Questions
Straight answers.
If something you need is not here, ask me directly. A question I have to answer twice ends up on this page.
Is this a paid Amazon review?
No, and the distinction matters. Amazon prohibits paying for customer reviews — the star-rated ones readers leave on your product page. What you are buying here is an editorial review, the kind Kirkus, BookLife and Publishers Weekly sell, which belongs in the Editorial Reviews section of your Amazon Author Central listing. I never post to your customer review section and never ask anyone else to.
What if you hate my book?
Then nothing is published. The Author-Ally Kill Clause means any book that scores under three stars on an honest read never becomes a public review. You receive a private Editorial Diagnostic Report instead — a detailed account of where the narrative, pacing or structure fell short, so you can fix it. Your payment covers the reading time either way, and this is stated up front so nobody is surprised.
Do you actually read the whole book?
Yes. That is the entire product. A review written from a synopsis reads like a review written from a synopsis, and every author can tell. The Blurb tier is the one exception, and it says so plainly: it is written from your synopsis and first three chapters, which is why it is faster and cheaper.
Who is writing it?
Iwan Ross — a working novelist with six published titles, holding copy-editing and feature journalism qualifications from the University of Cape Town. Not a panel, not a rotating pool of freelancers, not a language model. One editor, one desk.
Why is it so much cheaper than Kirkus or Entrada?
Because I live in Cape Town and earn in rand. The same hours of reading and writing cost a fraction of what they cost in New York or London, and I have no offices, no sales team and no marketing budget to fund. The exchange rate is doing the work, not a shortcut in the editing.
Where exactly does the review go on Amazon?
In the Editorial Reviews section of your Amazon Author Central listing — not the customer review area under your book. It takes about three minutes: sign in to Author Central, open Books, select the title, find the Review field, paste, and save. Amazon usually publishes within about 72 hours. There is a full walkthrough with video, including the paragraph-break problem that catches most people the first time, on this page.
Can I use the review in my book, on my site and in my ads?
Yes. On delivery the text is yours to use anywhere — retailer pages, your website, press kits, paid advertising, the back of the print edition. I ask only that the attribution stays intact and the words are not altered in a way that changes their meaning.
What formats do you accept?
DOCX, PDF, EPUB and RTF for manuscripts. For audiobook work, MP3 or M4B, or an Audible or BookFunnel review code. If your book is already published, a retailer link is fine — I will buy the copy myself.
How do I pay from outside South Africa?
Any Visa, Mastercard or American Express card works. Payments are processed by Paystack, a Stripe company licensed in South Africa, and settle in rand. Your bank handles the conversion, and the amount shown in your currency at checkout is the amount you pay.
Is my unpublished manuscript safe with you?
It is treated as confidential from the moment it arrives. Files are stored privately, never shared, never used to train anything, and deleted on request once the work is delivered. I am an author too — I would not hand a manuscript to anyone who was vague about this.
How long does it really take?
The timelines on the pricing page are honest maximums, not marketing. Most work lands earlier. If something goes wrong on my end you will hear it from me first, with a new date, before the deadline passes.
Tell me about the book.
No payment is taken until the brief is read, the word count is confirmed and the price is agreed in writing. If the book is not a fit, I will say so and point you somewhere better.