Comments on Nathan Bransford, Author: The Amazon Review Controversy

Well, what about someone saying you are mentally i...

2011-06-13T03:32:21.093-07:00

Well, what about someone saying you are mentally ill becauase your teen book expressed a ecological point and the reviewer was a conservative? How about someone saying your book wasn't appropriate for a nine year old when it is clearly a picture book for a five year old, not to mention Amazon listing picture books as books for 9-12 year olds--all you get from Amazon is that the review is within its guidelines same with goodreads---who cares if the review is libelous per se. The one stars stand---and I had a book destroyed by a stalker who would not give up and I could not get rid of her no matter what I did. Saes went from 100 books a month to zero. (And this was a text book used by BYU at one point.)

One thing that would similarly help is to simply r...

2010-08-11T00:51:11.538-07:00

One thing that would similarly help is to simply remove reviews that others mark as unhelpful. I don't get why there's even an option to mark them as unhelpful if poorly received reviews are allowed to remain.

[{sigh} Yes, I know that helpful/unhelpful raises a reviews profile. Duh!]

I'm having a similar issue with Amazon. I wrot...

2010-03-31T18:18:39.532-07:00

I'm having a similar issue with Amazon. I wrote a book a few years ago and someone holding a grudge or whatever against me, wrote a very negative review. Then he/she or someone clicked over 350 times that they "found the review helpful."

...which brings that horrific review to the very top of the pile. Being that it's the first one visitors to the site read, it affects sales and my reputation.

I've tried to get Amazon to at least rotate the customer reviews so that the same negative one doesn't always stay on the top, but they refuse.

Very unfair, Amazon!

Terry Matlen, ACSW

Author, "Survival Tips for Women with ADHD"

Now I see why writers and other artist types reall...

2010-03-28T17:17:50.753-07:00

Now I see why writers and other artist types really do hate the US and the free market. They simply cannot stand to be criticized by someone who lives in Arkansas or North Dakota.

Scary, isn't it? And a shame.

2010-03-28T14:51:47.645-07:00

Scary, isn't it? And a shame.

Those reviewers that are hammering the book becaus...

2010-03-27T18:14:04.042-07:00

Those reviewers that are hammering the book because of the lack of a kindle edition are clearly out of line.

But, it is nonsense to say that Amazon should only run reviews of books that are purchased through Amazon. People like me who receive ARCs from publishers and authors and use the heck out of our local libraries would be disqualified under such a stupid policy. What Amazon should do is better police the reviews that appear on their site.

It also might help deal with the folks who claim they don't read Amazon reviews and yet have opinions on Amazon reviews. lol

Kevin R. Tipple
kevinrtipple.com

I've found this problem annoying even as a con...

2010-03-26T13:40:30.702-07:00

I've found this problem annoying even as a consumer--when clicking through to see book reviews (the good, bad, and ugly) only to come upon a review the likes of "cover of book was bent on arrival."

A lot of this falls into Amazon's lap. They...

2010-03-26T12:48:32.770-07:00

A lot of this falls into Amazon's lap. They're sticking to their $9.99 pricing model like glue and using anyone and everyone to help pressure things. You notice that they haven't taken the non-reviews down or really given people a place to discuss these kinds of issues.

To Michael Lewis' credit, he did a lot of great pre-release PR. Then you had a bunch of people who were excited to read the book who went looking for it and couldn't get it for Kindle. Not that you could pay more and get it on Kindle--it just wasn't available at any price. They took it as the publisher trying to pressure them into buying the hardcover.

I'm not sure why they can't just agree to flex pricing. If a book comes out and I want the hardcover, I expect to pay a hardcover price. If I don't want to pay it, I wait for the paperback. Not sure why Amazon can't get on board with this. I would have paid exactly what they were charging for the hardcover ($15.17 or some such) to get this on Kindle now. But non-availability means I have to consider not just desire to read, but space on my shelves (There isn't any). So I'm waiting patiently for the kindle version.

Do I read Amazon reviews before I buy? Sometimes. ...

2010-03-26T10:25:07.957-07:00

Do I read Amazon reviews before I buy? Sometimes. Do I consider the Star Ratings? Not really. I want to find out WHY the reader liked the book...and why not. Comments are everything. Before I buy, I want to read that first page. Explore the author's hook, their voice.

Let me ask this: Do the people who write Kirkus Reviews and Publisher's Weekly Reviews BUY their copies from Amazon? I'd venture to say a big "No"...yet any serious reader WILL take those reviews into account. Why? Because these reviewers probably know a little more about what makes a good read and what doesn't. Same goes for an established author's review. If we repect and value that author and his/her work, we respect that review.

My neighbor might like plot-driven reads, for me, I go for the characters, yet we can recommend the same book to another person.

The reviews on my own book were written by friends, based upon the copies I gave them. Now, if Amazon chooses to remove those reviews, then they're only shooting themselves in the foot. Because those reviews MIGHT help one of Amazon's window shoppers buy it from them.

Seems to me the only criteria to a book review is: Did you actually Read the thing? How you acquired the book shouldn't matter. And it shouldn't matter to Amazon.

Hmm, as an author, I can understand why so many co...

2010-03-26T08:00:49.180-07:00

Hmm, as an author, I can understand why so many commenters here are blasting the reviewers, but personally I don't see a problem with it. That's the nature of freedom of expression. Wasting energy decrying people for using the tools available to them to express whatever viewpoints they want is pointless. I'd go further to say that authors having no control over how it's published is. . .crap. Authors and agents may choose not not exercise that control in negotiating a contract, but that's different. One could argue that it's the way big publishing works so authors have no choice - so get a small publisher where you have more control. Tradeoff? Sure, but everything in life is a tradeoff. Authors aren't at the mercy of anyone unless they choose to be.

That said, I think Amazon doing something about the reviews is in Amazon's best interest. But I think they could solve it really simply - by default only show reviews and star ratings for people who have bought the book on Amazon, but have a button readers can click to show all the reviews. 90% of people (or more) are either ignoring the reviews anyway or will not click that link. And most of those who do click the link will understand they are getting something different.

ridiculous. if you restrict reviews to people who ...

2010-03-26T06:52:30.798-07:00

ridiculous. if you restrict reviews to people who only buy books from amazon, then what about the people who cannot afford to buy books? because they can't buy books from amazon, their opinions and expertise are discounted? or you ban people who checked out the book from their library from offering an opinion, too. anyone with any sense knows to read the high and the low star reviews on amazon in order to make up their own mind about whether the book is something they want to read or own.

The book is listed today as a USA Today number 5 b...

2010-03-25T18:28:44.408-07:00

The book is listed today as a USA Today number 5 best seller. It doesn't appear the one star reviews have hurt the book much.

-Steve

I don't put much stock into the reviews just l...

2010-03-25T18:16:24.764-07:00

I don't put much stock into the reviews just like I don't pay attention to the movie critics. I don't know how many times the critics have slammed a movie and it turned out to be one I really liked. I think as an author though it would be depressing to get one star reviews...buy you just have to take them with a grain of salt.

ABSOLUTELY, there is a fly in the ointment when it...

2010-03-25T11:22:14.670-07:00

ABSOLUTELY, there is a fly in the ointment when it comes to reviews on Amazon. I don't know that limiting the reviews to only buyers on Amazon is the answer. But I would certainly like to see more control over the content of what is reviewed. Someone should be overseeing those reviews and deleting those that are irrelevant to having read the book. I've had reviews for my own work that were nothing more than someone trying to be cute, leaving a remark that had nothing to do with a review of any kind. And Amazon refused to remove it. It's time for an overhaul.

Nathan, We recently did a show on this very topic...

2010-03-25T10:43:54.416-07:00

Nathan,

We recently did a show on this very topic. I interviewed a woman who writes for TeleRead.org. She had contributed a post called, "Maybe We Should Be Hurting the Authors," which suggested getting authors riled up enough to put pressure on their publishers.

You can find the show notes and the audio at http://www.writingshow.com/podcasts/2010/02282010.html.

-- Paula B., The Writing Show

Nathan, Thank you for letting us know about the L...

2010-03-25T09:35:30.585-07:00

Nathan,

Thank you for letting us know about the Library Loving Blog Challenge! I was a little late in getting mine up so I urge people to check Jennifer's blog for updates.

Michael Crichton’s Recommended Reading – Library Promo

Anonymous 5:14 said: "Readers don't owe ...

2010-03-25T08:55:09.360-07:00

Anonymous 5:14 said:

"Readers don't owe authors a damn thing - especially if they want to buy your book but can't."

There is a big difference between "can't" (because they are immobilized, lack money, are imprisoned...) and "won't" (because they bought an expensive device and are too self-centered to realize that just because THEY have one, THE MARKET as it stands now does not bear making EVERYTHING available on it).

Edited for accuracy, your statement should read: "Readers don't owe authors a damn thing - especially if they want to buy your book but won't." Which doesn't sound so clever.

It's called patience. It's called maturity. It's called perspective.

I agree that there should be two separate feedback areas - one addressing the actual content of a book, and the other addressing the packaging/kindle vs paper/etc. This type of feedback is valuable for the author, the publisher, and people who are deciding whether they want to read the book. There should be a separate feedback form for people to comment on things like shipping, which is Amazon's concern. Something like a "How did we do?" feedback page.

I think people should read my reviews only. :)

2010-03-25T08:02:29.959-07:00

I think people should read my reviews only. :)

There is some trouble with the review process ANYW...

2010-03-25T07:24:07.961-07:00

There is some trouble with the review process ANYWAY--agendas, whether an author's mother gets her whole congregation to give five stars or a person has sour grapes and gives a bunch of negatives, but what I'd like to see to solve it is maybe a layer of complexity:

A rating for format that is separate (very good idea) and then

"Have you read this book?"
and calculate 2 ratings (only using people who HAVE read the book) one of ALL yes readers, and one of people who actually leave a COMMENT. That way the spammers who convince the world to rate them lose power, and the mean people giving all other authors one star lose power.

As an initial point, I'd suggest that we stop ...

2010-03-25T07:23:14.616-07:00

As an initial point, I'd suggest that we stop calling every "comment" about a book on the Internet a review.

The word "review" implies literary analysis, not personal reaction or axe-grinding.

That said, I have heard from a number of author pals over the years that they've been personally targeted this way. Not so much by competitors, though that does happen, but rather ex-husbands, their mother's "best" friend who's tired of her bragging, feuding neighbors--"Let me plant those carrots on the property line, or I'll give you a one-star review." Sigh.

Big hugs to this generation of authors.

2010-03-25T07:22:00.625-07:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

I wish that Amazon had a separate place for people...

2010-03-25T07:08:07.728-07:00

I wish that Amazon had a separate place for people who are discontent with the formats available to leave their comments that wouldn't affect the ratings of the story or content, which is what the rating should be used for, rather than to gripe about format. If, for example, they were to have a check box next to a title that says "I'll only buy this in X format and it's not available - please look into resolving this," that would be great and would provide real numbers for publishers and Amazon to play with. Right now, it seems like stars are the only way to do give feedback, which is more the fault of setup rather than reviewers.

They talk about this quite a bit on the Amazon For...

2010-03-25T05:50:36.954-07:00

They talk about this quite a bit on the Amazon Forums that I frequent. First, I would never use a book review as a means of protest. I'm an author and I certainly hope it never happens to me! And do I think it's right? No. The problem, as SOME Kindle forum participants see it, is that there is no other mechanism that they feel they can protest and get the publisher's attention--where they will genuinely be heard. They see this as the most effective means.

Amazon can and does moderate reviews--well, some reviews. I personally think the answer might be as simple as adding a second area to air grievances. A Festivus box, if you will. Let them air their grievances somewhere at the bottom of the page and send those to the publisher in the same manner that they'd do it if someone clicks that little box at the top indicating they'd like to see the book in a Kindle version.

Or even add an email address at the bottom of the book indicating, if you have any problems with the publisher, please send your grievances to this email address. I dunno. The point, from their perspective, is just to be heard. I think they have a right to be heard, but I don't think they should ruin a book's rating in protest. That only hurts the author.

One issue that I think is getting the short shrift...

2010-03-25T05:14:43.965-07:00

One issue that I think is getting the short shrift here is that, by posting a 1-star review, the customer IS speaking. The customer wants to buy your book in his/her preferred format, but can't. You're losing sales. i would think that authors - and their publishers - would be concerned about that.

This is capitalism. This is publishing. "Not fair to authors?" Readers don't owe authors a damn thing - especially if they want to buy your book but can't.

I do entirely agree that it is very damaging if ON...

2010-03-25T03:46:38.654-07:00

I do entirely agree that it is very damaging if ONLY AMazon purchasers can leave reviews. I would not pay so much attention to these reviews either. I like to see a bix.

I think one solution may be for Amazon to drop its handy star rating alongside the title. Just a couple of 2 star reviews can drag an "average" right down. It is so easy for an enemy or rival to trash the ratings.

However, it's easy to click on the reviews and see the most helpful positive and negative reviews, and then read down them all. This will give a good idea if the reviews are "planted" or posted by people too stupid to understand what star ratings are for.