Alice P.

I used Linking News.com's White Paper press release service for a book launch, hoping to spread the word about my new novel, I was so upset with this service and its deceptive advertising practices, I filed a complaint with the BBB and discovered mine was one of many. I want to warn others about LinkingNews.com. It's a total rip-off. The web content says explicitly that your press release will be posted on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox etc... (see screen grab)
I bought the Standard Plan, fingers crossed, hoping the extended exposure would help speed my novel's sales. Man, was I wrong. It was a total rip-off.

I received a grid (list) from LinkingNews that supposedly showed the press release was posted to hundreds of websites, but they were AFFILIATE websites, not the NETWORK'S. Most of them like the local ABC TV station in nowhere Iowa, (no offense to Iowa's small towns), but the website has less than 300 views per month! When I went through the list, checking the websites to see where the press release was posted on the TV station's web page -- IT WAS NOT THERE. It did not exist, total scam!
The press release was also reportedly posted to an RSS feed with a subscription rate of 2 people. 2 PEOPLE! How is that considered a legitimate RSS feed?

End result? There was no traffic, making the venture a total bust. Don't waste your time or money on this service, it's run by con-artists. There are better ways to get exposure for your project or your business that are legit and less expensive. Lesson learned.

See attached screen grab from my account. Note the item circled in red. This is all you need to know about the lack of legitimacy for Pubby reviews. The site has to WARN reviewers to WAIT at least 6 hours after purchasing a copy of your book to post a review. That kind of caution would not exist, if people were reading your 500 page book. My experience with Pubby was highly unsatisfactory, and their customer service is the worst I have encountered. The site is run by just one person and unable or unwilling to deal with all the complaints. Each review I received, even the ones where the reader had to purchase a copy of my book from Amazon in order to get a verified purchase tag, was pulled down within two months of the review. I had to read 75 books (and post reviews) to get those 38 reviews and now they are gone! I suspect because after satisfying the terms of Pubby in order to gain SNAPs for their own reviews, the author/reader returned my book for a refund, and the review would come down. Which is explains why the reviews were posted so quickly, otherwise the Amazon time limit for returns would expire.
And the reviews never contained anything more than the information that is available in the sales page content or a reiteration of what another reader posted. Authors know their work, and can tell the difference between someone writing a review based on actual knowledge of their book versus someone making something up based on the promotional content. In the end, using Pubby was an expensive mistake and a waste of time. Buyer beware.