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Any Kindle Authors Getting Hammered By The New Amazon Policy

by Griffin Smith
3 replies
My twitter feed has been full of the new Amazon clamp down on fake reviews. I knew it would come especially after they sorted out all of the crappy PLR people were uploading and selling.

I try to keep my reviews as legit as possible and while I do solicit book bloggers to leave me a review in exchange for a review copy of one my books, I insist that it's a real and honest review. I don't understand why they are not going to allow other writers to review the works of their peers that they buy and read. But they will allow reviews from someone who didn't even purchase the book.

Maybe I'm reading into this the wrong way, opinions anyone?
#amazon #authors #hammered #kindle #policy
  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    It's pretty early to tell but I haven't lost any reviews from any of our books. We never solicited for reviews though, so our reviews were all legit. I was hoping that Amazon didn't confuse the real, legit reviews with the others. So far so good.

    I also don't understand why authors can't do reviews for other authors and I think something like you have done, giving your book to bloggers for an honest review, should be considered totally legit.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Paul Gram View Post

      It's pretty early to tell but I haven't lost any reviews from any of our books. We never solicited for reviews though, so our reviews were all legit. I was hoping that Amazon didn't confuse the real, legit reviews with the others. So far so good.

      I also don't understand why authors can't do reviews for other authors and I think something like you have done, giving your book to bloggers for an honest review, should be considered totally legit.
      I think legit reviews should fare OK. After all, handing out review copies has been a staple of the mainstream publishing world since the printing press.

      My early guess is that there will be certain red flags that will put a review in jeopardy.

      > "Reviewers" who seem to do nothing else, and who post reviews on everything from home remodeling to stock investing to vampire romance novels.

      > Prolific reviewers who never met a book they didn't absolutely love.

      > Books with a sudden flood of glowing reviews by people matching the above.

      > Certain topics may have a higher profile and come under more scrutiny.

      I also think Amazon will see what Google has seen when forced into radical action. They'll swing too far the other way and have to dial it back. Unfortunately, as we've seen, there's often collateral damage in the war between the vendors and the cheaters.
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  • Profile picture of the author ExRat
    Hi Griffin,

    Originally Posted by Griffin Smith View Post

    opinions anyone?
    I think that if you consider the different things that buyers look for when deciding whether to make a purchase on Amazon, the reviews would be a very important part of the process. Obviously, the Amazon data miners/surveyors will know exactly how important they are.

    My opinion is that they're going to use a strong arm while looking for a way to ensure that buyers continue to be able to utilise the reviews to make their purchasing decisions.
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    Roger Davis
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