Honest feedback, on request.
Never swapped.
Book Meteor is software for collecting honest feedback on a book. Open a feedback request on yours, and other people using the app take it to read and write what they thought, here. The app holds each of them to a deadline, shows every piece to a moderator before you see it, and refuses the second half of any swap.
Four steps, in print order.
Shelve your book
Add your title in the app with its cover copy, its genre, the storefronts it is sold on and a PDF of the book. A moderator checks it before it is shown to anyone.
Open a request
Choose how many seats the request has, and the app sets points aside for each one. Whoever takes a seat has 3 days to read the book and file feedback here.
Receive feedback
Other people using Book Meteor take a seat, read the book and write what they honestly thought, in the app. A moderator checks each piece before you see it. Two stars count exactly as five do.
Take a task
Take a book from the library yourself, read it properly and say what you honestly thought, here. On a paid plan, each book you take credits its points at once.
Feedback once. Never in return.
The moment you give feedback on another author’s book, Book Meteor 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
Every piece is written by someone using the app who took the book to read, and the rating they give changes nothing for them: two stars count exactly as five do.
A library that turns
The app reshuffles the library every two hours, so every book surfaces and nobody can buy the front page. There is no paid placement anywhere in it, and no plan changes where a title appears.
Deadlines, enforced
The app gives every task 3 days, with 2 days more in which late feedback still counts. After that the seat goes back on the request, so nobody is left waiting on a reader who lost interest.
An in-app allowance
Paid plans come with points, and on a paid plan each book you take credits its points at once; a missed deadline or rejected feedback takes them back. Reading on the free Reader plan earns none. Points are spent only on opening feedback requests. They have no value outside Book Meteor and cannot be sold, transferred or withdrawn.
Plain prices, billed monthly.
The author tools, for your next title.
For authors who read as much as they write.
For small presses.
Author and Author Plus start with a two-week trial costing US$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. Every payment can be refunded in full within 14 days, no questions asked. What you subscribe to is the author side of the app: shelving new titles and opening feedback requests on them. Each paid plan also comes with points, which have no value outside Book Meteor 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 losing the account.
Or come only to read.
A reader account is free, needs no card, and stays free. Take a book an author has opened for feedback, read it, and write what you honestly thought, here. Reading on the free plan earns no points: the books are what it is for. Nothing obliges you to publish anything anywhere, and a harsh opinion counts exactly as a kind one does.
Up to 5 books a week, free, with nothing to earn and nothing to spend — the account costs nothing either way.
Asked often, answered once.
The author side of the app: shelving your titles and opening feedback requests on them. Each paid plan also sets your reading limits — a weekly one on Author and Author Plus, none on Press — and comes with points: a signing bonus on Author and Author Plus, and points every month on Press. Reading adds more: 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 for authors at US$1, then US$24 a month. The library is open, the presses are warm.
On Book Meteor 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.