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Reviews on Amazon - who writes them?
I was looking at Fiverr the other day, and another little bit of naivete was lopped off. People will write verified reviews for anyone's book for a fiver. So just how far can you trust any of those glowing reviews of the book you are tempted to sample?
In fact, it's amazing what people will do for a fiver, including writing essays for school and university. One can see how reverting to exams rather than continuous assessment might have a point. How else do you prove the student actually knows anything?
In fact, it's amazing what people will do for a fiver, including writing essays for school and university. One can see how reverting to exams rather than continuous assessment might have a point. How else do you prove the student actually knows anything?
Comments
If the goal is to make a sale, they've achieved it; what comeback does the disappointed buyer have for something bought for Kindle?
One man's tosh is another man's treasure, Liz - you can't prove they didn't seriously enjoy reading the book they describe as the best thing since War and Peace, when it's plainly no such thing.
I wish there was some audition process in publishing. Oh, yes, wait a minute - that's called traditional publishing. I wonder if reviews are legitimate when writers have taken that route. Possibly not...
Mrs B, you'd have proof of deception though, if the reviewer had been on fiver wouldn't you?
A paid for review isn't automatically dishonest.
If someone were to offer me cash for a review, I might do it but a) I'd only give my honest opinion and b) I'd want more than £5.
There's a conflict of interest - just because it is for writing, why does it make a difference, you would be outraged to find out that a dog food manufacturer had 'paid' money for all its reviews...
I tend to ignore all the initial five-star ones and wait to see what later reviews say, but I don't think I've ever bought a book just based on its reviews because they are so easily manipulated.
When I have nothing better to do, I might draw up a 'family tree' of reviewers and see how they're all related.
A cluster of five star reviews and some that are only two or three, usually indicates something iffy.
I think I've already mentioned this example - second book in a series attracted a very nice review by 'Mary'. Their Amazon account was 'Mary'. Sadly they reviewed the third book, signed it 'Mary' but were logged into the account of AN Other...the same (unusual) surname as the author.
I'm regularly sent books to review - some don't get past the first few chapters and aren't reviewed. I received two on Saturday - from a well known publisher. They want unbiased reviews and have always stressed how important impartial feedback is.
I've been thinking about the £5 for a review. If I was going to charge (and I'm not!), I'd want to cover the reading and review-writing time. Why muddy the water for only £5?
Another point of view though - What if the book is actually brilliant but the writer just can't get anyone to read it and so buys some reviews which increase his readership and ultimately leads to the writer being discovered by more readers who give further 5* genuine reviews - it might be immoral and ethically questionable - but is it not just clever marketing in the second instance??
I write Amazon reviews (admittedly, more for music than books) and I always try to provide reasons for the star rating I award. I do not trust reviews that say merely "I enjoyed this and you will too" or similar - there are lots of them about.
Why have I given the publisher and author my time for free? Because I love reading. This one will get five stars and will deserve each of them.
I've tried to explain why I rate the book so highly - but it is just my opinion. Others will differ, but I will be standing by my five stars.
My review will go, initially, to the publisher and then next month it'll be on Amazon etc and my own site. The version I post will be mine. The publisher isn't 'approving' it, but they want to use reviews in their publicity, so it goes to them asap.
Just opened a new book - to read and review. There was a letter...
'Please turn off the proofreading side of your brain, I know there are errors...my excuse is that I self-published and didn't get it proofread.'
Hmmm. Not sure if I'm the right one for this job.
What a bonehead - and actually asking you to turn off your proofreader brain, don't they understand it's all part of the package?
I'm reading the book because it sounds an intriguing plot.
they emailed me to ask if I was happy with the books I had bought and offering me the option of giving them stars and/or writing a review.
So I did both. The odd thing was, one of them I wanted to say something brief - flattering but short - and amazon told me I had to write more. Apparently there is a minimum one is allowed to write!!
:-S
If you click on the product and then reviews, it prompts you to post a review, rather than wait for that email. And you can review books that you didn't buy from Amazon. And don't forget to add it to Goodreads.
I've been agonising over a recent review. Decided to upgrade it from four to five stars. The trouble is, most of the books I read are very good and I rate them on how they are within their 'group'.
I don't like giving out too many fives - especially when I see poor books with them, but this was deserving - it originally lost a star due to details that I doubt only the pickiest would worry about. I didn't want potential buyers - or the author - to be put off, although four ain't bad.
I don't believe ALL five star reviews. I have begun to plot out that family tree of reviewers.