Keep reading for a worthwhile rant about crazed Kindle owners who post negative book reviews on Amazon when new hardcovers aren’t simultaneously released with a Kindle edition. I would note, however, that few readers take such broadsides as a serious knock against a book. The most popular books on Amazon usually have plenty of negative reviews, for a variety of reasons. (Negative book reviews on Amazon merely add credibility — it proves the author hasn’t totally stacked the deck with reviews from his own friends and family.) In any case, Amazon will remove reviews that don’t address the content of the book. All that’s required is for someone — the author, the publisher, or an Amazon customer — report the review to community-help@amazon.com. I don’t think it will happen in this case, though. When your book is #1 and it’s featured on every TV show and periodical on the planet, one-star Amazon reviews aren’t keeping you awake at night.
Via Techcrunch: [We authors] have the most to lose from negative Amazon reviews. A book’s overall star rating is one of the most prominent pieces of information on an Amazon page, and many readers – quite reasonably – equate a low average rating with a poorly written book. This damages sales of the book and also damages our reputations as writers. Almost nobody – unless they click through and read the full text of the negative reviews – sees a one star rating and assumes its a comment on the decision by the publisher to withhold an electronic edition.
I am giving this book a one star rating because I am disgusted by the greedy publisher who does not offer this book the way I want to read it. I prefer the way books were published in Dickens’ day, first in a serial edition in a great magazine such as Monthly Magazine or All the Year Round. I haven’t read this work and very much want to, but until the publisher makes the version available that I want to read, I shall punish the author by giving a one-star review of this book. Humph.
Amazon: Don’t let Kindle fans trash your book reviews – Techcrunch
Keep reading for a worthwhile rant about crazed Kindle owners who post negative book reviews on Amazon when new hardcovers aren’t simultaneously released with a Kindle edition. I would note, however, that few readers take such broadsides as a serious knock against a book. The most popular books on Amazon usually have plenty of negative reviews, for a variety of reasons. (Negative book reviews on Amazon merely add credibility — it proves the author hasn’t totally stacked the deck with reviews from his own friends and family.) In any case, Amazon will remove reviews that don’t address the content of the book. All that’s required is for someone — the author, the publisher, or an Amazon customer — report the review to community-help@amazon.com. I don’t think it will happen in this case, though. When your book is #1 and it’s featured on every TV show and periodical on the planet, one-star Amazon reviews aren’t keeping you awake at night.
Via Techcrunch: [We authors] have the most to lose from negative Amazon reviews. A book’s overall star rating is one of the most prominent pieces of information on an Amazon page, and many readers – quite reasonably – equate a low average rating with a poorly written book. This damages sales of the book and also damages our reputations as writers. Almost nobody – unless they click through and read the full text of the negative reviews – sees a one star rating and assumes its a comment on the decision by the publisher to withhold an electronic edition.
via Amazon: You Need To Change Your Idiotic Customer Reviews Policy Right Now.
And now, here’s a one-star review from an Amazon customer with a sense of humor:
I am giving this book a one star rating because I am disgusted by the greedy publisher who does not offer this book the way I want to read it. I prefer the way books were published in Dickens’ day, first in a serial edition in a great magazine such as Monthly Magazine or All the Year Round. I haven’t read this work and very much want to, but until the publisher makes the version available that I want to read, I shall punish the author by giving a one-star review of this book. Humph.
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