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Timboli · 07-20-2017, 05:39 AM

Clearly different people have different views on what constitutes as acceptable in a review, and I believe each are entitled to that view. So if you don't like it skip it.

The price of a book is just as important as any other aspect of the book.
So a review can not only be about how good the story is, but whether it was good value for money.

And while yes, anyone going to the book page, can see the current price, they don't see what price it was or what price someone from another country is being asked to pay.

At the moment there is a war going on, between publishers who do the right thing and charge a fair price for an ebook, and those who don't. So I think it quite appropriate, to make a comment about price, that others can add their voice to.

In the end, the publisher is almost as interested in the book selling as the author is, so they won't want negative comments in a review. The author along with reviewer can also put pressure on the publisher.

Complaints need to be easily seen, and it is not the customers fault, that the review is the only place currently to write about an aspect of the book. So if they don't want such things to appear in a review, Amazon should add a book comment section.

In my view, Reviews are spoilers anyway, and highly overrated. They are good if positive, but can have a detrimental effect if negative, because you are not reading with an open mind ... you have another person's thoughts & conclusions there tainting things. So I tend to avoid them for authors I know and love.

Sometimes reviews can be helpful for an author you don't know, but they are very often a double-edged sword.

On another comment raised regarding price due to wage levels varying between countries, you also need to take into account many other factors, like the cost of living ... food costs, etc. So it is not as simplistic as was suggested, and so irrelevant in my view. At the end of the day, it is about money being returned to the seller/publisher/author, and what money goes elsewhere.

Here is a simplistic example.
An American buys an ebook, and it costs them $7.99 USD.
An Australian buys same ebook and it costs them $12.99 USD.
Where is that $5 USD difference going? A small part only of 10% is the GST (tax).
Is the author or publisher getting more money from the Australian? That would be wrong & racist.
Or is someone else getting it? And why?
There should be transparency about this.

07-20-2017, 05:39 AM	#38
Timboli Sharpest Tool On Shelf Posts: 661 Karma: 2587836 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Downunda Device: Kindles, Kobo & Samsung Tablet	Clearly different people have different views on what constitutes as acceptable in a review, and I believe each are entitled to that view. So if you don't like it skip it. The price of a book is just as important as any other aspect of the book. So a review can not only be about how good the story is, but whether it was good value for money. And while yes, anyone going to the book page, can see the current price, they don't see what price it was or what price someone from another country is being asked to pay. At the moment there is a war going on, between publishers who do the right thing and charge a fair price for an ebook, and those who don't. So I think it quite appropriate, to make a comment about price, that others can add their voice to. In the end, the publisher is almost as interested in the book selling as the author is, so they won't want negative comments in a review. The author along with reviewer can also put pressure on the publisher. Complaints need to be easily seen, and it is not the customers fault, that the review is the only place currently to write about an aspect of the book. So if they don't want such things to appear in a review, Amazon should add a book comment section. In my view, Reviews are spoilers anyway, and highly overrated. They are good if positive, but can have a detrimental effect if negative, because you are not reading with an open mind ... you have another person's thoughts & conclusions there tainting things. So I tend to avoid them for authors I know and love. Sometimes reviews can be helpful for an author you don't know, but they are very often a double-edged sword. On another comment raised regarding price due to wage levels varying between countries, you also need to take into account many other factors, like the cost of living ... food costs, etc. So it is not as simplistic as was suggested, and so irrelevant in my view. At the end of the day, it is about money being returned to the seller/publisher/author, and what money goes elsewhere. Here is a simplistic example. An American buys an ebook, and it costs them $7.99 USD. An Australian buys same ebook and it costs them $12.99 USD. Where is that $5 USD difference going? A small part only of 10% is the GST (tax). Is the author or publisher getting more money from the Australian? That would be wrong & racist. Or is someone else getting it? And why? There should be transparency about this.