kindle boards - BN pubit ... boards?

If you ask to trade reviews on the Kindleboards, you'll probably get rejected and a somewhat harsh set-down. Sorry.

If you want reviews of your books, why not send to review blogs? There are multiple lists of such things around and many take ebooks. It's a much more legit way to get reviews and it won't piss off your fellow authors

I believe there is a thread in the Kindle forums for authors who are willing to exchange reviews. IIRC it is in the general questions/comments section. I have not participated in the Kindle boards, but I do read them.

merrihiatt said:

I believe there is a thread in the Kindle forums for authors who are willing to exchange reviews. IIRC it is in the general questions/comments section. I have not participated in the Kindle boards, but I do read them.

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Are you referring to the Amazon forums, or kindleboards.com?

In either case, authors are limited to a particular forum for discussing writing (Writers Cafe on the former, Meet our Authors on the latter) and though I don't frequent the latter as much, I think review trading is strongly frowned upon in both places.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing boards. Sorry for the confusion.

I haven't heard of trading reviews before. Wouldn't a traded review be suspect?

Even if the other person thinks your work stinks, they'll be frightened to say anything (for fear you'll give them a poor rating).

Kindle has a forum called Voice of the Author/Publisher, where there are many offers to trade reviews. To me, that would be like cheating when I play Go Fish with my grandkids. If a book can't stand up on its own merits and earn honest reviews, is it really a good book?

MartinD said:

I haven't heard of trading reviews before. Wouldn't a traded review be suspect?

Even if the other person thinks your work stinks, they'll be frightened to say anything (for fear you'll give them a poor rating).

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Excellent point.

Curiosity had me look at the review exchange thread on the KDP boards. Seems dubious to me.

MartinD said:

I haven't heard of trading reviews before.

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I have. The PublishAmerica boards have been full of requests for and offers of traded reviews for years.

Wouldn't a traded review be suspect?

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It would be. Besides, they don't apparently work.

I guess that would apply to telling friends and relatives to buy your book on Amazon and then give it a 4 or 5 star review. I was even planning to refund their money under the table.

It's not advised.

That stuff generally gets sniffed out.

You'll see a review that says something like "Sheesh, all these 5 star reviews from people that have never reviewed any other books on Amazon ever? It ain't that great. But I guess it's good enough for the author's mom and sister."

Or they'll get called out as sock puppets (right or wrong)--fake accounts the author created to review his own books favorably.

Getting reviews is neither quick nor easy. But getting the legitimately is better than attempting to game the system. The most effective legit method for a new author with no following I've seen is a Librarything giveaway with the request for reviews. While only a small portion of the responders will follow through, it's much quicker and easier than going after blog review sites, or traditional media reviews.

merrihiatt said:

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing boards. Sorry for the confusion.

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The thread is HERE.

It was the first I heard of it, so I just posted a couple questions.

The thread makes me sad for writers.

Be a pro. Don't give into that temptation. These people are contributing to the poor image of self-publishing in general.

I agree Jason. There are a lot of wannabes looking for shortcuts instead of concentrating on writing good books to start with.

JWNelson said:

Excellent point.

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If you're from Smogville, how come you're using my welcoming sign as an avatar?

There is a Kindle Boards but it has nothing to do with Amazon or Kindle.
B&N has a discussion area but I've always found it difficult to deal with.
Amazon has a KDP area with extensive discussions. My problem with that is there are so many posts it take too long to search through it.

Excellent blog post, Nick.

lvcabbie said:

If you're from Smogville, how come you're using my welcoming sign as an avatar?

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Grew up in Las Vegas in the 60's and 70's, had family there until 2002. And I remember when the sign and the Strip looked like that.

I liked your blog post Nick, and I agree with you. Unfortunately, this probably won't be going away anytime soon. I don't see how this can be policed and removed from the system, so it's something everyone will have to get used to.

I frequently hear about these review blogs. Is there a compiled list anywhere? Or is it time to get on Google again?

uscgbyron said:

I frequently hear about these review blogs. Is there a compiled list anywhere? Or is it time to get on Google again?

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Unless my brain has frozen up, I THINK I posted a list of review sites on the right side of my blog.