketchy practices.

So yeah, I wouldn't recommend Pubby to anyone who actually wants their book read and reviewed by real people. And if you're looking for quality reviews or good customer service, you should probably just steer clear of Pubby altogether.

Pubby suspended my account after taking payment. When I requested a refund, they refused to give me one. When I requested they delete my details, they also refused to do this. I had to contact my bank to dispute the payment. Join Pubby at your own risk!

A scam run by lazy, shady, rude people. First off, it can get you banned from Amazon. So don't do it. I didn't know that because these scammers falsely represented themselves as legit. But even if you want to risk it, know that Pubby is horrible to deal with. Bruce and Co. are too lazy to track reviews (literally their only job), so they routinely take away your earned points until you find and deliver the review yourself. I turned in only 5 stars and only on time, but I was constantly harassed about lateness or failing to complete projects. Dare complain about being mistreated and you'll be subjected to even more harassment. Lastly, many of the other "authors" are scammers too. They have AI write garbage books, intentionally misprice their offerings to cheat the point system, and have AI write your reviews, which will flag your account. What does Pubby do about all this? Absolutely nothing so long as they get their monthly $.

I recently signed up to Pubby to give it a try. Very quickly, I faced many challenges- There weren't any books for me to review, and in addition to the fee I was expected to pay, I had to buy the books to review too.

I contacted the team for help with finding books, but they never answered. I emailed them 3 times and never got a response.

I asked for a refund, and they never answered nor refunded the subscription.

I didn't agree to the yearly subscription and I was charged the full yearly amount.

I am very disappointed at their service and the fact that they are not even responding.

I wouldn't recommend this service to anyone, especially as they are not even responding their support emails- so you are stuck with no answers and money down.

I gotta tell yall, I'm real unhappy with my experience over at Pubby. See, I got this book I been working on for like, a year, and I decided to try and get some reviews for it, you know, build up a little buzz. So I signed up for one of Pubby's subscription plans and started getting some reviews - or so I thought.

Turns out, Amazon - bless their hearts - decided to delete most of my reviews. And not just mine, but a bunch of other folks too. I mean, what gives, right? And it ain't just the ones I done paid for, either. Even the ones I DIDN'T pay for got the boot. Ain't that just crazy?

Now, on top of that, the customer service I got from Pubby was downright rude. I mean, I was just trying to understand what was happening, you know? But they respondin' late and with answers that didn't even make sense. And don't even get me started on tryna get a refund. What a hassle!

So if you're thinking about signin' up for Pubby, I'd say you best stay away. Sure, they might be gettin' some reviews now, but who knows if they'll stay - or if you'll even get 'em in the first place. It just ain't worth the trouble.

I gotta say, I was pretty disappointed with Pubby. I saw all these good reviews and was excited to give them a try. Got my first review in the first day, which was pretty impressive. But when I actually read what the reader had to say, I was pretty let down. It seemed like they barely even skimmed my book, let alone read it carefully. And that's not really what I signed up for.

Look, I'm not saying they have to love my book. Everyone has different tastes, and that's totally fine. But what I'm not okay with is someone taking my hard-earned money and doing a half-hearted job. That's just dishonest, you know? And sadly, that was the only review I got from Pubby in the three whole months that I was signed up with them. Not exactly the kind of service I was hoping for.

I will say, though, that the people I interacted with at Pubby were really nice and professional. When I finally decided to call it quits, they were quick to respond and very kind about it. And I have to admit, their website looks super fancy and impressive. But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter if the actual service is complete crap.

So yeah, I wouldn't recommend giving Pubby a try. Save your money for something that's actually going to help you grow your writing career. Trust me, you'll be better off.

I gotta tell ya, Pubby (pubby.co) has left a real sour taste in my mouth. It's like they never heard of professionalism. When I took the plunge and signed up, I never even got a verification Email. And it's not like they were sending anything else out, either. It wasn't until I started complaining that I finally heard something - and let me tell you, it wasn't pleasant. One of their employees got all snarky with me, claiming my book had been rejected for some bogus reason ten whole days ago. But the thing is, I'd worked with other promo services before, and never gotten tossed for anything like that. So I knew they were lying to me.

I thought that would be the end of it, but oh no, these jokers still charged me for months afterward! I couldn't believe it. Needless to say, I told them to get lost immediately. My advice? Don't even think about using Pubby. You'll just be asking for trouble.

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.

I gotta be honest here, my experience with Pubby (pubby.co) was just okay. When I first started using their service, I was a little ticked off that they charged me $240 before even getting my consent. That wasn't a great first impression, if you ask me.

But the thing that really got my goat was how they let customers leave reviews without any real justification. I mean, come on! Just because someone doesn't like the subject matter of a book, that's no reason to leave a bad review. The reviewers know what they're getting into, so if they didn't like it, they should just keep their opinions to themselves.

And to make matters worse, I've had assignments taken from me without even getting a heads-up. Not cool, Pubby, not cool. And even when I've submitted reviews that Amazon has accepted, I still haven't gotten any credit for my "snaps." What's up with that?

All in all, the customer service at Pubby leaves a lot to be desired. They need to get their act together if they want to keep customers happy.

I was really looking forward to trying out Pubby.co, but after spending some time on the site, I have mixed feelings about it. The concept of being able to get 10-15 reviews during a 10-day free trial period is definitely attractive, but there are a few catches that make the experience less enjoyable.

First off, while you do get 2000 snaps to start off with, these don't go very far. In fact, you can only put your book out there for one reader, which definitely limits the potential exposure. To earn more snaps, you have to engage with other content on the site, such as retweeting tweets or reviewing other books. While this can be a fun way to discover new books and authors, it does take time away from actually writing, which is something I'm not willing to do.

Furthermore, most of the books on the site are listed for sale, which means that if you want to review them, you have to actually purchase them first. This can be frustrating, especially if you're looking for free downloads. Plus, even if you do earn enough snaps to put your book out there for multiple readers, there's no guarantee that you'll actually get any reviews in return.

All in all, while I appreciate the idea behind Pubby.co, I don't think it's worth the time or money. Instead, I'd rather wait for real, organic reviews to come in naturally. While it may take longer, I think the results will be more genuine and satisfying. But hey, that's just my two cents.

This site, Pubby, is a disaster. Honestly, I can't believe how terrible they were. Every promise they made was broken, and it was an utter waste of time and money. I was hoping to get some quality reviews for my book, but instead I got reviews that sounded strange and peculiar. In fact, it was apparent that the reviewer hadn't even read the book. It's as if they were guessing the whole thing!

One of the Pubby reviewers even went as far as making up fictitious scenes that weren't in my book. Astonishingly, they surfaced again in future reviews, as if everyone was just copying. Amazon deleted the majority of the reviews due to their inferior quality. At Pubby, I decided to pay more for verified purchasers who would really buy the book, yet what I got instead was far from it. My Amazon profile clearly showed that the vast majority had not purchased the book.

I also paid for a "recommended reader" service that was supposed to draw historical romance readers. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way as I got college-aged boys instead. I couldn't wait to cancel this service, but even worse, they refused to issue me a refund. I strongly advise against using this company – it is a horrible way of throwing money down the drain.

Pubby.co seems like a pretty cool website. For only $20 a month, you can get your manuscript reviewed by 5 to 10 avid readers. All you have to do is upload your manuscript and then wait for the feedback to roll in. Sounds easy, right?

Well, the website doesn't tell you everything. In order to even request reviews, you have to earn snaps in addition to your subscription fee. These snaps are earned by reading other people's books - most of which you have to pay for! Sure, there are a few freebies, but they are few and far between. It can be a real pain trying to accumulate enough snaps to get your book reviewed.

Even when you do get a review, there's no guarantee it will be legit. I received one review that was clearly fake. It was basically just a copy of the summary I had written, with a 5-star rating attached. It's not surprising, really - when people are forced to read books they may not be interested in just to get credits, it's only natural that some will try to cheat the system.

If you try to contact customer support for help, don't expect much of a response. Mary, in particular, was short and rude with me. It's a shame, really - it seems like such a waste of potential.

Don't get me wrong - this could be a great site. If they simply connected readers who love reviewing books with authors who need reviews, it would be perfect. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. I ended up cancelling my subscription and looking for alternatives.

All in all, I think my review is pretty honest. Just keep in mind that Pubby.co may not be the best option if you're looking for genuine reviews of your work.

I had some success with Pubby at first, but soon discovered that the luster fades quite quickly. To start: customer service is atrocious. If they do respond to you right away (normally it takes several days even using the chat function) there are few answers provided, but most answers are generic and rehearsed. I often wondered if "Mary" was a bot since the rest of the system is heavily automated. My second issue is the inconsistency of pricing and plans. Three times I had to address my membership in the lower-cost "essential" plan because Pubby changed the price or services offered within the plan WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE. This is what eventually sealed the deal for me and led me to cancel my membership. Another huge problem and red flag for authors to stay far, FAR away from Pubby is the fact that they refuse to remove uploaded content from their servers even after your membership has been canceled. I removed everything I could of my work from my dashboard, but who knows what they have access to and what they might do with it. Thankfully my work is all copyright protected. BUYER BEWARE. Pubby is a waste!

Look at the pic I added here on my account-dang. You can see the red circle thingy. That's a big ol' sign telling you that Pubby.co ain't legit. They gotta tell peeps to wait an entire 6 hours after buying a copy of the book before posting a review. Like, why would they gotta do that if people were really reading every single page of that 500 page book? Pubby was a complete bummer for me. The customer service was garbage, and ain't nobody gonna deal with all the complaints. It's just one person runnin' the show, ya know? And even when reviewers did all the steps they needed to do (like buyin' a copy from Amazon to get a verified purchase tag), my reviews still got taken down within two months. I had gone through the trouble of reading 75 books and writing 38 reviews, only for them all to disappear. It's just a scam to get SNAPs for the site's own reviews, I'm tellin' ya. And I bet those reviewers just bought the book, wrote the review, and then returned it to get their money back. That's why the reviews got posted so quickly. It's so shady!

And let me tell you, those reviews were boring as heck. They didn't say nothin' that couldn't already be found on the sales page or in another reader's review. When you're an author, you know your book inside and out. You can tell when someone took the time to actually read it versus someone just fakin' it. In the end, I regret using Pubby because it was a total waste of time and money. You better watch out before using it yourself. It's sketchy, man.