Self-published books

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Jon,
You sound like one of those authors that got one bad review. Or oh boohoo someone else got a 5 star and their book is worse than mine.

Note: products of all types can be bought elsewhere.
The problem with the fake reviews is most say verified purchases. And yes they are very easy to tell.
90% of the time, they start with Mr or Mrs last name has written the greatest book on exact book title.
Also look at the phrasing.
And it should be easy to tell the reviewers that got the books from the authors.
The Federal Trade Commission requires that reviewers state that they got the book in exchange for a review.
My problem with reviewing is trying not to include spoilers.

Hmm. I don't think that really works. I think several of the reviews of my books have either Maria or Ms Schneider or some form of my name (including it spelled out Maria E Schneider maybe) and none of my reviews are paid for (or faked that I know of.) There is even one that said, 'My friend Maria" and was written by someone I don't think I know. I probably knew/know the person from a forum, and I'd love to be friends, but I'm not entirely certain I know the person.

On the good news front, Amazon used to show verified purchase when a book as "gifted." The no longer do that. If the author (or anyone) gifts a book and it is then reviewed by the recipient, it does not get the verified designation. This was to counteract authors giving books away via Amazon's gift program to reviewers.

I used to be very excited to hear from a blog/blogger with a review request. In the past year, I have not received ANY such requests that were from "legit" review sources. Every single one was "I saw your book on gr and would love to read your book! I review at such and such" The email will go on for a while before it brings up "packages" and "expedited" reviews for "only" x.

These types of ads are even showing up on forums where such ads are prohibited. But Amazon has brought some of this on itself by having rules and bonus views for books with more than 25 reviews, 100 reviews and 200 reviews. As soon as authors "perceive" a gate/goal, they will jump over it (whether it is a real gate or not). So instead of LESS fake reviews, there are probably even more.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Hmm. I don't think that really works. I think several of the reviews of my books have either Maria or Ms Schneider or some form of my name (including it spelled out Maria E Schneider maybe) and none of my reviews are paid for (or faked that I know of.) There is even one that said, 'My friend Maria" and was written by someone I don't think I know. I probably knew/know the person from a forum, and I'd love to be friends, but I'm not entirely certain I know the person.

On the good news front, Amazon used to show verified purchase when a book as "gifted." The no longer do that. If the author (or anyone) gifts a book and it is then reviewed by the recipient, it does not get the verified designation. This was to counteract authors giving books away via Amazon's gift program to reviewers.

I used to be very excited to hear from a blog/blogger with a review request. In the past year, I have not received ANY such requests that were from "legit" review sources. Every single one was "I saw your book on gr and would love to read your book! I review at such and such" The email will go on for a while before it brings up "packages" and "expedited" reviews for "only" x.

These types of ads are even showing up on forums where such ads are prohibited. But Amazon has brought some of this on itself by having rules and bonus views for books with more than 25 reviews, 100 reviews and 200 reviews. As soon as authors "perceive" a gate/goal, they will jump over it (whether it is a real gate or not). So instead of LESS fake reviews, there are probably even more.

I was talking non-fiction.
Fiction reviews are to me subjective. What one person likes, another one won't.

Hey, I won't name names but there is one author that because of a comment on a review, he dropped that person from his email list. Note, it isn't a big author but he is or was an Amazon all star on borrows.
Oh well saves me some money.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem with self-published eBooks at Amazon is that you cannot easily tell the faked reviews vs. the real reviews. So you don't know if the book is any good or not because the reviews could be faked. I might tend to believe the reviews more if only people who bought the eBook were allowed to review. That means there's a chance of the reviewers actually having read the book. But as it stands now, I can go to Amazon and write a review for an eBook I've not bought.

Anyone want to buy my reviews?

I look for reviews more than two paragraphs in length. I prefer reviews give at least a vague outline of the story.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I was talking non-fiction.
Fiction reviews are to me subjective. What one person likes, another one won't.

A review is not about what you like. A real review then. And why can you not like or dis-like non-fiction?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by tompe

A review is not about what you like. A real review then. And why can you not like or dis-like non-fiction?

Let me explain.
I have seen too many 5 star reviews that say this is the best "American Cookbook" when none of the recipes were American. Or whatever the title was.

Oh so you are saying I should not comment about what I didn't like in a book?
I hope my review of a book prevented someone else from throwing up.
I'm sorry if I get sick reading about literal crap on a person's hands.

What is a review other than an opinion?
That is all a review is.
Yes, it is likes and dislikes and believability.

Now at Jon,
As long as the author puts the review in the editorial section, it can be paid for.
You just can't get paid for a customer review.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Jon,
You sound like one of those authors that got one bad review. Or oh boohoo someone else got a 5 star and their book is worse than mine.

Note: products of all types can be bought elsewhere.

Self-published eBooks at Amazon cannot be purchased elsewhere. So any review not from someone who purchased it is either a friend, a relative, or review trading.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Self-published eBooks at Amazon cannot be purchased elsewhere. So any review not from someone who purchased it is either a friend, a relative, or review trading.

Why do you think that? There are many self-published books at Amazon that are also available other places. It's true that some of the self-published books are Amazon exclusive, but many are not.

Shari

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by shalym

Why do you think that? There are many self-published books at Amazon that are also available other places. It's true that some of the self-published books are Amazon exclusive, but many are not.

Shari

OK then, most self-published eBooks at Amazon are exclusive.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

OK then, most self-published eBooks at Amazon are exclusive.

Actually some of the best selling ones aren't. They sell well enough that they don't have to be exclusive. It's also possible to win copies. It's also possible that a book that is exclusive to Amazon NOW, wasn't initially. I bought one of Rachel Aaron's self-pub'd books. Something about Dragons...Nice Dragons finish last or something like that--great fun book. She was on all the retailers and I bought it from Kobo. She is now exclusive. There are a quite a few of us that aren't exclusive and I think one of the reviews on one of my books says something like "I bought this at B&N..." And I always wondered why they then left the review at amazon.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

OK then, most self-published eBooks at Amazon are exclusive.

No most are not.
I would say about 50% or less. The way to tell is if they are in Kindle Unlimited, they are exclusive.
When one uploads their book to Amazon, they have a choice of being in Select which is exclusive or not going into Select and they can publish everywhere.
Not only that but the author has the choice to do print on demand and can sell their paperbacks wherever they choose.
Some ebooks have the paper reviews too.

It would appreciated if you would quit spreading stuff about all self published books.

I will give you there are many horrible self-published books.
There are also many former traditional authors that were tired of making less than a dollar per book sold.
Jon, choice A, go total traditional and get 50 cents if you are lucky per book sold or self publish and make a minimum of 2 dollars per book.

I know both sets of authors.
Hey if all self-published is so bad, how is Hugh on a yacht? How do Joe Nobody and Ryk Brown afford full time employees?

Now the biggest genre that has seen traditional to self-published is Romance. So many of those authors have fought hard to get their rights back.

[fjtorres]

All indies are no more the same than all tradpubs are the same.
And, unlike tradpubs, indies can and do change their distribution regularly so today's exclusive can be all over the place in 90 days. Or vice versa.

Some indies routinely rotate titles in and out of Select as promotional moves, to take advantage of the free days, countdown, etc.

Each Indie runs their business the way they think best for them instead of somebody else using their books for *their* benefit and leaving scraps for the authors, as the Authors Guild and friends are finally admitting.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

No most are not.
I would say about 50% or less. The way to tell is if they are in Kindle Unlimited, they are exclusive.

Very good. According to my calculations 48% of indies are Kindle exclusives.

[mitford13]

Eh, lots of those Fiverr and other shady review services offer the option to include buying an author's book as part of the 'service', so 'verified purchase' ain't what it used to be, either.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem with self-published eBooks at Amazon is that you cannot easily tell the faked reviews vs. the real reviews.

So you mean you can tell the faked reviews on trad pubbed books?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by John F

For those who are interested, you can look at reviews that say "Verified Purchase".

Does anyone really care what a bunch of random people on the internet think about a book? As well as fake/paid for reviews there's plenty of revenge reviews too.