Fake reviews on-line

[Supe]

This seems a rather despicable, but all too common, bit of self-promotion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9518531/RJ-Ellory-fake-book-reviews-are-rife-on-internet-authors-warn.html

I really enjoyed the miscreant author's excuse "a lapse in judgment" as rather typical of the modern era -- nobody sins, they just make a "mistake" (emphasis on the singular, of course, no matter how often they do it).

Don.

[lynn cates]

long live old speak

Hello Don. Glad to see that you are not infected with "new speak."

Cheers.
LC

[Robert]

Presumably some care must be exercised, e.g. would this be convincing? :

"Jane Eyre? Great stuff.

Charlie Dickens."

That review would be about 10 000 words too short.

[HelenaWojtczak]

As an author myself, I have to say, this case really shocked me. Truly. I don't know how the culprit has the nerve to appear in public ever again. Millions know what he has done. And for what? Vanity or greed?

Helena

[Fisherman]

Helena:

"for what? Vanity or greed?"

Must we choose ...?

The best,
Fisherman

[HelenaWojtczak]

Helena:

"for what? Vanity or greed?"

Must we choose ...?

The best,
Fisherman

Ha! yeah, got me there. But it could be one or t'other. Did he do it to increase sales, or to get the star ratings up?

I bet thousands do it. He just got caught. Hey, what if I'm the only mug on Amazon with no fake reviews!

[Supe]

Helena,

Hey, what if I'm the only mug on Amazon with no fake reviews!

Nope, I don't do it either. But I know from experience it is pretty much the norm.

Don.

[Errata]

If you really want to see some spectacular fake reviews, look up How to Avoid Huge Ships.

[HelenaWojtczak]

If you really want to see some spectacular fake reviews, look up How to Avoid Huge Ships.

Very funny!

[Fisherman]

Don:

"I know from experience it is pretty much the norm."

Please tell me youīre kidding ...? Sounds too pathetic to be true.

The best,
Fisherman

[Supe]

Christer,

"I know from experience it is pretty much the norm."

OK, maybe norm was too strong, but certainly prevalent -- and close to the norm among those who self-publish. And no, I have not checked every book against reviews but base my opinion on those authors I know. Indeed, I have just recently seen several authors flogging their books with the line "Write a review on Amazon" knowing full well anyone thus solicited is not going to say "An utter waste of wood pulp."

But then anyone who puts any faith in Amazon, or other on-line, reviews is likely a believer in Nigerian legacies.

Don.

[Fisherman]

Thatīs just so sad, Don. Thanks anyway for telling me something I didnīt want to know, if you take my meaning..!

The best,
Fisherman

[JDow]

Sadly, it's becoming the norm. There are dozens of writers in facebook groups who spend all their time 'swapping reviews', many of them with identical wording. The problem is, that there are an equal number of incensed readers in fracebook groups who hunt down anyone who looks a bit shifty and leaves a 1 star review (again, usually identically worded).

One of my own books (and one I happen to think is reasonably good) had two (genuine) 5-star reviews. It now also has a 1 star review.

Personally, I don't really care. I write the damn things for people to read, not for people to write about.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Sadly, it's becoming the norm. There are dozens of writers in facebook groups who spend all their time 'swapping reviews',

Hi guys

I was invited by a member of a Yahoo group to which I belong to do a 5 star review swap. I declined, not only because of the moral dimension, but because she only wanted me to write an excellent review, not a critical one. I'd have felt just as much a fraud leaving her book a review it didn't deserve as I would receiving one.

But the trouble now is, IF it's the norm, those of us who aren't doing it look like we are producing bad books!

I hope I get lots of fake good reviews of my Chapman book

[007]

I've only put two reviews up on books in the past, and both times I knew the authors. But I gave my true feelings about the books, and it never even occured to me to put up negative reviews on "competing" books. How sad that these fake reviews happen. Once again, the "goodness" of mankind proves itself a myth.