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Old 10-04-2016, 08:11 PM   #31
FizzyWater
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Yeah, I have. I actually heard about one case from the author who complained to a few of us privately. She isn't the only one. Off the top of my head, I can think of two other instances.

That's not to negate your point, which is valid, but I have seen more than one review that said, "I received a copy in exchange for an honest review" that were two stars or under.
I'll add that I've also seen negative reviews on ARCs/book freebies. However, I'm not sure I've ever seen a negative review on a product sold at Amazon, other than books, that have that disclaimer.

I still tend to discount the reviews that were for ARCs/giveaways. I suspect author street teams or whatever they're called now piling on the 5-star reviews. And I've known a number of people who review so they get free books, so they tend to write positive reviews so they get more free books.
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Old 10-04-2016, 08:13 PM   #32
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Yep.



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Old 10-04-2016, 08:32 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by FizzyWater View Post
I'll add that I've also seen negative reviews on ARCs/book freebies. However, I'm not sure I've ever seen a negative review on a product sold at Amazon, other than books, that have that disclaimer.

I still tend to discount the reviews that were for ARCs/giveaways. I suspect author street teams or whatever they're called now piling on the 5-star reviews. And I've known a number of people who review so they get free books, so they tend to write positive reviews so they get more free books.
Agreed.

I have seen some negative reviews on products that said they got it free or discounted. I think they were for driving shoes (those kind of moccasin type shoes--I was looking for some for husband--boat shoes and that sort of thing.) The other thing might have been back packs. But, yes, there are people who look to be on street teams, etc. I just released a book and within an hour had an offer from an ad place to get me mentioned on up to 60 blogs, x number of tweets and this and that. One of the paid options was to get "guaranteed' reviews from up to x people. Now, the email did not say they would be positive. But. Paid reviews aren't even allowed so they try to cover the fact with fancy wording. And gosh! Now that Amazon has told us that getting a steady stream of reviews is critical to visibility it makes the problem worse. And! If you have 100 reviews, you can get more visibility. 200? Even better!

Amazon brings these problems on itself.
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Old 10-04-2016, 08:52 PM   #34
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Amazon brings these problems on itself.
Not really. Any system can be gamed. But that doesn't justify doing so. The fault still lies squarely with the gamers.
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Old 10-04-2016, 09:06 PM   #35
BearMountainBooks
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Not really. Any system can be gamed. But that doesn't justify doing so. The fault still lies squarely with the gamers.
Well, sure. But Amazon does provide certain incentives or at least temptations to cheat.
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Old 10-04-2016, 09:12 PM   #36
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Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks View Post
We writers are pretty thick-skinned. We have to be or we'd never even hit publish. So don't try too hard.
Maybe you are, but some of the babies I've dealt with are still convinced that they should get an A for Effort :-(
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Old 10-04-2016, 10:32 PM   #37
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Can someone clarify if this includes ebooks? I just sent a email to the review program I belong to but I like a second opinion to compare.

I get ebooks to review in exchange for an honest review. I wouldn't call them ARCs though some have been out for awhile.

I'm very honest in my reviews. Last one got three stars. I seldom ever give a five star review out. Free or not it takes alot of elements to be just right to get five stars from me.

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Old 10-04-2016, 10:34 PM   #38
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Maybe you are, but some of the babies I've dealt with are still convinced that they should get an A for Effort :-(
I've had authors hurt because of my reviews. I use to review for Entangled romance imprint. Some of the authors are too sensitive so I quit.

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Old 10-04-2016, 10:37 PM   #39
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Can someone clarify if this includes ebooks?
According to all accounts I've seen books are not included in the "ban".
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Old 10-04-2016, 11:13 PM   #40
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I did a review on a $0.00 (first book in a series) just a few days ago. So the Lid is not fully down on e-books.

My 2cents
If you worry about 'Hurting an Author', then the review is not strictly Honest.

There is a difference. If the Goal was to hurt.. Shame!

I mostly pick on flawed editing: wrong words. Runtogeter words

I use the stars for how I liked the story.
My review leans more to the product quality.
But I do point out Quirks as I see them
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Old 10-04-2016, 11:15 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by AnemicOak View Post
According to all accounts I've seen books are not included in the "ban".
That's what I thought but I wanted to make sure. The lady who directs the review program got back to me and pretty much said it does not affect them.

I'd hate to get into trouble with Amazon over a book.

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Old 10-04-2016, 11:46 PM   #42
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I did a review on a $0.00 (first book in a series) just a few days ago. So the Lid is not fully down on e-books.

My 2cents
If you worry about 'Hurting an Author', then the review is not strictly Honest.

There is a difference. If the Goal was to hurt.. Shame!

I mostly pick on flawed editing: wrong words. Runtogeter words

I use the stars for how I liked the story.
My review leans more to the product quality.
But I do point out Quirks as I see them
I'm too soft hearted to review that's why I stopped. I'm not good on the technical stuff anyway so my reviews always focused on how the book made me feel etc which is why I couldn't finish books I disliked. Any reviews I now post are for books I pay for, and it's never moe than a few lines and only if I love the book. I know the authors need reviews, particularly on Amazon for the algorithms, but life is just too short to read something you don't like.
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Old 10-05-2016, 12:33 AM   #43
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I'm too soft hearted to review that's why I stopped. I'm not good on the technical stuff anyway so my reviews always focused on how the book made me feel etc which is why I couldn't finish books I disliked. Any reviews I now post are for books I pay for, and it's never moe than a few lines and only if I love the book. I know the authors need reviews, particularly on Amazon for the algorithms, but life is just too short to read something you don't like.
I completely agree. Plus, when I did post something that was negative (I very, very rarely review) I got quite a nasty response back from either a highly offended dedicated fan/her mother or other relative/the author herself
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Old 10-05-2016, 07:25 AM   #44
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Books (e or otherwise) are not part of this ban. ARC reviews will continue to be acceptable.

Clearly people aren't reading either the linked article or this thread, since it's been mentioned several times
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Old 10-05-2016, 12:23 PM   #45
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If you worry about 'Hurting an Author', then the review is not strictly Honest.
Sometimes the book is so bad that any review would hurt the author.

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