Picked this up on Twitter this morning from the Mail Online. The Mail is a bit of a home for poisoned pens itself, so buyer beware, but this is still interesting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... s.htmlhttp://
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More goings on at Amazon
More goings on at Amazon
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
-
parthianbow
- Compulsive Reader
- Posts: 856
- Joined: April 2009
- Location: Nr. Bristol, SW England
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Thanks for the link, EC. There was an article about it in the ST yesterday too, apparently. Sad to say, I'm not remotely surprised. I have personal experience of this. Not saying any more, however. At the moment, anyway. 
Last edited by parthianbow on Mon November 29th, 2010, 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: addition
Reason: addition
Ben Kane
Bestselling author of Roman military fiction.
Spartacus - UK release 19 Jan. 2012. US release June 2012.
http://www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor
Bestselling author of Roman military fiction.
Spartacus - UK release 19 Jan. 2012. US release June 2012.
http://www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor
[quote=""parthianbow""]Thanks for the link, EC. There was an article about it in the ST yesterday too, apparently. Sad to say, I'm not remotely surprised. I have personal experience of this. Not saying any more, however. At the moment, anyway. [/quote]
Oh me too, a while back. Got Amazon to investigate and one particular review was removed. I'm not a bad review moaning minnie. Authors have to accept that not everyone is going to love their work and you have to suck it up and get on with it. But just sometimes there are agendas involved for both the bad and the good.
[/quote]Oh me too, a while back. Got Amazon to investigate and one particular review was removed. I'm not a bad review moaning minnie. Authors have to accept that not everyone is going to love their work and you have to suck it up and get on with it. But just sometimes there are agendas involved for both the bad and the good.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
For some reason the link didn't work for me (sent me to the front page and couldn't find the article.) I did a Google search and think I found the article at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ctims.html.
The article mentions an interesting PR tactic:
"This has led PR firms to provide favourable reviews of new books, at a price. Nathan Barker, of Reputation 24/7, offers a service starting at £5,000. He said: First we set up accounts. For a romance novel wed pick seven female profiles and three males. Wed say we like this book but add a tiny bit of criticism and compare it to another book. Mr Barker claims this is common practice among publishers."
The BBC morning program interviewed someone this morning (I think it was the same man, but didn't catch the top of the story) who explained how they "positively enhance" reviews on line for books, hotels, etc. couching the language in as natural a way as possible to look like customers.
Buyer beware indeed. Makes sites like HFO even more important!
The article mentions an interesting PR tactic:
"This has led PR firms to provide favourable reviews of new books, at a price. Nathan Barker, of Reputation 24/7, offers a service starting at £5,000. He said: First we set up accounts. For a romance novel wed pick seven female profiles and three males. Wed say we like this book but add a tiny bit of criticism and compare it to another book. Mr Barker claims this is common practice among publishers."
The BBC morning program interviewed someone this morning (I think it was the same man, but didn't catch the top of the story) who explained how they "positively enhance" reviews on line for books, hotels, etc. couching the language in as natural a way as possible to look like customers.
Buyer beware indeed. Makes sites like HFO even more important!
I've tried that link twice now and all I get is a main page with links to many articles and can't find the one you're mentioning. Can you help me narrow it down a bit?
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be
...is the only place I want to be
[quote=""fljustice""]The article mentions an interesting PR tactic:
"This has led PR firms to provide favourable reviews of new books, at a price. Nathan Barker, of Reputation 24/7, offers a service starting at £5,000. He said: First we set up accounts. For a romance novel wed pick seven female profiles and three males. Wed say we like this book but add a tiny bit of criticism and compare it to another book. Mr Barker claims this is common practice among publishers."
[/quote]
This doesn't surprise me. I've spotted a few identities that I have flagged (in my own mental notation, not on the site itself) as a publishing industry plant. I also suspect these tactics go beyond Amazon and are quite active in the blogging community and on some bulletin boards as well.
"This has led PR firms to provide favourable reviews of new books, at a price. Nathan Barker, of Reputation 24/7, offers a service starting at £5,000. He said: First we set up accounts. For a romance novel wed pick seven female profiles and three males. Wed say we like this book but add a tiny bit of criticism and compare it to another book. Mr Barker claims this is common practice among publishers."
[/quote]
This doesn't surprise me. I've spotted a few identities that I have flagged (in my own mental notation, not on the site itself) as a publishing industry plant. I also suspect these tactics go beyond Amazon and are quite active in the blogging community and on some bulletin boards as well.
[quote=""Misfit""]I've tried that link twice now and all I get is a main page with links to many articles and can't find the one you're mentioning. Can you help me narrow it down a bit?[/quote]
Trying again http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ctims.html
Trying again http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ctims.html
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
[quote=""Ludmilla""]This doesn't surprise me. I've spotted a few identities that I have flagged (in my own mental notation, not on the site itself) as a publishing industry plant. I also suspect these tactics go beyond Amazon and are quite active in the blogging community and on some bulletin boards as well.[/quote]
They sure do. One author I know paid a company to promote her book on Twitter because she didn't have the time. I had just followed her when I started getting all these book plug messages in rapid succession, so in my turn I pulled the plug and unfollowed her. She wrote to me saying sorry and explaining she had paid a company to promote her novel but they had been over zealous. She was going to ask them to do the more softly softly approach.
Edited to say I know publicists and promoters have a job to do, but the author in question didn't seem to get the etiquette on Twitter. There are ways and ways.
They sure do. One author I know paid a company to promote her book on Twitter because she didn't have the time. I had just followed her when I started getting all these book plug messages in rapid succession, so in my turn I pulled the plug and unfollowed her. She wrote to me saying sorry and explaining she had paid a company to promote her novel but they had been over zealous. She was going to ask them to do the more softly softly approach.
Edited to say I know publicists and promoters have a job to do, but the author in question didn't seem to get the etiquette on Twitter. There are ways and ways.
Last edited by EC2 on Mon November 29th, 2010, 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
[quote=""EC2""]Trying again http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ctims.html[/quote]
Got it. There is so much fake review crap on Amazon (and elsewhere) it boggles the mind once you start spotting them. As Ludmilla says, once you know what to look for it is quite obvious. Reviewers with very little reviews, no friends, lists, etc.
It's always fun at times to use the real name on those reviewer profiles and google that + author name. You wouldn't believe how many times I've found a clear and convincing connection.
Another interesting tale and I will not name names but there was a book last year that didn't fare well with the Amazon Vine reviewers. Lo and behold on the first day and hour anyone besides Vine reviewers could post reviews they started showing up like magic one after the other - including a group of bloggers who had promoted that book quite heavily.
Got it. There is so much fake review crap on Amazon (and elsewhere) it boggles the mind once you start spotting them. As Ludmilla says, once you know what to look for it is quite obvious. Reviewers with very little reviews, no friends, lists, etc.
It's always fun at times to use the real name on those reviewer profiles and google that + author name. You wouldn't believe how many times I've found a clear and convincing connection.
Another interesting tale and I will not name names but there was a book last year that didn't fare well with the Amazon Vine reviewers. Lo and behold on the first day and hour anyone besides Vine reviewers could post reviews they started showing up like magic one after the other - including a group of bloggers who had promoted that book quite heavily.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be
...is the only place I want to be
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LoveHistory
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 3751
- Joined: September 2008
- Location: Wisconsin, USA
- Contact:
[quote=""Misfit""]...once you know what to look for it is quite obvious. Reviewers with very little reviews, no friends, lists, etc. [/quote]
I understand that a lot of phony reviews come from people who fit into that category, but there are genuine reviews by people who do not make friends, write lists, or write very many reviews.
I've been buying from Amazon for years. I don't make lists. I may have one or two friends. I only write reviews for things I really love. Don't know as I've ever reviewed a book, mainly because I'd rather read one.
According to your criteria if I posted a book review it should immediately be discounted.
I understand that a lot of phony reviews come from people who fit into that category, but there are genuine reviews by people who do not make friends, write lists, or write very many reviews.
I've been buying from Amazon for years. I don't make lists. I may have one or two friends. I only write reviews for things I really love. Don't know as I've ever reviewed a book, mainly because I'd rather read one.
According to your criteria if I posted a book review it should immediately be discounted.