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adrian-pucey · 8 years

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To those who are thinking about self-publishing, I need to let you all in on a terrible secret:

Amazon’s Reviews are corrupt af.

(And I’m assuming that many other websites are, as well.)

I’ve had my suspicions for months, and these past few days just prove it.

I’ve sat here and watched as 5-Star reviews were removed from my books. One went down from 27 reviews to 24. One went down from 12 to 10. One, ironically, went down from 137 to 135, before two three-star reviews suddenly appeared in their place. One of the three-star reviews was made by an “Amazon Customer” and the other was made by someone who had only ever reviewed one book - mine.

(Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m my own worst critic. I fully believe that my stories are worth about three-stars. But they’re worth three-stars from a legitimate reader, who recognizes well-meaning trash when they see it!)

I’ve also received messages from people who say that they submitted a review but that it never went through. And I believe it. According to the KDP website, I’ve sold ~250 copies of The Antagonists: Book Three since February. How many reviews does it have? 10. (It was 12 until a few days ago.) Those numbers just don’t add up.

Meanwhile, it’s been all but proven that the big authors out there (you all know the ones; I’m not naming names) have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to buy 5-star reviews, increasing their overall ratings tenfold. But obviously, little fish just trying out their fins in the writing pond aren’t going to have that luxury.

Now, it’s gotten the point where I personally don’t care as much about reviews anymore. I still regularly check to see what people think but I’ve moved on past the initial author stage where every review sent me to an emotional extreme. I no longer cry when I see that someone didn’t like one of my books. I feel a small twinge of sorrow, before moving on.

But I know that there are authors out there whose reviews mean everything to them. And they’re being corrupted, removed, and replaced.

Unfortunately, there’s not much that we can do about it. This, apparently, has been a problem for years. Hell, one could argue that the classical authors faced people who directly tried to sabotage their work, complaining about it to anyone who would listen.

There’s not much that we can do. But it does help to be aware of it. I certainly wasn’t, and had to learn it the hard way. So, to all of the new authors out there, bear in mind that certain websites will do everything within their power to try to sabotage your good name.

And if you don’t believe the ramblings of a college student, have a legitimate Forbes article, which talks about this phenomenon:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/suwcharmananderson/2012/08/28/fake-reviews-amazons-rotten-core/#3b4db6ad66d6

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