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Elfwreck · 02-11-2013, 07:06 PM

In the past, I'd posted about SW's apparent review farms, where people left the same exact review on several books by the same author. I've found a new trick--apparently, Smashwords allows reviewers to leave multiple reviews, and then averages in all those star ratings.

I went looking for the highest-rated fantasy book. Currently it's Blood Prize (Book #1 of the Running Veins Series) by Stella Purple, a vampire erotica book. (Um. Description is NSFW.) It has 69 five-star reviews, left by a total of 14 reviewers, all on the same day a bit more than 2 weeks ago--the same day it was published.

I don't imagine there's much SW can do about scams like "author asks facebook friends to give 5-star reviews," but they could limit the reviews to 1 per logged-in person.

02-11-2013, 07:06 PM	#1
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	Smashwords: When 5 stars is not enough. In the past, I'd posted about SW's apparent review farms, where people left the same exact review on several books by the same author. I've found a new trick--apparently, Smashwords allows reviewers to leave multiple reviews, and then averages in all those star ratings. I went looking for the highest-rated fantasy book. Currently it's Blood Prize (Book #1 of the Running Veins Series) by Stella Purple, a vampire erotica book. (Um. Description is NSFW.) It has 69 five-star reviews, left by a total of 14 reviewers, all on the same day a bit more than 2 weeks ago--the same day it was published. I don't imagine there's much SW can do about scams like "author asks facebook friends to give 5-star reviews," but they could limit the reviews to 1 per logged-in person. Last edited by Elfwreck; 02-11-2013 at 09:12 PM. Reason: Stella Purple, not Blue.