There's an interesting discussion over at Carolyn Howard-Johnson's blog - Sharing With Writers - about Amazon's latest kick in the gut to writers and reviewers. Here's an excerpt:
"A week ago I found that all 85 of the reviews I've written for other books had been deleted. It has been a very difficult and stressful week dealing with Amazon. They are not very accessible and I was given at least 3 different reasons why my reviews had been deleted. After numerous e-mails, this is what it's come down to:
"Their final ruling: 'Please know that our participation guidelines don't allow customers to promote their own titles in their reviews.' If you sign your review with anything other than your name, your reviews could be deleted."
To read the rest and participate in the discussion visit her BLOG.
10 comments:
I just start thinking that Amazon is getting more author friendly and then they do something like this. It might be different if they weren't in the business of selling--and selling books at that. When they dumped my Listmanias they did it because I had been very careful to let people know these were my books (only ethical I though) and I was using the lists to send my UCLA students to the Listmanias for reading list referrals. I sent tons of traffic that way. No matter. Mmmmmm. Maybe I should have sort of pretended my books weren't mine. And pretended that I didn't want to sell them. I mean, really!
Glad you liked the post, Lea.
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Amazon does do right by most publishers and authors; many businesses don't value their customers or suppliers.
However, most businesses don't work so hard to alienate their customers and suppliers.
This is yet another example of what happens when a company becomes "too big" :-(
I read about this yesterday - simply ridiculous! No credentials allowed? So a doctor cannot put "MD" after his name?
L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net
Boy, is this dumb! I *like* knowing something about the reviewer -- then I can better judge how much weight to give to the review. {grrrr}.
So, if an author might have particular insight into a book because she has written on the topic or is in the same genre, that shouldn't be mentioned anywhere in the review or in her signature line? This is an ignorant decision.
Amazon should be encouraging reviews because they help sell books. And isn't that Amazon's business? As Cheryl mentions in her comment, a reviewer who has expertise in the book's genre is going to offer extra insight or extra "weight" to the review. That person will, naturally, have more clout with the potential buyers making their purchasing decisions. You would think Amazon would see the wisdom in including a credential or two from the reviewer, such as one of the reviewer's own titles. It seems as if someone at Amazon didn't think this all the way through...
Fantasy Author Sandy Lender
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
You would think that a reviewer with a reputable site should be allowed their credentials because it shows they are neutral and giving an unbiased review.
Hi Lea:
Thanks for taking an interest in my past case with Amazon over deleted book reviews. This case has been resolved and I'm happy with how Amazon handled it.
To summarize, it was an error made by some Amazon employees. There is NO policy that states authors can't sign a review with their name and mention their own book titles.
Amazon has apologized for this error and has reinstated all my reviews, even taking the time to manually add my signature line at the end of each review.
You can read the full story at The Write Type ~ Multi-Author Musings.
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
author and book marketing coach
Amazon is a practice run for getting in touch with Yahoo. It got so hard once I even applied for a job! Got a real person to answer my question instead of a stupid FAQ
LOL
Zara
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