World, Writing, Wealth discussion

As a member of a Goodreads review group I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest, non-reciprocal review.

It does very well. But I'm not sure if it's idle gossip. But I've heard that Amazon is taking reviews down, if they have been found linked to Goodreads friendship list.

Ah! I always heard it was fb friends lists. Amazon owns gr so I would be surprised if this were true.

Yeah, I thought so. People panic unnecessarily sometimes.

Aside from readers we don't know it seems authors are being driven into the arms of review services. It's really worrying. Readers want reviews to go by but you need reviews to entice readers.

I've accepted the fact that I'll eventually pony up for a Kirkus or PW review but that's because they're resoected by the industry. And I still don't like it. Aargh lol.

Maybe I should focus on a few top notch bloggers. They're considered editorial so no disclaimer is needed.

I refuse to pay for my review as well. Just because I have added a friend to my list doesn't mean he is somewhat curtailed in his capacity to write an honest review. I don't think any of my reviews were dishonestly written. Even my mother tells me quite frankly, if she didn't like a book that I had written. Why should Amazon think otherwise?

It is hard enough to get reviews on which survival depends literally. On top of that if writers had to battle this, then the whole affair seems pretty bleak.

Some days I do feel it is bleak. Other days I feel more optimistic. Either way it is an uphill battle for us indies - but definitely worth it.

Yeah! I just don't want to contend with the rather sordid Amazon review policies. Even traditionally published writers like myself have do some marketing. And I think it's a good thing, because it keeps one in the loop.

I think the result will be fewer but more reliable reviews. This can only help indie authors in the long run because readers need to trust the validity of our reviews.

Denise
If this helps, remember this: most people read reviews to look for a reason not to buy your book. If they don't like the title, cover and blurb they will never even make it to the reviews. If they've made it that far they are already interested. Reviews are a necessary evil and editorial reviews are just one way of paying our dues. The good news is that really good editorial reviews used to be closed to indie authors but there are so many of us now that services can't afford to ignore our wallets. But at the end of the day their reviews are just as valid for us as they are for trad pub authors and people in the industry who matter take those reviews quite seriously. And think of it this way - trad pub authors pay for their editorial reviews also, just in different, intangible ways.

Some books have no reviews, they sell okay. And some have 6 to 7 digit number of reviews, say 800,000 astronomical. I wonder how reliable they are. But both seem to prosper equally on Amazon.

Relating to friends lists seems a bit rough. If you have a large number of social media "friends" the chances are you don't even know them!

Exactly. I have nearly 2400 fb friends amd I only know about 1200 of them.

When it comes to reviews, does amazon make a distinction between
"friends" for acquaintance and "friends" for reviews? Clearly they are different or do they take reviews down indiscriminately?

I don't believe Amazon can determine anything about my fb activity because I have never linked the two sites in any way. I have no book or author groups on fb nor have i joined any. I don't link my fb page to my Amazon author site or my goodreads account or author page. Still, i guess you never know...scary.

Yeah it is. I see a lot of panic among writers around amazon's review policies. They are under "fear" that amazon would rip their reviews apart. One of the reviews for my collection of short stories was totally suppressed by amazon. It was a goodly 5 star. However, GoodReads has allowed it. I don't know the reviewer personally at all.

Apart from readers, whom I'd never met, I have reviews from my real friends hanging there on Amazon as well as those from efriends. I've probably lost a review or two in the past.. I heard Amazon also bars the reviews to appear, if they feel something's not right.
Interesting, what do you think is the share of fake reveiws on Amazon? Half, 1/4, less/more? It looks sometimes pretty strange to see the only review from a particular reviewer of some book, who never reviewed anything else...
I think we have bigger hurdles to overcome-:) The more readers and buyers we get the more reviews to ensue

Nik You are absolutely right. Some books have zillion reviews. I doubt that they are genuine. Amazon doesn't do anything to them because they have probably hit the best seller rank.

I think the policing of reviews has gotten ridiculous when a book review is deleted because it came from a facebook friend. Seriously? You can meet someone at a social gathering or networking event but should you friend them on fb and review their book the connection is suddenly suspicious? Ridiculous. As usual, Amazon is trying to kill a bug with a bomb. In my opinion they overreact to minor problems and are slow to react to more important ones. I do, however, understand why review swapping is not a good idea. I used to participate in review swaps when i was a newbie but think better of it now. Non-reciprocal reviews are the way to go.

Amazon won't worry about deleting reviews from a book with a zillion reviews because the false ones would get lost in the deluge anyway.

One hopes.