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Reviews about Kindle books

by clever7
8 replies
Reviews are very important in the Kindle marketplace. All authors do everything they can to get positive reviews.

However, their competitors use the alternative to leave negative reviews about other authors' books, and they leave one star reviews after buying the book they want to beat. After the one star review, all sales stop.

This is a method used by many people in the Kindle world.

So, don't be upset if you are a Kindle author and you will get an unfair and unjustified negative review, thinking that perhaps you were responsible for this fact because your work was not good enough...

#books #kindle #reviews
  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    I hear you. They go after the best selling book that sell thousands of copies per year. A few one stars will kill your sales and that is what they are doing now. I call em BOOK BOMBERS because they bomb you with very generic poor reviews. These review could apply to any book and typically are a variation of - Worst book ever. Please save your money. Funny, the books that do not sell well get zero generic reviews. Authors need to warn amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    British best seller R.J. Ellory got caught doing this.

    He wrote fake positive reviews for his own books and fake bad reviews for competitors.

    He got caught because he couldn't remember which account he was logged into while chatting and he chatted as R.J. Ellory with a fake review account. Another author caught on and exposed him.

    Crime Writer RJ Ellory Caught Faking Amazon Reviews - ABC News

    RJ Ellory's secret Amazon reviews anger rivals | Books | theguardian.com
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  • Profile picture of the author femtop
    That is a bad omen from authors. I have a book with a 1 star and bad review. With no reviews the book sold close to 100 copies. As soon as the review came, my book was avoided like a plague. I rewrote the book and changed the cover but the nothing seems to change. I guess I need more honest positive review.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Of course, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

      I've downloaded books with a dozen glowing reviews and one bad one, only to find the bad one is the accurate one. Sometimes a book just isn't as good as the author might think it is.
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    • Profile picture of the author aprilm
      Haven't had this happen to me yet...knock on wood! If I ever did have this happen though, I would BE SURE to hit that little 'comment' link at the bottom of the review and politely address the review.
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  • Profile picture of the author Samuel Adams
    So, these other author's are buying copies of competitors books and then bombing them with bad reviews? That could get really expensive, but I guess they figure it's a business expense if it puts a few people out of business. If Amazon can't get hold of this situation, you may need to find a better place to sell that only allows real reviews not sabotage.
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  • Profile picture of the author aronax
    I've had this issue as well on one of my books so I search google for verified book reviews and found a site with the same name that helped authors that were in a pickle with their sales. I've purchased only amazon reviews but I see they've expanded to goodreads, barnes and smashwords as well..

    Well worth looking into if you need help in adding some positive reviews on top of that malicious one. Enough to get it on the second page of reviews...
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I think that is far less common that you suggest it is.

    Besides, the best defense is a good offense. When you get honest reviews from honest people, if your books are good, then the good reviews will outnumber and outweigh the bad reviews.

    I have books out there with several 4- and 5-star ratings, then along comes the 1-star rating, and surprise, surprise, surprise.... Book sales DON'T stop... Book sales keep chugging along as normal, because the 1-star review is an outlier - not the average.

    Anyone who experiences the cessation of book sales after a one-star review probably suffers from other more drastic problems, like a poor title, an ugly book cover, and an awful book description.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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