Quote:
Originally Posted by Manabi
Wait, what? What have they been doing on that front? I hadn't heard anything.
I do have to say Amazon has been far more annoying this year than any previous year. It's like they're starting to get cocky. (But at least they don't treat their customers like their employees!)
Lure him in with banana tea, then ask him if he's made any employees cry lately.  (Be sure to film his reaction and put it on Youtube!) |
It won't affect most people, but apparently they troll places such as FB or blogs and try to discern if a person "knows" an author. If it is discerned by their measure that you are too close to an author, and you then leave a review, you'll get a note that says "You are not qualified to leave a review." If you ask why, most people are being told that Amazon believes you have a personal relationship with the author. One of my facebook fans/friends wrote to me this week and said Amazon told her she couldn't leave a review of my latest book. I don't have a business FB account, just the one. I'm also assuming it is due to the FB "relationship" as other authors have been reporting this sort of thing. Amazon probably means well. They are trying to cut back on bogus reviews and a lot of people are getting caught in the net. For the gal who wasn't able to leave a review this week, I had also gifted her a copy (for an honest review) for a previous book. That could be the problem (although she was able to leave that review). She's not a professional reviewer or anything, but I don't require professional reviewers and now and then I offer free books in exchange for reviews (we all do and we don't care who wins the book--regular blog follower or stranger in the street, a Martian, etc).
Shrug. I believe Digital Reader (Nate the Great) did a post about it a while back. Lots of arguing over whether it is helping the review process or not. My take on it is going to be a bit skewed as you would expect!