Quote:
Originally Posted by hardcastle
From the article:
I think this is jumping to a conclusion too soon. Readers may be reviewing the books with a bias in effect in favor of self-published books, or rate them higher due to surprise in quality of content, for example. I don't think we can make a connection between high ratings and high sales in this case.
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Yeah, I think that is jumping to a conclusion that isn't supported. I think indie authors (myself included) work really hard at getting reviews FROM ANYWHERE. Trad authors often submit to the known big ones or their publishers do. I'll take ANY honest review I can get from "little blog" to "guy I met on the forum who offered." If I thought my cats could spell, I'd make them do a review.
That's not to say that some trad authors don't work really hard to get them, but on the margin, indies are out there actively encouraging it, sometimes giving out random prizes for those writing reviews (I don't necessarily agree with such a procedure, but I see it done).
It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that Amazon and B&N sell "he bought, she bought" placement and/or various "show up" based on ranking or even using the spots as ads. It wouldn't even be false advertising if the "he bought/she bought" were really true for even a single purchase/reader.
They are in the business to make money, after all.