Honest feedback, earned.
Never swapped.
BookOrbit is where independent authors read each other’s books and give honest feedback. Read someone else’s book and its points are yours; set points aside and ask readers for feedback on yours. One rule keeps every account safe: once someone has given you feedback, you can never give it back.
Four steps, in print order.
Shelve your book
Add your title to the library with its cover copy, its genre and the storefronts it is sold on. A moderator checks it before anyone sees it.
Take a task
Every open book is asking for readers. Take a task, read properly, and say what you thought within 3 days.
Give feedback
Read it properly and say what you honestly thought, here. Two stars count exactly as five do.
Ask for readers
Open your own book for feedback and set points aside for the readers you want.
Reviewed once. Never in return.
The moment you give feedback to another member, BookOrbit shuts the door one way: that author can never take any of your books, including ones you add years later. You may go on reading theirs. A swap cannot be completed, because its second half is always refused.
Retailers suspend authors for reciprocal reviewing. The Swap Shield makes reciprocity impossible — not discouraged, impossible — automatically and forever.
Honest by design
Feedback from members who actually read the book. Nothing here changes with the rating: two stars count exactly as five do.
A library that turns
The shelf is reshuffled every two hours, so every book surfaces and nobody can buy the front page. There is no paid placement on this service at all.
Fast turnaround
A task must be finished within 3 days, with 2 days more in which late feedback still counts, so nobody is left waiting on a reader who lost interest.
Read to ask
Every book you take credits its points at once. Feedback here in time keeps them, and they are what you ask for readers with.
Plain prices, printed monthly.
Everything to launch a title.
For a season of launches.
For small presses.
Author and Author Plus start with a two-week trial costing $1. That is taken when the trial starts, which is how the card is checked, and the first full payment follows on day fifteen unless you cancel before then. Press has no trial and is charged straight away. The subscription is what lets you shelve new titles and ask for readers on them, and it comes with points. Points have no value outside BookOrbit and cannot be bought on their own, sold, transferred or withdrawn. Cancel any time: your books and points stay, and you drop to the free Reader tier rather than out of the service.
Or come only to read.
A reader account is free, needs no card, and stays free. You take a book that an author has opened for feedback, read it, and write what you honestly thought — and the book’s points are yours to keep. Nothing obliges you to publish anything anywhere, and a harsh opinion earns exactly what a kind one does.
Up to 5 books a week, 100 points or more for each. Spend them if you ever want readers of your own, or do not — the account costs nothing either way.
BookOrbit versus a plain review swap
| BookOrbit | Swap group | |
|---|---|---|
| Reviewer ever sees your book again | Never | Always |
| Anything at all for posting to a retailer | Never | Usually the point |
| Honest stars cost the reviewer nothing | Always | No |
| Feedback checked before the author sees it | Always | No |
Asked often, answered once.
The right to shelve your titles and ask for readers, a weekly limit on the books you take to read, and points: a signing bonus on Author and Author Plus, and points every month on Press. Most points come from reading — each book you take credits its points at once. Publishing a review on a retailer is entirely your own choice, is never required, and moves no points.
Your first task is waiting.
Two weeks on the house for authors. The library is open, the presses are warm.
On BookOrbit you give honest feedback, never favourable feedback — nothing on this service changes with the rating you give, and nothing requires you to publish a review anywhere. If you do choose to post one, following that retailer’s review policies, including Amazon’s Community Guidelines, is up to you. Giving feedback on a book you have a financial interest in is not permitted here.