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  1. Gmes

    Gmes New Member

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    Amazon book reviews

    Discussion in 'Self-Publishing' started by Gmes, Oct 15, 2021.

    Hello,
    I'm the author, and I struggle with my book reviews, especially with new releases. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the situations when you ask your friends and family to download/buy your book and write a review.
    I know that feeling.
    For months, I thought of creating a platform where authors can help each other get reviews for the books for free!
    Later I discovered a similar service pubby.co, I've tried that but you have to pay money for the membership.
    Ok, friends.
    I've built that platform, yes it's ugly now, but it works! Later if YOU need it, it will work better.
    The idea is that you have to write a review for someone first, then you'll get the point that you can use to upload your book and get reviews.
    I'll not share any links for now to see how many people want to join the project.
    Please, share your thoughts.
     
  2. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    What is the purpose for the book reviews? If it's for feedback between writers, isn't that what beta readers are for?

    If on the other hand it's to get some initial reviews for other potential readers to see first, it could sort of be a conflict of interest since no one would want to give a bad review for fear of 'retaliation'.

    It doesn't sound like a bad idea for collaboration between writers seeking beta readers from other writers.
     
  3. Gmes

    Gmes New Member

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    Hello Bruce,
    Thank you for your reply.
    As I mentioned above, my platform is for authors is to help each other. It's less likely that everyone will read every book; that's true.
    You need to review a book cover, read an Amazon description, and write a review based on that. If you don't like a book, skip it and review the next one.
     
  4. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Sounds dishonest to me.

    Write a review of a book based on the cover and the Amazon description? Seriously?
     
    montecarlo likes this.
  5. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    Sounds like review farming which is against Amazon's TOS and can get your account deleted.
     
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  6. Gmes

    Gmes New Member

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    In the perfect world, you have to read a book, that's true. But when we authors ask our friends to leave reviews for our book, do they really read it or just helping us?
    So, in that case, why do authors can't help each other? We will not pay for that.
    youtube.com/watch?v=RD_ZvwBGYAo - for more details
     
  7. Gmes

    Gmes New Member

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    It's not against Amazon's policy. We will not pay for reviews. We will review books (cover, description) or (a whole book) it's up to you. If you don't like to review that book, skip it and review another one.
    Watch
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD_ZvwBGYAo
     
  8. TStarnes

    TStarnes New Member

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    I'm pretty sure this is also against Amazon TOS and not something you're supposed to do. I remind my mailing list to leave a rating after they read the book when I promote it, but I've never proactively asked a friend or anyone else to go leave a rating or review for me.
     
  9. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    I don't have anything self published, but I would never ask anyone to leave a review if I knew they didn't read it. But even if I did have something up for review, it wouldn't be my day job so I wouldn't have as much at stake. I guess it gets messy when all the other authors do it too, but I'd strive for creating something so good it wouldn't need support from uninterested friends and family to get recognized.

    Also, maybe only one or two people I know would like what I'm working on.
     
  10. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Even in the imperfect world in which we live, I would not ask anyone -- friend, acquaintance, or complete stranger -- to leave a "review" of one of my books without having read the book. As I posted above, that's dishonest.
     
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  11. TStarnes

    TStarnes New Member

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    I agree
     
  12. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    it may or may not be against amazons ToS , however using this site for market research is definitely against ours

    :closed:
     
    Cephus and B.E. Nugent like this.
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