Comments on: What Shoppers Don’t Realize About Amazon’s Reviews

By: Chana L. Keefer

Chana L. Keefer — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:06:58 +0000

There is a definite catch 22 here for new authors. In order to break out of the “friends and family” circles and get a wider following, one must enlist the aid of bloggers/reviewers and that may include offering a free copy. I would encourage them to write an honest review, after all, what will I do, show up on their doorstep and demand the book back? Of course not. As an honest author, I want an honest review, and–as we all know–if there is conflict or even a stinker review, that may only heighten interest.

So far, I am reasonably pleased with Amazon’s performance and reliability with my first published book and am even considering cutting to the chase with my next and publishing in e-format only. We’ll see. It seems the best way to reach a broader readership.

By: koza_dereza

koza_dereza — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:58:52 +0000

Lp542 — Basic conflict of interest. I always turn down the offer of a free book from a publisher who wants me to review it. Always.
If it is a subject I care about, I will buy the book, and do not need the publisher freebie.

By: Lp542

Lp542 — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:14:43 +0000

I am a top 500 reviewer. The implication that review quality is compromised bceause a book is free is somewhat ridiculous, or that it is some sort of worthwile professional enterprise for the reviewer is somewhat ambitious. Firstly, a $15 book requires a considerable investment of time merely to write a review.

I always tell people I accept books on a no obligation basis, and do not guarantee a review or that it will be positive. Usually, free books are not bestsellers but authors being published often for the first time and in need of reviews to boost sales.

I see no correlation between the idea that someone being paid professionally to write a review, is somehow more likely to be honest than someone who is not to be somehow flawed. As if money makes you more honest. Is someone writing for a magazine not subject to an editorspproval? Likewise, the idea that the review is based on approval is also suspect.

Although top reviewers do get offered free stuff, the significance of this is small. As the top 1000 represents only 1% of the top 1% of the 8 million reviewers on Amazon, and products advanced free account for only a small amount of this. The chances that you will ever read a review based on a free product is pretty remote unless you are reading reviews posted on the Vine Program.

By: rrriiiccckkk

rrriiiccckkk — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:11:05 +0000

Oh please. What a crock, I’ve been in the top 500 reviewers for ages and
do no “calculations” or “decisions” – I just review what I feel like.
The new ranking system finally eliminates “review mills” – many reviewers in the the top 200 did not write real reviews – they use software to generate them and just add in the publisher’s comments. Total waste of time and BS.

By: Michelle R.

Michelle R. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:35:13 +0000

Am I a witch? You’d have to ask my husband.

I think I’m a reader/reviewer with reasonable standards. I get moderately bummed out when I see an article like this calling my ethics into question when life would be a lot easier if I could lower the aforementioned standards — be an author booster instead of a reader advocate.

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:48:28 +0000

Here’s a new topic of conversation, guys, something I was thinking about…do you think that reviews for books are less reliable than books for other stuff on Amazon (like electronics)? What have you found in your experience?

By: B. A. Binns

B. A. Binns — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:41:38 +0000

I have heard numerous people claim they 100% trust theAmazon reviews because they do beleive the reviews are posted by people with no bias or ulterior motive, people like themselves. Really, many just count the number of favorable reviews and use that to make purchase decisions without doing any more research in either the product or the quality of the reviewer. And I fear that’s close to a majority of buyers. When I mentioned the possibility of bias people just looked at me.

By: Trace

Trace — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:08:58 +0000

Are you? A witch, that is? If not, that’s a poor choice of words. :)

By: Doug E

Doug E — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:34:50 +0000

How to make money, the Amazon way:
1. “For the most part, though, Amazon has outsourced the job of writing reviews to thousands of unpaid citizen reviewers.” 2. Use bricks and mortar bookstores as your free storefronts.

By: maxine

maxine — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:41:30 +0000

I am an Amazon reviewer. I receive up to 2 products (in my case books) a month from the Vine programme, in return for which I review the book. Amazon’s instructions insist that reviews are honest, that is, critical or positive. Also, Amazon automatically inserts a line to the effect I’ve received the book free as part of Vine.
I also write book reviews for publications, websites and my own blog, and often archive them on Amazon. As I am keen on translated fiction, I hope other potential readers find the reviews useful as these books are often not reviewed in the mainstream newspapers that tend to focus on “bestsellers”.
I read other people’s reviews on Amazon if I’m not sure about a book but do not rely exclusively on them – I’ve almost always read external reviews of a book (or have read the author before) before I buy on Amazon. I find some of the top 1000 reviews useful and some less so, in my view anyone who purchases books and is a keen reader is perfectly capable of judging for him or herself the value to him/her of a review.

Now, on the other hand, self-published rubbish on Amazon with fake publisher names, fake rankings and fake reviews (or ecstatic reviews from little circles of fellow writers doing each other good turns) — that really drives me mad! I wish Amazon would do something about that.