My
new adventure started when I read this headline in the New York Times.
David
Streitfeld’s article covers paid reviews of hotels, products, and services, but
here’s the paragraph that caught me eye:
“Sandra Parker, a freelance writer who was hired by a review factory this spring to pump out Amazon reviews for $10 each, said her instructions were simple. ‘We were not asked to provide a five-star review, but would be asked to turn down an assignment if we could not give one. …’”
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| Hubble: gaseous outer layers of star reaching the end of its life |
What?
“Review factories?” For books?
Here’s
why the review factories are sproutin’ up, this from the Book Marketing Maven
blog:
“I cite a study by the Yale School of Management concluding that book reviews on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites affect sales of individual books, and also increase total sales on the sites.”
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| Hubble Observes Infant Stars in Nearby Galaxy |
Alas.
As I stepped into deeper waters with this, an ethical dilemma arose: what does
an author do if they publish independently? None of the big guys review
self-published authors. And with the proliferation of writers being forced to
self-publish because traditional publishing houses only want best sellers, what are an
author’s choices when it comes to marketing themselves? Authors are forced to
join social media groups, start a blog, do their own publicity and promotion
(even if they’re NYC published), and find ways to break through the tidal wave
of crap that washes to shore.
Can
we fault writers for hiring the services of a “review factory,” such as
gettingbookreviews.com, to boost their review results on sites such as Amazon?
Is it true desperate times call for desperate measures?
 |
| Serpens-constellation |
Ah,
dear readers, drop anchor a minute. Here’s the worst bilge: the reviewers for
many of these services don’t even read the books. Nay! They read a synopsis
provided by the author.
So
how, then, do readers know what’s credible and what’s not? Accordin’ to the
David Streitfeld article and his sources, the experts couldn’t tell the
difference between legit reviews and non. However, they do offer some tips:
1)
Look for overuse of the first person singular—I, I, I
2)
Non-legit reviews seem stuffed with adverbs and exclamation points.
I
asked me parrot to write a fake review and she came up with this:
I really really loved this novel!! I couldn’t put it down because it was incredibly awesomely good and I just love incredibly awesomely good books!!
Sorry,
my parrot loves Valley Girl speak, but you get the idea.
 |
| Written in the stars |
So
this piece of rock is tricky navigatin’ for readers. For an indepth, articulate
article on the pros and cons of the subject, visit The Populist Publisher.
My Question for
You
All pirates on deck! Do you read reviews at Amazon or Barnes &
Nobel? How do you determine whether you’ll buy the book or
not? Do you have a bilge meter? Or do you
go a different route? Leave me a comment. Know a way to uncover the fake reviewers? Let's help each other.
My Five Star Review (yes, I'm mixing my mediums)
I
leave you with a quote about my favorite Beatle, George Harrison. Martin
Scorsese’s new documentary about him George Harrison: Living in the Material
World will be aired over two nights on HBO
October 5 & 6th.
“He was a naughty boy, you know—an artist, a pirate. But his
meditation left him well prepared for his death. He said he was ready to leave
his body. He was always a ‘No need to panic’ kind of person.” —Olivia Harrison, his wife
Full
sail ahead, maties, and no need to panic,
Yours,
Captain
Val
COMING UP!
Fashionable Writer-Pirates:
What They're Wearing This Season
What it Takes to be a Writer
And … an unusual interview with cartoonist Jan Eliot of “Stone Soup”
