The moral of this sorry tale comes at the end. But feel free to skim read until you get there: you simply need to know that I was ranting about big brother on my back and the injustice of rejected reviews...
'I'm writing to you as the author of two books listed on
Amazon: Tea & Chemo and Glass Houses. Both are published
by a small but increasingly successful, and certainly ethical, independent
publisher, Urbane Publications. I'm happy to say that both books seem to be
well-received and are gaining good reviews.
You will not need me to tell you that we live in a world
where reviews are vital if we want to sell books. All writers these days,
whether published by one of the traditional presses, an independent publisher or
are self-published, have to promote their books. They have to find innovative
ways of getting their writing into the public eye, need to work with the media,
social media, blog, have a web site, do talks, signings, appear at book group
meetings and generally make as much noise as possible about their book. I am no
different. What I don't do however, is coerce people into reviewing. I don’t
find a way of putting up bogus reviews or, god forbid, pay for reviews. I've
never understood cheating – not because I'm a saint, but because I can't see
where the glory is in gaining top place when it's not deserved.
As with many authors. I have no expectation of making huge amounts
of money through book sales. I'm in the wrong career if money is my driver. But
I want to tell stories. I want to entertain. I want people who read my books to
think that their £8.99 is money well-spent. I want somebody to read my book
and recommend it to others because it's had a great effect on their day/ week/
life… But I can't make that up. I have to write, get my book out there and hope
that it's well received.
With that background, I hope you will understand why I was
particularly upset to hear from somebody I've known for years as we live in the
same village, even though our paths don't cross frequently. She wrote to say
that a review she'd written, as well as one her equally enthusiastic son had written,
had been rejected by Amazon. She was disappointed because she'd devoured Glass
Houses, wanted to spread the word and had spent time writing a positive review.
When the original review never appeared, she tried to re-post it but received
an automated reply to explain that the original, 'did not comply with our customer service guidelines. Amazon does not
permit reviews from customers whose relationship to the product or seller may
be perceived as biased.'
I'm upset on many counts. And what I find particularly
galling is the injustice. I have never asked a friend/ acquaintance/ family
member/ neighbour… to put up a bogus review to increase numbers. I bring you
back to the above – if it isn't genuine, I'm not interested.
I'm also baffled by the 'connection' that has flagged up a
problem with this particular review. Is it because the reviewer also reviewed Tea
& Chemo? Readers of Tea & Chemo have gone on to read Glass Houses.
Personally, I've posted reviews on several books from authors I like – that's
normal, isn't it?
Yes, I know this lady, yes I think she's great, but there
are other people who've reviewed my book, whose reviews have been posted, whom
I know better. Is it because the first part of our postcode is the same (everyone
in our village shares the first portion of the postcode) and if so, does that
mean that my neighbours aren't allowed to review? I bring you back to my point
about the necessary promotion for all writers, as well as the desire for happy
readers. My publisher and I held a launch at my local pub for Glass Houses in
which we sold over eighty books. Of course, the idea is that those eighty books
will be well-read and enthusiastically recommended to another eighty readers
and so on. But it's totally normally that those first sales start close to
home. These people should still be allowed to review. And trust me, I am not
feeding them the lines if they do.
Furthermore, I'm troubled that there may be other instances
of genuine reviews of the book in question, Glass Houses, and also my first
book, Tea & Chemo, being automatically rejected without my knowing.
In summary, I'm upset that this review hasn't been posted
because it was genuine. I don't like the implication of involvement in bogus
reviews. And, with reviewing being such a big part of the promotion business, I
hope my books won't slip into reviewer-oblivion on Amazon because the machine
has decided that reviews on my novel aren't 'kosher'.
I'd therefore like to ask for:
1. The original review to be reinstated
2. A check for any other rejected reviews on either Tea
& Chemo or Glass Houses, allowing me to respond
3. An assurance that this won't be allowed to have any
negative effect on my author account regarding future reviews and my Amazon
ranking
4. Some explanation as to why this happened.'
OK, still here? Thank you.
Here's an abbreviated version of what happened next: a reply
from Amazon said that they couldn't liaise directly with me on the nature of the
rejection of the review but they included a handy link with detail on reasons for rejection. Huffing and puffing, I clicked the link.
Pah! Yet more of my precious time spent - do they know how busy I am??
Oh.
Amazon, it writes, first on the list and bold for all to
see, does not allow multiple reviews for one product from the same household.
And you know what, much as I wish the reviewer was allowed the opportunity to
delete one of the reviews and thus one review from her household would survive,
I do concur. It could get out of hand, couldn't it? In our house alone we must
have ten email addresses between us; reviews could soon become meaningless.
And so, the moral of this tale is as follows:
1. Do not jump to conclusions and spend your Sunday morning
writing a cross response before you have appraised yourself of the facts
2. Big Brother is not yet as powerful as we might fear in
our paranoid dreams: Amazon is not yet able to name your friends simply from
their ip address (but it's coming, I'm sure…)
3. However much your partner, your six children, dog, cat
and two guinea pigs are impressed by the packaging of the second hand copy
of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the smelly poop bags, or the self-cleaning
toilet (I made that one up, nice idea though, eh?) don't, I repeat, don't be
tempted to leave more than one review of its brilliance.
PS Next event for your diary: Waterstones Book Shop Party
from 1pm on Saturday 8th October, Harrogate. Very excited about this! More details to come.
