Author savages competitors' books on Amazon.

I'm ashamed to say that I actually read the reviews by "Historian" around 18 months ago (I recognize the quotes) and partially based my decision to buy The Whisperers over the other books upon them. They were convincing; to me, anyway (and the book was excellent). I agree that the "Verified Purchase" consumer reviews should be the only ones displayed on Amazon, although I can imagine ways of possibly getting around it (e.g. buying the book, and then returning it). I can't think of a more honest source of reviews, however, than people who have bought the book. If there was a way of grouping the reviewers in terms of other books they liked, so you could search for reviewers whose taste aligns with yours, that might be a good way to do it. I'm sorry to hear about the personal attacks!

This thread seems like it would be better suited for our friends in the Roundtable forum, so we'll move it there from Office Party.

I made a thread about this in novels

Totally bloody bizarre, but it's 'car crash tv' I can't not watch

IdiotsRUs said:

I made a thread about this in novels...

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Had I seen your thread before making the move, it would have resulted in a nice, squishy merge with this one.

It seems to me that people know how to weight reviews based on their content and their origin. I don't see why a person can;t buy the book somewhere else or get it as a gift, but still post a review on amazon.

I decide on a book how I've always decided. I look at the cover, I read the back or equivelant, and then I read the first page or so. If I'm hooked and can afford it, I buy it. If not, it goes back.

Anyone who pays attention to anything on Amazon deserves what they get. The whole review sytem on there has been a joke for years.

I have my own personal list of pet peeves that stop me from buying a book. So I look at 1- and 2-star reviews and see how many of them cite my peeves. The glowing reviews I ignore because 95% of them are totally bogus.

I had no idea such a thing was being considered. But to avoid it a few more people need to pick up the slack and act as reviewers. I am getting buried in requests.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn when the dust settles that the author may have known what his wife was up to regarding the bogus reviews. He might have even put her up to it for all we know.

Doesn't matter either anyway, as both their reputations have been tarnished by this affair, and the two of them will suffer together.

People don't pay attention to/care about reviews when they decide which movie they're going to see tomorrow night, which DVD they're going to buy the night after, or which TV show they're going to watch tonight. They certainly aren't going to let a review influence which book they're going to read next week or which Broadway show they're going to see next month. In fact, they make a big deal over how stupid they think reviewers and critics truly are; go take a look at Rotten Tomatoes as another example.

icerose said:

I decide on a book how I've always decided. I look at the cover, I read the back or equivelant, and then I read the first page or so. If I'm hooked and can afford it, I buy it. If not, it goes back.

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Me too and with the ability to look inside the book on Amazon I can decide if it's for me or not. I read the reviews more to get an idea of the content than of the reviewers likes and dislikes.

I just read that article and was just coming to start a thread on it. It's interesting and I'm glad it's posted. The public, non-professional review thing is worth considering. I like it and want it to continue and I'll admit to being influenced by anonymous strangers' thoughts on a book, but I've no way of knowing if those people are being honest or even if their tastes are meaningful to me.

I've read numerous reviews that rubbed me the wrong way, sometimes because they were ridiculously positive and some that were patently mean-spirited and from a frustrated wannabe to boot.
FWIW, I don't post many reviews but never do when I would give a negative review. I feel kinda cheesy about that...but it's not that I wouldn't express a negative opinion of a book if any one asked me directly. I just can't bring myself to write a permanent open letter telling why I think the writing was sloppy or the character cardboard or the plot contrived or whatever. I see no good purpose in my doing such a thing, so I don't do it.

Reviews only tell me someone else enjoyed the book. Doesn't mean I will, so I generally ignore them. Book blurbs and such are often a greater indication of whether I'll enjoy the book.

I agree with James.

Authors have been getting friends and family to post bogus reviews on Amazon for as long as Amazon have been around.

Then there are the idiotic reviews on Dan Brown's latest: 'I'm giving this book five stars to balance out the one star ratings even though the book hasn't been published yet.'

Amazon reviews contain more spin than a Westminster Cabinet.

ElaraSophia said:

I can't think of a more honest source of reviews, however, than people who have bought the book. If there was a way of grouping the reviewers in terms of other books they liked, so you could search for reviewers whose taste aligns with yours, that might be a good way to do it. I'm sorry to hear about the personal attacks!

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Jamesaritchie said:

Anyone who pays attention to anything on Amazon deserves what they get. The whole review sytem on there has been a joke for years.

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Actually, alongside the "free-for-all", Amazon has an excellent reviewer quality ranking in place. I know, because I used to interact with these reviewers years ago, before I came to AW. They are serious reviewers who really care about writing good, unbiased reviews. You can identify them by the reviewer ranking behind their name; for instance, top 10 reviewer, or top 50 reviewer. The ranking is determined by the amount of helpful votes they get from customers. Of course, even the voting system is corrupt, with people giving negative votes just because the book was by their best friend or daughter, but still, in the end we do get a fairly fair ranking.
Some of these top reviewers were my virtual friends, as close as many AWers, and yes, some of them reviewed my books. IMO Amazon should prmote them more, and customers should be made more aware of the system, in order to properly weigh a review. It would help us to get honest and unbiased views; we could determine our favourite reviewers, those who have similar reading tastes to us, and so on.

I am going to be as honest as I can here. So please be nice.

I've got quite a few reviews on amazon for my book (on the .uk site anyway, the book doesn't come out it the US till next year). Lots of them are thoughtful and well-written, and I appreciate people taking the time to comment. Also lots of them make good critical points that I will bear in mind in the future.

On spin: When I'm buying from amazon, I often look at reviews. They aren't my first and only guide, but they do have an influence, so I recognise their importance for me. When someone comes up to me and says they really love the book I have found myself saying (with a smile, not mad-eyed), 'Thank you very much! Please feel free to tell everyone you know and write it up on amazon too!'
Is that wrong? It does mean two of the 28 reviews up there are from people I know.

On the negative side, I was gutted when I got a one star review, and had to restrain my boyfriend from posting a 5-star review, to balance it, or hassling our friends, the ones who have said how much they like the book anyway, to review too.
It's tough. I couldn't help being upset, I'm only human. He couldn't help wanting to defend me. It may be rubbish but when someone really dislikes the book and says so in public like that, it is like getting slapped in the face. Takes a lot of deep breathing and repeating to myself that you can't please everyone to get over it. A friend also sent me an article from Salon about classic books with one-star reviews. That made me feel better. So I licked my wounds and got on with the day.

At least one review though contained multiple spoilers. That bothered me.

I guess what I'm saying boils down to this.
Figes wife seemed to be vindictive and stupid. However much it would be done out of love for me, if Ned pulled anything like this I would throttle him, but I can understand the impulse.
We're only human and it's hard not to care, deeply, about what people are saying about your work on a public forum. That said, I know we just have to take it and only whine to a limited and trusted circle of mates.
Amazon reviews are a very dodgy system and easy to abuse. But what would the alternative be? Only newspaper reviewers are allowed to have the right to an opinion? What if you bought the book from another outlet, but still want to review on amazon?

The fake reviews on Amazon are pretty easy to spot. The reviewers who give a really over the top (positive or negative) review on a product and are never seen again, those who do the same constantly for an author, those who give really brief 5 star or 1 star reviews...all giveaways.

I don't put much faith either way in Amazon reviews.

Amazon reviews are great entertainment.

Remember Anne Rice's breakdown on Amazon?

shaldna said:

Amazon reviews are great entertainment.

Remember Anne Rice's breakdown on Amazon?

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Didn't that all get deleted? I never did get a chance to read it.

Still reviews do help us decide if we wish to buy or not. Not just book either. We wouldn't buy an album if everyone was saying it was worse than the cats choir, especially our friends. In the end it really comes down to looking at the overall impression of the comments attached to the product that makes up my mind if it is any good. One bad review on its own against two or three good ones would have less weight to me.