Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Maybe you haven't heard but Amazon is now limiting reviews for self published books and books made available on Amazon through book publishers... Per my personal communication with Amazon -- there is a moratorium on reviews after a certain number and there is no date, if any, if more reviews can be posted to your book page. Per my friend who is an author from a medium size press, she said the only ones able to continue to get continuous reviews are entertainers or top public figures -- don't know if that is true since I did not personally research this but she is from a mid-size reputable publisher and a radio host and Amazon allowed her 4...I am self published and complained to Amazon, as did my reviewers, and they have limited me to 6.

Wow that sucks! Wonder what is the reason?

This is interesting. Have you had anyone try to post a review (legitimately) recently? They don't seem to be limiting ratings because they've just processed a whole load which seem to be off a backlog. Is this assumed to be reviews for non-verified people (i.e. those who haven't bought the bought via Amazon)?

Is self-published meaning via KDP? Or offline self-published?There are a lot of factors that could contribute to the knowledge as to whether this is really accurate. And how would they know? Anyone can create a KDP profile, big or small publishers, and make an imprint name as a publisher.

Of course, I'm not saying this isn't ridiculous, but Amazon is there to make money, and more reviews generally means more money.

Anyone else heard about this?

I am a KDP published author and some of the reviews that were trying to be posted were from people who bought the book from Amazon and met their ' $50.00 purchase on Amazon to post a review' requirement. I am also a 27 year radio host that reaches over 500,000 people a month so I have a lot of people who could post reviews and maybe that made the reviews look suspicious to Amazon -- who knows they won't give me any information. However it isn't just me my friend and several other authors have experienced the same thing since mid January. So maybe something changed.

If this is what's going on at the moment it's damn shocking. Deserves of investigation. I'm in the UK, so very interested if this is international or just the main site... A sign of things to come perhaps?

I'll ask Brooke Warner at She Writes Press if she's heard anything about this. She's usually up to date on this sort of thing.

You are right...and if it has changed it would be nice for Amazon to notify their authors. I got a lot of frustrated reviewers emailing me saying they couldn't review the book.

Linda wrote: "You are right...and if it has changed it would be nice for Amazon to notify their authors. I got a lot of frustrated reviewers emailing me saying they couldn't review the book."

Interested to know, did they buy your book/s through Amazon or another source?

I've been reading up a bit and it's been happening on and off for some year regarding verified and unverified reviews. They're clamping down a lot on non-Amazon buyers leaving reviews because of a lot of fakes, but also go down hard on authors who get a lot of reviews at once (because they "manually" verify them) so it's probably easier not to. But it seems to be normal practice on and off, ethical or not.

If it's people who have purchased direct from Amazon then this is very concerning. But it's also important to note, if anyone has an Amazon account linked to something like Goodreads (owned by...Amazon) then reviews (even if verified purchases) are also penalised for that, the assumption of it being tit for tat review boosting.

None of this is necessarily what's happening, it's just things I know have happened in the past.

Ultimately we don't own the site, and they can do what they like legally - ethics and morals aren't included. It's a shame, but that's commerce.

I haven't posted a review on Amazon for a while, but then next time I do, it'll be interesting to see what happens...

Are you talking about editorial reviews being limited? Or customer reviews? I can't review books anymore on Amazon because I didn't buy anything in the past whatever months. Last review I tried to post was rejected with that note.

Linda wrote: "Are you talking about editorial reviews being limited? Or customer reviews? I can't review books anymore on Amazon because I didn't buy anything in the past whatever months. Last review I tried to ..."

I meant the people who said they couldn't leave a review for your book (which I guess could include editorial reviews if they weren't Amazon purchased) - had these readers bought your book/s directly from Amazon, or were just leaving a review on Amazon having purchased it/them elsewhere?

I'm just trying to work out what action/s exactly is limiting the reviews.

So Amazon is stopping you from reviewing because you haven't bought anything from them? Not to get too nosy, but how long are we talking?

Are the books you're trying to review bought from Amazon or are they books you have bought elsewhere and are now trying to review on Amazon?

It seems like a very specific thing Amazon is trying to do to hinder public interaction on its site, but if its pushing down hard on "outside" reviews or "rarer" customers, this seems to be a standard thing they do whenever they feel like it.

Jessica wrote: "Linda wrote: "You are right...and if it has changed it would be nice for Amazon to notify their authors. I got a lot of frustrated reviewers emailing me saying they couldn't review the book."

Inte..."

Jessica wrote: "Linda wrote: "You are right...and if it has changed it would be nice for Amazon to notify their authors. I got a lot of frustrated reviewers emailing me saying they couldn't review the book."

Inte..."

Jessica wrote: "Linda wrote: "You are right...and if it has changed it would be nice for Amazon to notify their authors. I got a lot of frustrated reviewers emailing me saying they couldn't review the book."

Inte..."<
There were some people who had bought the book from Amazon.

I am not trying to review books -- people who bought my book from Amazon with the $50.00 purchase on Amazon completed were/are not able to review it.

I have the same problem. People have contacted my saying they were trying to write a review for my book, but they couldn't because they hadn't spent £40 in the year.

I used to have 13 reviews on Amazon, but this year beginning of January I am down to 3. I have no idea why. So that is happening to me as well.

Having just read the messages posted within this discussion group, out of curosity, I accessed the Amazon website to see if it still included information pertaining to my novel which was commercially available in four formats from Aug. 9, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2016 when the publisher declared bankruptcy and went out of business; perhaps from signing too many authors like myself.

During its 5 1/2 years of publication, the novel sold only a total of 1,029 units (485 paperback - 480 e-book - 36 audio book on CD - 28 audio downloads), Royaties paid to me totalled $2,358.34 after taxes.

I was surprised to discover that the novel is still featured on Amazon. Used copies of the paperback are being sold for $4.95 each. The ratings and reviews posted since first published are still shown. None have been removed, at least not yet. However, there were not many to begin with.

It all seems to me like Amazon just being Amazon. Picking and choosing again who can and can do what on their site, and penalising normal wrtiters who don't own billion-dollar publishing houses.

Paralyzed wrote: "I used to have 13 reviews on Amazon, but this year beginning of January I am down to 3. I have no idea why. So that is happening to me as well."

Reviews being removed is something that has been going on for a long time at Amazon.

If you have an Amazon account linked up to your Goodreads account or share any "fast" logins with Google etc. across multiple sites or any other social media (Facebook, Twitter etc) then the algorithms will find this and see who your online friends are. If your friends then go and leave a review on Amazon, they can be flagged as possibly knowing you and therefore Amazon assumes review boosting.

Review amounts across Amazon sites are also inconsistent. The US site gets all the reviews and ratings from all Amazon sites. But the UK site only gets the UK reviews - but this wasn't always the case. This happened about five years ago, when suddenly ratings across Amazon UK dropped because they took that link with the US site away.

It is utter tosh, and nothing this company does surprises me anymore. But Amazon is not our friend, and the corporation does not care how it affects its users. Why would they?

My issue isn't with Amazon, All my reviews are still there. However it Goodreads that has taken away many of my reviews and ratings as well! I've written to them and they say that they know of the problem and are working on it... this was at least 4 maybe more months ago and I've yet to hear anything back from them! As a mater of fact just last week I lost another review, I'm down to just 5 reviews when I had somewhere around 16 reviews and many more ratings!!!! Is anyone else having this issue and have you been in contact with GR. What has been your experience? I'm interested to hear from you!

Richard wrote: "My issue isn't with Amazon, All my reviews are still there. However it Goodreads that has taken away many of my reviews and ratings as well! I've written to them and they say that they know of the ..."

In response to your comments and request, I accessed my Goodreads profile, specifically information pertaining to my novel. All previous reviews and ratings remain as when the book was still commercially available. That said; perhaps other authors have experienced the same issue you have and will reply in-kind.

I hope that your particular problem is resolved expeditiously.

I have lost all my ratings on Goodreads as well.

Catherine wrote: "I have lost all my ratings on Goodreads as well."

Ms. Smaridge,

I notice that you have created the standard Goodreads Member Profile. Might I suggest that you consider creating and posting a Goodreads Author Profile? Doing so would more readily identify you to other Goodreads members as a published author.

Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know how to do that? I'm useless with technology and usually get my son to do it when he's here, but that's not very often.

Catherine wrote: "Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know how to do that? I'm useless with technology and usually get my son to do it when he's here, but that's not very often."

Catherine,

Simply access your current Member Profile, scroll down to the bottom, then click on Help. Ask your question. A Goodreads staff member will provide step-by-step instructions.

Hi. Instead of Amazon, I post book reviews on Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites.

Reader reviews should be copied and pasted everywhere you have an online presence, like Bob says, except not instead of Amazon but in addition to Amazon. Then if Amazon won't post it for some reason, you still have readers seeing it elsewhere. I also keep a word file of all my reviews so they are never lost. I use excerpts of them in my marketing.

I hope it isn't true, but I do know that I have not received any new reviews in some time... Like Nancy, I often save reviews so I can post them elsewhere and/or in case they disappear, which has happened in the past. I'll try to revisit this post for updates! Thanks for sharing.

For whatever reason, the vast majority of avid readers never post a rating or review. A rating or review is merely a personal, and therefore subjective, opinion. One reader's Best book ever! may very well be another reader's Worst book ever!, which is why most savvy readers do not allow a rating or review to influcence their book purchasing decisions one way or the other.

Focusing more upon striving to continuously improve basic writing, editing, promotion, and marketing knowledge and skills and less upon obsessing over the number of ratings or reviews received will enhance one's chances of becoming a successful author.

Very few novice authors ever achieve commercial success or even notoriety within this extremely competitive field. That said; some have. There is no reason why you might not eventually become one of those success stories. I sincerely hope you succeed..

Very good points, Jim. I use reviews as a way to point me to a book or movie. I don't necessarily always look at those with good reviews and ignore those with bad ones, rather I see reviews as an informational tool to find books or movies I might otherwise overlook.

That is a good idea. Thanks