Amazon’s recent removal of book reviews has become a hot
topic among authors and readers alike. One of my fellow authors complained on Facebook about some of her missing reviews before I had heard anything about it. I felt terrible
for her. I know how hard it is to try to get reviews, and to have even one
removed can be devastating. The next day, I noticed that I was missing several
reviews as well. Then many other authors started complaining, and we all turned
to Amazon for answers, but there were none to be had.
Over the last few days, I have learned a little about
this issue from reading and talking to other writers. Apparently, with all of
the attention brought about by possible “fake” reviews, a group of authors got together
and sent a message to Amazon called No Sock Puppets. On this blog, they asserted that authors
(namely one guy) were misusing the review process by using multiple accounts to
leave good reviews for themselves.
In a knee-jerk reaction attempt to address this issue,
Amazon went through and nuked a bunch of legitimate reviews in an effort to get
rid of the possible suspicious ones. Several other authors have written blogs
about the incident including Amazon heavy hitter, J. A. Konrath. I really loved
his blog and the information it contained (read it here). I’m also glad that he
wrote to the powers that be at Amazon because they have blown off the rest of
us peons and our requests for explanations and help. Hopefully, they will
listen to him since he does have some influence in the world of Amazon. Konrath
also states that some of the reviews he has written for other authors have been
removed because Amazon is apparently cracking down on authors reviewing “competitors’”
books.
I read another good blog by Ryan Casey (read it here).
Ryan points out the obvious - good reviews sell books. And, while this move by
Amazon will not affect big name writers like Stephen King due to the sheer
number of reviews he has, it can be devastating to indie authors.
Derek Blass has started a petition to request that Amazon
stop arbitrarily removing reviews. I urge everyone to sign it here. This policy
not only hurts writers, but it removes the voice of readers who want to share
their views.
Another Amazon rumor that has been brought to my
attention is the royalty policy. Currently, self published authors get 70% for
books priced at $1.99 or above (depending on the market it is purchased in). In
the new Amazon India store, only authors who are enrolled in the KDP Select
plan are allotted the 70% royalty. Other authors receive 35%. If it is successful,
it is likely they will institute it in the other markets as well. Read more
about it in this blog by my friend and fellow author Thomas Amo (read it here).
Currently, I’m in the KDP Select program, but I was going
to stop after my initial 90 day period. However, I didn’t realize I was signed
up in the automatic re-enrollment program. Amazon kindly imprisoned me for
another 90 days. To be fair, I was with Barnes and Noble before joining KDP
Select and the majority of my sales came from Amazon even before I joined – a large
majority.
I truly hope that Barnes and Noble and other outlets like
Smashwords and Kobo (to name a few) can find a way to compete with Amazon. I
wanted to leave KDP Select to support some of these other venues because they
cannot pose a threat to Amazon without author and reader support.
Sort of gives a whole new meaning to their catch phrase:
Ack. That's horrible! I don't know about you, but I've gotta bust my _ _ _ to get reviews! I am heading over right now to sign the petition. Thanks for the heads-up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support!
DeletePendular motion always occurs when someone with a little clout makes noise. Instead of just ousting someone found guilty of bot reviews, they are assuming all are guilty until proven innocent. When writing a review for people I'm moved to do such a thing for, I always save it and can re-do it later if needed. Something else that might not be common knowledge, some of my reviews were wiped, and when an author approached me about resending, I found it there, still in my reviews, just no longer showing on their site. Cut and paste works well in that situation.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Dee. That's exactly what they did. It is so frustrating. I love your copy and paste idea. I will ask two of them to re-post their reviews and see what happens.
DeleteAnd you're done... Done like a dog's dinner, it seems!
ReplyDeleteROFL! Once all this stuff started, that logo started giving me the creeps. So final...
DeleteOh, and I wanted to add, I find it outrageous there seems to be no legislation preventing Amazon's behaviour nor any consumer outlet for complaints. In Australia, a large part of what Amazon's doing would be suspect, subject to scrutiny, and possibly penalties (Apple got into trouble for trying to play in the Australian market the way they can and do in America), and consumers would have a number of bodies they could complain to for a resolution of complaints. As it stands, it seems no one with a complaint has any hope of satisfaction unless they either sue Amazon (ha ha) or can bring sufficient media or social media attention to bad behaviour.
ReplyDeleteI agree Ciara. It's crazy. I hate that Amazon has threatened to remove books if authors continue to complain about their reviews being removed or if they try to keep re-posting reviews that have been removed. There are other people to complain to, but it won't really matter because technically, they aren't really doing anything illegal.
DeleteI too have written recently about this, with special regard to draconian review removal that hurts new authors. The issue RE: Amazon monopoly rears its head ever year or so, but the concern is especially rampant lately. -Shawn
ReplyDeletehttp://clothosloom.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/cowboys-and-indies-amazon-and-monopoly-in-the-free-market/
Thank you Shawn. I just read your blog and left a comment. You made a lot of really good points about the Amazon review and monopoly issues. Thanks so much for sharing.
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