This happened to me yesterday and I hope it doesn’t happen to you. A one-star review for Sunspots showed up, bad enough, and then I read it. The title of the review is BAD and then she writes, “I actually don’t remember this book at all That means I read a few pages and deleted it cuz it was so bad.” I had recently read that giving one’s books away on kindle select brings out these snarky trolls. It has been a year since I gave my book away last December when it was first published. I have since walked away from the select program for many reasons, now I have one more.
What is more sickening about this reviewer is that she posted more than a hundred reviews on the same day as she posted the one for Sunspots. Every smutty piece of filth got 5-stars. Mainstream books got the same one-star review, same words. I didn’t realize that Amazon published porn, like “Lick my Pussy.” How disgusting. It demeans all of us writers for Amazon to sell that crap.
So what’s worse than that susanmx? Amazon telling me that they can’t take down her review. My family members who have READ the book and loved it can’t post a review, but this ridiculous review from a person who admits not reading the book can’t be taken down.
SICKENING. I understand why most people hate people.
Charlie Quinn says:
November 25, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Are you sure family members cannot post reviews on amazon? I haven’t done anything there in forever; but, I thought if they were in compliance with FTC requirements that they disclaim any connection to the author and any renumeration received for review (including free book, a return review, or actual fees) that they could. Their review would only say from a “verified purchase” if they purchased your book on amazon but would otherwise be like any other review. Amazon does have odd rules for authors reviewing if that’s the hurdle with family reviewing. (If family members post any reviews on any website or elsewhere there are nasty FTC fees for not disclosing a relationship with author—but a lot of sites otherwise have no rules against.)
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Administrator says:
November 25, 2013 at 1:31 pm
It is looked at by Amazon as promotion and advertising. But a negative review by a person who hasn’t read the book is not advertising obviously.
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JaneS says:
November 27, 2013 at 8:01 am
I think this is where you are wrong. Any publicity is publicity. Negative reviews are a way of promotion as well, and many authors have reported that their sales have gone up with the number of negative reviews. Anyone can review on Amazon. There is no mechanism that verifies a reviewer’s connection to the author. Personally, I think all reviews are helpful whether positive or negative. And I also think that all authors should just understand it as that. A review is the reader’s opinion, an opinion that has not more or less value only because it’s positive or negative.
While some authors do in fact create sockpuppet accounts to give low star ratings to books by other authors, the majority of reviewers consists of readers who love to read and review books with no hidden agenda. There is no group of reviewers trying to hurt book sales. There is however a high antipathy for authors who engage with reviewers over their reviews, or who name and shame reviewers on their blog hence why many people are shelving books by authors who behave in this fashion, or rate those books low. And even then it is not some sort of revenge but for the reviewer to remember why they shelved this author and why they didn’t want to read a particular author’s book. It may not seem so but as a person who reads about 100 books a year (which is not much compared to others) I have a hard time remembering which author best to avoid due to their unprofessional behaviour because like every other person on this planet I do in fact have a life and the older I get the less my brain remembers things. With this I would just like to encourage you to focus on your writing and to ignore reviews and ratings if they upset you so much. It’s not worth it. 🙂
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Administrator says:
November 27, 2013 at 2:14 pm
Why does writing must have been bad but can’t remember have merit to stand as a review? That was my argument. The ethics and morals of it. But hey, this blog I wrote has now caused a backlash from other poor souls out there who have gone to Goodreads and tried to destroy my credibility there. There are scary people on the Internet, who get their jollies from attacking an author in force because I’m not supposed to respond to awful behavior. A review is not just vomiting meanness. That makes all reviews worthless. My daughter who read my book and wrote a review was not allowed to post her review. Amazon told me it would be considered advertising and promotion. So my point was nasty comments of no value are allowed to stand and I vented in my blog. I have unfortunately overturned a rock, and the snakes are swarming. It is a weird world out there where people are bullies when they think they have power. An author who responds to weirdness is unprofessional? What about the person who writes it? What are they? I exercised my freedom of speech as well on my blog that usually no one reads. I used the reviewer’s name because she used that name on her post but I’m the bad guy for reacting to the lousy behavior that is allowed by Amazon to be posted? Yes, perhaps I shouldn’t have vented but I look at her remarks as spiteful and Amazon said her remarks were within their guidelines but “spiteful” remarks are supposedly not allowed. The whole system has become quite distasteful to me.
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