Scamming Scammers Scam Amazon
Kindle Unlimited, for those of you who don’t know, is an Amazon service where (if you’re an author) you upload your book exclusively to KU. In return for this exclusivity, Amazon does . . . well, I’m not sure what they do for the author, but if you’re a reader, you can read, um, Unlimited numbers of titles for about ten bucks a month. The money goes into a pool, controlled by Amazon, and is distributed to authors not by books downloaded, but by pages actually read. This probably makes sense...
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Mischenko
(new)
Jul 19, 2017 04:00AM
This is shocking. I never even knew those services existed! Guess that's the internet for ya.
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It is mad that those 'clickfarms' exist, and mad that people actually pay to use them - but I can't see they help authors long term anyway. The only good thing about signing up for Kindle Unlimited is that authors get to do free giveaways for Kindle titles, and (as an author) I feel this is invaluable for getting people to read your books. I've had my books sometimes reach number one spots in certain categories when doing giveaways - so I don't see why it would be worth paying for bullshit 'clickfarms' to achieve the same. And I don't think having those brief number one spots make a huge difference to an author gaining recognition or anything. We still struggle for sales, even when we've had brief number one spots.
All that said, it is a sad state of affairs that there are such scammy things going on in the world of indie publishing - like fake reviews too. It is sadly just a part of the internet world!
Harry wrote: "It is mad that those 'clickfarms' exist, and mad that people actually pay to use them - but I can't see they help authors long term anyway. The only good thing about signing up for Kindle Unlimit..."
I'm so surprised because I know Amazon takes reviews seriously. They changed their policy awhile back on that. Fake reviews, thats just shocking. Good to know and I wonder how they'll ever control it.
The whole fake review thing seems to be a Catch 22 situation, in that nobody wants to see fake reviews, so it's good Amazon tackle it, but at the same time, Amazon now take down far too many legit reviews because of things like seeing the author is "friends" with the reviewer. Just because people are online "friends" (like ourselves Mischenko), it doesn't mean we are actually friends in the real world and that those reviews are fake. I've had reviews taken down 'cos of that, like many others. Should I stop 'friending' people on Goodreads who have reviewed my books, 'cos Amazon might delete their Amazon reviews? No! But plenty of people now do. It's one hell of a messed up situation.
Harry wrote: "The whole fake review thing seems to be a Catch 22 situation, in that nobody wants to see fake reviews, so it's good Amazon tackle it, but at the same time, Amazon now take down far too many legit ..."Definitely! Thats not right. Plus, I didn't like that Amazon made their new rule against gifted books. You can't say you received the book from the author in exchange for a review. I never liked that sentence anyway, but you can use the words complimentary copy. Too many restrictions, but I know their "product" reviews are what ruined it. People getting items for free and then leaving "fake" positive reviews. I've always loved using Amazon as a rating system even for myself because if I'm buying something, I like to see 4 stars and up. Like consumer reports. This is just sad...
And all 99% of indie authors want is for people to read our stuff and give a little honest feedback! It shouldn't be so damn complicated! :)
Harry wrote: "And all 99% of indie authors want is for people to read our stuff and give a little honest feedback! It shouldn't be so damn complicated! :)"I agree. ;)
