Fre06 Begum > Status Update

Yep! It makes me distrust both the author and the author-reviewer, because I know it's a quid-pro-quo kinda thing: give my book a five-star review, and I'll do the same for yours. I know even before e-books were a thing, authors would trade off giving each other dust-jacket blurbs that were highly complimentary, so this isn't a new thing. But when you combine it with authors' friends and fans and paid shills blowing up books with accolades that it may or may not deserve, it makes the back scratching a little disheartening. It's very hard to find honest reviews.

Agree w/Kara. I wouldn't put any weight into an author's review or recommendation because it's just a networking game they play. In fact, I dismiss author reviews on GR as they're just a fluff piece.

Yes. I feel like they didn’t really read it. Also honestly I feel the same way when I read too many 4 or 5 star reviews pushing an author’s book and talking about how great the author is instead of the story.

I agree with all of you. There aren’t a lot of authors that I would say are my fave but there are only three or four that are. Recently I’ve notice how they keep gushing about their fellow authors that they have written stories with. Surprise surprise but they have given them 5* on all their books. I understand loyalty but all the gushing to me is ridiculous as surely every book can’t be 5* surely at least one book will be even 4*. Some of these authors don’t have cheating or sex with ow after H meets h but they are giving 5* to fellow authors who do have that trope in their books. I’m confused by the praise by these authors because now I’m wondering at some point are they going to start putting cheating and sex with people in their books now if they are advocating 5* for fellow authors who do write stuff like that? I’m probably not making sense right now but I’m feeling pretty disillusioned by at least three of my favourite authors at the moment!

Fre06 wrote: "I agree with all of you. There aren’t a lot of authors that I would say are my fave but there are only three or four that are. Recently I’ve notice how they keep gushing about their fellow authors ..."

I think I get what you're saying. Like it makes some sense when authors with similar styles might recommend each other. And in those instances it might even be helpful as in if you liked this book then you'd probably also like that one. But it definitely gets questionable when they write completely different stuff. Like a typically safe author pimping out an author known for cheating and rape and stuff like that becomes questionable and you start to worry that they'll begin emulating those style/themes. It's a fair concern. I know I've seen some lighter authors whose styles changed after they starting gushing about angsty books. Not to say that an author can't have a range of writing, but there's that old adage that if it's ain't broke, don't fix it.

I self-published August of last year. I've read and reviewed books for years before realizing anyone could do it and decided to give it a try. Well, a couple of months ago Amazon removed my book reviews and stopped me from reviewing. I had a hell of a time getting them back. The reason all my reviews were removed is that I've given negative reviews. When you self-publish, you're considered a competitor. An author isn't allowed to give their competitor a negative review. They haven't reinstated my reviews. All my hard work is history because they deleted all my fucking reviews. They granted me the right to review again. But, get this, they can only be five-star reviews. So, I hardly post a review to Amazon and am in the process of removing my books. I have learned so much shit since self-publishing, and one of the things I've learned is not to trust an authors review.

Lynn wrote: "I self-published August of last year. I've read and reviewed books for years before realizing anyone could do it and decided to give it a try. Well, a couple of months ago Amazon removed my book re..."

Wow, that's terrible! Sounds like Amazon needs a policy update where they just don't allow authors to review at all if that's the case. Although I'm like 99% sure that FTC guidelines address this topic and their stipulation is simply you divulge that you are an author yourself. In other words, the consumer must be aware so they can make up their own mind if they consider the review trustworthy or biased.

That’s very informative Lynn I never knew that! Amazon seems to have rules that sometimes doesn’t make sense in that they ban some authors works but then allow other authors who write books where their main male characters love to beat up their female leads to such an extent they end up with broken bones and smashed up faces. One of my GR friend reported this author for her disturbing writing material and Amazon basically told her to f**k off. I think Amazon violates a lot of freedom of choice by limiting people on what they can write and not write.
Book Bo; that’s def what I mean as I cannot now take these authors recommendation seriously. I can’t trust now that the books they “loved” doesn’t have cheating in it. Maybe I’m just overthinking things but honestly when I see one author giving her friend/author 5* I think if you like that author you will think they must be similar but then you read it and it has cheating. You then do wonder if your fave author does actually condone cheating/sex op and in the future are you going to read it in her books. I have lost a little faith in all three of my fave authors just because of their likes and to be honest I actually feel sad about it.

Book-Bosomed wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I self-published August of last year. I've read and reviewed books for years before realizing anyone could do it and decided to give it a try. Well, a couple of months ago Amazon remov..."

It is terrible. It is misleading. I love reading more then I do writing and that's what I told Amazon. I told them I understand now why they're are so many fabricated reviews and as a reader it angers me so much because I've wasted more money then I can count buying books based on reviews. I told them I won't do that and want no part of it. The more stuff I learned the more respect I lost. I told them I want my novellas removed and the refuse to do it until the 90 are over for kindle select. The only reviews I post to Amazon are for the books that were five-star reads for me. Once my books are off I will fight with Amazon again and let them know my books are removed and I want my right to post my honest opinion.

This is from the FTC's website FAQ/business guidance:
"I’m a book author and I belong to a group where we agree to post reviews in social media for each other. I’ll review someone else’s book on a book review site or a bookstore site if he or she reviews my book. No money changes hands. Do I need to make a disclosure?

It sounds like you have a connection that might materially affect the weight or credibility of your endorsements (that is, your reviews), since bad reviews of each others’ books could jeopardize the arrangement. There doesn’t have to be a monetary payment. The connection could be friendship, family relationships, or strangers who make a deal."

Interestingly when I googled their site I also turned up this news story that just broke yesterday. While not about books specifically, it certainly indicates that fake reviews are now on the FTC's radar....and how flawed Amazon's system is.
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/...

What I find kind of interesting is if you go look at books on Amazon outside the romance genre the ratings seem to be more accurate. Romance books on Amazon to me are one star rated if they have under 4.3 stars lol I think romance authors have done very well at garnering large groups of people willing to review a book favorably for arcs, access or just being a general fangirl. I guess they have also built a good author support group as well.

Lynn wrote: "I self-published August of last year. I've read and reviewed books for years before realizing anyone could do it and decided to give it a try. Well, a couple of months ago Amazon removed my book re..."

That is horrible. The rules are so biased. It is very frustrating.

On Amaz (I am intentionally not spelling out the name on purpose) I have had negative reviews removed even though I am very careful not to violate any of the rules. In fact, I will not use the word "sex" because even if a book is littered with that word and worse if I use it in a review it has been used as an excuse to delete my review.

When my reviews have been deleted and I find out then it takes 15 minutes on the phone and various emails and me resubmitting them to get them posted. I am sure that some of my other reviews have been deleted as well but I leave so many that it would take too much effort to track them.

I am betting that I could use ever cuss word imaginable but my review would not be deleted if I rated it 5 stars......

It bothers me, as well. I don't like it.

I don't like it and I think it's fake. Always praise and give 5 stars, even when the book is bad. Author should not make reviews, if the author wants to recommend that he/she does it only in the newsletter or personal page.

Exactly Lu! Most authors have their own sites and blogs so I think it’s fair to say that’s their space and they are free to do whatever. To come to GR and rate a fellow author’s works ALL of them bring 5* makes me doubt THEIR honesty and to be honest if that’s the case then I would rather not purchase their books anymore. Just like I don’t believe a reviewer who gives ARCS 5* to all the books they receive I don’t believe that authors can like EVERY ONE of their fellow friend/author’s books it’s just not believable. I don’t think authors should rate other authors books as I think they are biased. To me this worse then authors rating THEIR OWN book 5* (surely it’s the reviewer that should be rating?!)

By the way thank you ladies for replying with your comments and your time. This topic is something that has been on my mind for awhile and I hadn’t realised how much it bothered me until I saw a 5* rating by an author whom in my mind has mostly been a safe or safe with exception author on a book that was not safe.

Fre06 wrote: "Exactly Lu! Most authors have their own sites and blogs so I think it’s fair to say that’s their space and they are free to do whatever. To come to GR and rate a fellow author’s works ALL of them b..."

Preach it Fre06! I've been seeing this for some time now, and a lot of things fell into place when I had looked into the writing world. It was so horrible I decided to leave it as fast as I entered it because I want no part of that fake ass world.
Before I one-click a book now, I check my GR friends reviews/ratings first because I know they won't steer me wrong.

Oh, yeah I didn't rate my own books either. LOL. If I did, I rate them two and I didn't have the heart to trash myself. LOL ---> so hard!

Nothing wrong Lynn on being proud of your work. In fact credit due to authors who have the talent and guts to put themselves out there. Believe me I respect all authors because at the end of the day we wouldn’t have books without them! I just think that the ratings should be left in the hands of reviewers because for the most part we are impartial and will give honest reviews. I have scoffed at seeing some authors giving themselves 5* because to me that comes across as being arrogant and not proud. I will have to look up your books Lynn.

It bothers me too Fre! And I don’t trust any of those reviews!

Meh...tbh I just don't take their rating into account when deciding to read a book because I think it's just a way to promote each other 🤷🏻‍♀️

Fre06 wrote: "Nothing wrong Lynn on being proud of your work. In fact credit due to authors who have the talent and guts to put themselves out there. Believe me I respect all authors because at the end of the da..."

I agree with you, Fre06.

Really interesting comments! I learned a lot!