The saga of fake book reviews on Amazon is really gaining momentum. Yesterday R.J. Ellory was dragged into the mess, and today 49 leading British writers – including Ian Rankin, Lee Child and Mark Billingham – have written to the Daily Telegraph to condemn fake reviews, and to demand that something is done to address the problem.
In their letter to the Telegraph, the writers argued that there are likely many more authors and publishers who have paid for reviews. They call for readers to ‘take control’ of the reviews process, with the aim of ensuring that their honest and genuine reviews drown out the fake reviews, which seems to be the most likely way in which the problem can be tackled.
Meanwhile, the Crime Writers’ Association has also issued a statement condemning the practice of using ‘sockpuppets’ to plant fake reviews. There are a number of issues getting rolled up together here, such as authors using sockpuppet accounts to praise their own books and damn the work of others, as well as people buying reviews; Amazon has so far not commented on the fuss, but it’ll be interesting to see if they come up with any kind of response.
If reviews actually generate income for Amazon, they will be working on something to protect the perceived value. My thought is the reviews get your book higher on the lists so more people are exposed, using the sampling is going to become much more important because that’s the proof you have a good story. The point that is getting missed here is that books are not the only things Amazon sells. What happens with paid reviews of products you can’t sample? That’s where Amazon needs to keep the credibility high.
Posted by PA Wilson | September 4, 2012, 6:25 pmWho’s to define what a fake review is? What is the criteria? Yes, if one sees 20 rave reviews and reads the sample chapters only to witness a string of crimes against even the most elementary of stylistic rules then yes, those reviews would appear to be fraudulent. In such a case, the discerning reader will most likely pass up that book and so the effort to fake reviews would have been fruitless anyway. In the long run, reviews don’t sell a book: the potential of a good story given ample exposure and word of mouth sells a book. A trendy book is going to sell more than literary fiction despite any level of reviews. It’s just the way it goes.
Posted by Thayer Berlyn | September 4, 2012, 10:01 pm