What a Kirkus review is and why it matters
Kirkus Reviews has been reviewing books since 1933. Their reviews appear in bookseller catalogs, on Amazon listings as editorial reviews, in library acquisition decision tools like Baker & Taylor, and in award submission materials. A Kirkus review is written by a professional critic, not a consumer, and is recognized as such by the bookselling and library trades. For indie authors competing for shelf space, library consideration, or award eligibility, a positive Kirkus review is one of the few pieces of third-party credibility that industry gatekeepers recognize by name.
The difference between a traditional Kirkus review and Kirkus Indie
Traditional Kirkus reviews are unsolicited: a publisher submits a book, Kirkus decides whether to review it, and if they do, they publish the review regardless of whether it is positive or negative. The author and publisher have no control over publication. Kirkus Indie is a paid service for self-published and small-press authors. You submit your book and pay for a review. The review is written by the same professional critics as traditional reviews, but you retain the option to suppress publication if the result is negative. This suppression option is the key structural difference between the two tracks.
How to submit your book for Kirkus Indie
Submissions are made through the Kirkus Indie portal at kirkusreviews.com. You upload a final PDF or ebook file, provide publication metadata (ISBN, category, publication date), and pay the submission fee. Standard turnaround is seven to nine weeks. Expedited turnaround is available for roughly double the standard fee. Your manuscript should be in final form before submission — Kirkus reviewers are reading and critiquing the book as a finished product, and submitting an unedited draft risks a negative review on avoidable grounds.
What Kirkus reviewers look for
Kirkus reviewers evaluate books as professional critics, not as marketers or readers. They assess prose quality, narrative structure, pacing, character development in fiction, and argument quality and sourcing in non-fiction. They do not give bonus points for self-published status or extra credit for ambition. A common pattern in negative Kirkus Indie reviews is inconsistent editing (typos, grammatical errors, inconsistent character names), structural problems in the middle of the book, and endings that do not pay off the book's setup. These are also the most preventable problems.
How to use a positive Kirkus review in your marketing
A positive Kirkus review is marketing material with shelf life. Add the most compelling quote to your Amazon editorial review section (which is different from the customer review section and more prominently placed). Put it in your media kit. Use it in pitches to independent bookstores and libraries. If you received a Kirkus Star, make that designation visible in every marketing context: on your book cover, in your Amazon description, in your social media bios. The star is a recognized trade signal — use it explicitly rather than burying it in the review text.
What to do with a negative Kirkus review
If you received a Kirkus Indie review and it is negative, you have the option to suppress it before publication. That is a legitimate choice and exactly what the Kirkus Indie suppression option exists for. If you choose not to suppress, treat the review as editorial feedback: identify the specific criticisms, assess honestly whether they reflect real problems, and decide whether the book needs revision before launch. If the criticisms are substantive and accurate, a revision before wide release is worth considering. If the criticisms are matters of taste rather than quality, suppress and move on.
