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Amazon Vine's new policy

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Divia
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Amazon Vine's new policy

Post by Divia » Fri April 5th, 2013, 2:30 pm

Did everyone get their friendly email that says now everything must be reviewed within 30 days I believe. I dont mind the 80% or hell 90% but 100%. I'll tell you what. I am not going to be getting books from now on. I'll get things like toilet paper, toothpaste and other items I don't need to spend a lot of time reviewing.

And I wonder how many others will do the same.

Do you intend on changing your reviewing habits? And do you think they are doing this to get rid of some dead weight?
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
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Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Fri April 5th, 2013, 3:57 pm

I can't see that the vine program is worth it, at least for books. The average book takes 10 hours of time to read, not to mention the mental space it occupies in your head. If you have to read it, that's work, not pleasure.

When I work for people, I expect to get paid. A $10-$20 book value isn't sufficient incentive to spend 10 hours reading something I don't like.

If the read is enjoyable, on the other hand, then I'm happy to pay for the privilege.

Probably why I'm not a vine member.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Fri April 5th, 2013, 4:13 pm

I guess I'm displeased by how they did it.

A month or so ago it wa syou needed to review 80%. Okay. I did my part. But now its 100% And there are some books I dont want to read. :(

I gonna guess a lot of people won't actually read the books but will write reviews on them anyway just so they can stay in the vine program.

I don't know how many books I will get in the future. Seems a bit of a pain in the butt.
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Fri April 5th, 2013, 5:50 pm

[quote=""MLE""]
When I work for people, I expect to get paid. [/quote]
Wow, that sounded rather cold. And I DO work without pay, all the time, but only for things I believe in.

Amazon's profitability isn't a cause I believe in. ;)

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Fri April 5th, 2013, 6:12 pm

[quote=""MLE""]I can't see that the vine program is worth it, at least for books. The average book takes 10 hours of time to read, not to mention the mental space it occupies in your head. If you have to read it, that's work, not pleasure.

When I work for people, I expect to get paid. A $10-$20 book value isn't sufficient incentive to spend 10 hours reading something I don't like.

If the read is enjoyable, on the other hand, then I'm happy to pay for the privilege.

Probably why I'm not a vine member.[/quote]

I got the email this morning, but I have already cut back on ordering any books from them. The MUST READ NOW MUST REVIEW NOW pressure was just taking the fun out of reading and library gets them all in the end if it turns out it's something I want to read. I can understand the 100% rule, but it will leave them with a lot more non-reviews than publishers/authors would like to see. If you read two chapters and the book sucks, what are you going to do?

What disappoints me is from what I've read so far, the stuff you've had hanging around unread/unreviewed for a couple of years now needs to get read and reviewed. Definitely upsetting this month's reading plans. I'm just glad there's only three books to do - and I have no problem writing a DNF review when I've made it halfway if I feel I have something to input. I had one other DNF I'd hesitated to rate because I knew critical reviews were drawing a lot of drama that I preferred to avoid, but - oh well.

I've never taken toilet paper, but I like getting the skin care products they offer. I did get a really nice carpet shampooer, plus a pretty nice vacuum last year.

Several folks have commented over at Amazon that the 30 day review rule is a bit harsh. There are some products that need testing over a longer period of time, and that's cutting it a bit short.
At home with a good book and the cat...
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Fri April 5th, 2013, 6:51 pm

Ive been watching the forum too. And I agree that 45 days might be a bit better. Plus who is gonna want to go for left over newsletters? The only thing on those are books and ain't no one gonna wanna read those now!

I have 5 books that are backlogged. I am reading one now and its decent enough, but the others I don't want to read or at the time I thought would be a great idea but now have cooled to them.

I think its a way to get rid of some of the oldtimers. I also think that people who have been around for 3 or 4 years and have 30 items(which some people have confessed to) is a bit much! I think I have been in the program since it started and I have..5 count em 5 books on my need to review list.

I have a total of 98 items. And I pick and choose what I want because lets face it there are some lists that have NOTHING good, or the good stuff is already taken.
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/

Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Fri April 5th, 2013, 7:08 pm

[quote=""MLE""]I can't see that the vine program is worth it, at least for books. The average book takes 10 hours of time to read, not to mention the mental space it occupies in your head. If you have to read it, that's work, not pleasure.

When I work for people, I expect to get paid. A $10-$20 book value isn't sufficient incentive to spend 10 hours reading something I don't like.

If the read is enjoyable, on the other hand, then I'm happy to pay for the privilege.

Probably why I'm not a vine member.[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up MLE.

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Post by annis » Sat April 6th, 2013, 6:31 pm

I don't belong to Vine, however nothing but nothing would kill my passion for a book like an expectation that I HAVE to review it, and I believe that sort of expectation probably results more often than not in sloppy reviews. Thats why I only review books that have personally struck me in some particular way, for either for good or for bad :)

And is it just me? I get irritated at seeing reviews around for books which won't actually be available to the general public for ages.

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