Conventional wisdom in the digital retail world is that reader reviews on sites like Amazon and Goodreads are the key to selling books. So when a couple of readers mentioned to me that they left reviews on Amazon and that the reviews disappeared, I contacted Amazon to correct the error. The result? An automated response that something must have been wrong with the reviews and the instant removal of MORE reviews of Foreseen. WHAT??? So I now have very few reviews on Amazon as a result of asking why some were missing!
So, here’s what happened. Despite the automated response, my inquiry brought Amazon’s attention to the reviews for Foreseen. Then the 500-pound gorilla deleted any reviews it thought might be from other authors. Why? Because Amazon has a policy against accepting reviews from people with a “financial interest” in the product. It considers authors to be in competition with each other and, therefore, mistakenly concludes that authors have a financial interest in the failure of other books.
This policy probably arose from a few misguided authors who would leave bad, “sock puppet” reviews of others novels under pseudonyms, thinking it would somehow boost their sales. As a general rule, authors aren’t like that. They leave honest reviews – often quite insightful given their knowledge of the art and structure of writing. This is born out by physical book covers which often include a quote from an established author because the readers find their opinions informative. Authors like books, and respect readers – whether of their work or others. In fact, some of my best reviews on Amazon were from other authors.
But depriving the potential reader of the opinions of other authors is only the tip of the iceberg with Amazon’s policy. From my experience, Amazon doesn’t know which reviews are left by pseudonymous authors and which are not. In fact, it’s right less than 25% of the time. What about the other 75%? Those deleted reviews are from regular readers – not authors. That’s right – you are being gagged by Amazon if it thinks you might be an author in disguise.
What can you do? From the policy standpoint, not much. As I and other authors have painfully discovered, complaining to Amazon only makes it worse. If you see your review is missing, post another. Or better yet, post to Goodreads and LibraryThing – its easier since you can sign on with your Facebook or Twitter account and can rate books without writing anything. Plus, these sites don’t delete reviews (unless profanity is used). They respect readers and exist to provide information about the books that are out there.
Don’t be gagged by Amazon. Voice your opinion.
That sounds crazy. So because I’m an author, I shouldn’t be allowed to leave reviews? Amazon … I’m not sure what to say. I’ve had people leave very vitriolic reviews of my books, including one reviewer who put a huge excerpt directly from my novel, which gives away part of the ending, and Amazon refused to take it down. I’ve had people tag my book as “christian crap” and Amazon never took that down either. Amazon has way too much power over consumers and sellers in the book industry.
Yes, Melanie. Amazon confirmed to the LA Times that they are doing this. They are abusing their position and showing no respect to the readers who are their primary customers.
Terri, Melanie,
Same here. I had mostly five-star reviews of Multiplayer before someone wrote a ‘review’ that reviewed only the reviews. It never even mentions the book but only accuses me of fabricating the reviews. I asked Amazon to remove it because it does not review the book. Their response was to pull four reviews of Multiplayer. Four! You know how hard it is to get good reviews. This act pretty much ensured I would never complain again.
Although I’m not a published author, I find this disturbing. I review a lot of books. I take the time to read them and write a review, not only to help the author, but to help other readers.
I think Amazon’s “policy” deprives readers of valuable insight into the books that are reviewed, no matter who reviews them (unless, of course, the reviewer is reviewing the reviews and not the book–what a mouthful).
Agreed, Ginger. I posted this to bring attention to the problem. I was afraid to speak after they deleted more reviews when I complained, thinking it was an isolated incident. But Amazon unapologetically confirmed its policy to the LA Times. It’s time to speak up, even if Amazon deletes all my reviews!
I’m glad you’re speaking up, Terri! It’s called communism when a power can force us into silence by their bullying tactics. (I lived in Ukraine for a year so I know communism when I see it! There’s probably another word for it but it’s not coming to me.) I want to know what happens, so I’m subscribing to your blog! Let us know.