This ebook SUCKS!!!

My site is highly niched, so the products available are limited. I choose to write about it, because good or bad, I want to at least give people who are spending lots of money on these products to know whether or not the product may be for them. If I make a sale or not isn't important if ethically speaking, the material isn't worth it. I also have a natural interest and passion in the niche, so it does matter to me what my readers and people who visit the site will say.

Thus said, like you stated, this would be for the credibility. I'm not looking to destroy the company's name, I just want to find a way to make an unfavorable review appear honest without looking overtly negative. I didn't like another product I reviewed, but I was able to find the positives and spin it, which has resulted in a sale. However, a $40 product with bad spelling and no coherency? It's highly difficult to find a high point in it. Lol

I agree that they should be given the benefit of the doubt as you read it, but if the eBook is bad enough, then that benefit is gone.

And why should you care? That's not the reader's problem, it's the seller's responsibility.

Which would just be a different conclusion being jumped to. So, the only thing you can base your conclusion on is the written words you have in front of you. Even if it's a problem of a language barrier, then the product creator should hire a proofreader in the target language (whatever it is) to make sure the intended audience can make sense of it.

I would agree if it was the author asking for a review, but this is a product that Raquelle purchased with the intention of reviewing it on her site. In this case, feedback would be for the benefit of the author, and the review for the benefit of her readers and potential readers.

Furthermore, you do not have to say it "sucks", but you can point out why it isn't any good. It happens all the time with movies, music and "real" books, so why not an eBook? If it warrants a bad review, it warrants a bad review. It's not Raquelle's fault it sucks, BUT it WOULD be her fault if she misled her readers.

But, being an optimist doesn't mean you have to sugar-coat things and never point out anything bad or shun constructive criticism. Sometimes the best thing you can do for somebody is let them know how much improvement they need. Otherwise they keep doing what they're doing.

Also, if you think about it, if all you said was "The best part of this eBook was that the table of contents was clickable and formatted nicely." That would be quite a devastating review.

Now, I am NOT claiming to be perfect, and I'm NOT asking anybody else to be perfect. Not at all. But if the eBook is filled with good ideas that can't be figured out because of super sloppy writing, then it's as if those good ideas aren't really there.

I haven't seen the eBook in question, and maybe it's not as bad as she says, or maybe it is, BUT that doesn't matter either. Why? Because it's Raquelle's reputation that's on the line with EVERY review she writes. Her readers (I assume) trust her, they know her - and by writing some falsely positive review, she would be letting them down.

Again, give the author the benefit of the doubt. No problem. But remember that such a benefit can be unearned, if that makes sense?

All the best,
Michael

I am usually very forgiving too when it comes to grammar and spelling, as well as the occasional thing that does not make sense the first time I read something, but when someone is expecting to release a product at whatever price they are and are simply looking for a review of their "finished" effort then the gloves must come off.

Once they ask for a review then they have stated that it is ready, I find the occasional spelling mistake in professional writers novels sometimes and can generally ignore it, but if I am finding them every second paragraph I will start to wonder why I wasted my money.

Someone who asks for a proofread a month or two before a release is serious, people who ask for reviews when it is plain as day they will only choose those that show themselves in a good light (as opposed to honest reviews) can go find the nearest window as far as I am concerned :p

Can honest reviews on products really exist though if the publisher has absolute control of what goes there?

Thank you! And THAT, JayX, is exactly why I want to review this product.
This niche has 2 ebooks... 2. The first ebook wasn't great, and I reviewed it with honesty and have done okay. This second one had good intentions and really bad delivery. The table of contents doesn't exist, the images are favorable, and the syntax is off. I can tell it was more than likely outsourced. The person also is targeting too many audiences but not giving the exact information needed.

I CAN write whatever I want on my site, and it's not about wasting money. I'd rather know that I back a product and know how the product is and how it performs before I put it on the site and say "Hey buy this!"

To me it's about being honest. I can write:

"This book is @#%#@$%^ stupid!" or I can write, "This book personally isn't the best source of information and here's how/why"... I can only find - after sleeping on it - a positive aspect in the fact the concept of the book means well, but that's about it. The information should be rewritten - especially at it's price - by someone with a better eye for how to organize points and arguments.

I'm going to write the review, but I am just BLOWN away by how poorly people look over their products before they sell them to the public.

Thanks to all of you who truly understood where I was coming from and responded.