Should I comment on my Amazon reviews?
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Everyone has a right to an opinion but what about errors of fact, especially when they might put people off reading your books?
"… pathlogically self regardng, metropolitan, superscilious, geek…" [sic] — by "Rail Traveller"
Everyone has a right to an opinion but what about errors of fact?
This describes me, according to a reviewer on Amazon.co.uk, reviewing Hot Silver, my book about riding the Indian Pacific.
I can take it, I've been called worse.
No licence to review; thick skin required
Just as I don't need a licence to self-publish my work on Amazon, readers don't need a licence to write a review either.
If you're going to get into this game, you need a thick skin.
As Mark LaFlamme, crime reporter and novelist, said to me about this particular review:
You can take your absolute favorite book – something you regard as near perfect – and take a look at the reviews. You'll find some rough comments, like this one and worse, and take comfort in it. Nobody escapes it. If Shakespeare himself blew back from beyond and started writing again, somebody would eventually bash him but good.
So what's the problem?
Hot Silver has a four-star average from 29 reviews in the US and the UK
Sales in Amazon.co.uk have risen substantially since Rail Traveller called me names
I can take being called names or people not enjoying the book (even if it stings). These are matters of opinion and everyone is entitled to their own.
What grinds my gears is when reviewers get the facts wrong and might mislead potential readers with their untruths.
Rail Traveller thinks I'm an ass, which is okay, but he also tells anyone reading his review that the book is:
"a magazine 'travel feature' [I wrote] for the competition – Virgin – so not serious".
This isn't opinion, it's a statement of fact, and he's wrong. I did make a feature for an airline, although it was an audio feature, not a magazine feature. That's trivial of course. What pisses me off is the use of incorrect assertions to support an implication that I bagged the Indian Pacific because I was writing for a competitor.
V Australia (part of the Virgin family of airlines) is a budget international airline, hardly a competitor to a (supposedly) luxurious overland rail service across Australia
Hot Silver is not what went onboard the plane. The audio feature was entirely complimentary about the Indian Pacific! (It's available from Audible for less than $1, if you want to hear for yourself.) I didn't say anything untrue, I just left out all the bits that make Hot Silver a humourous read but that wouldn't have been suitable for an airline feature.
Viruses on your Kindle? WTF?
I also have a book called Kindle for Newspapers, Magazines and Blogs about how to get free newspapers on your Kindle automatically. The book involves setting up your computer to do a few things cleverly then email the downloaded newspapers to you.
"What about possible hacking which can spread a virus to your Kindle?" says "Julia d." in a three-star review.
Say what now? There are people hacking our computers to get to our Kindles? What would they get for their trouble? A free read of your books? The chance to re-write sections of books they don't like?
"I had to wonder why anyone would give out or even suggest to give their email password to a computer system," says Julia d.
Um, how do you get your emails, Julia?
This is arrant nonsense but there are plenty of people who don't know enough about computers to know that Julia is jumping at shadows when she thinks the Russians are after her Kindle.
Someone who just wants a few free newspapers on his or her Kindle — and could have them for the price of my book — might be scared off by Julia d.'s review.
Should I say something?
Amazon gives everyone the right to comment on someone's review. I could, therefore, come in and politely illuminate the factual errors with a comment, giving the statements of opinion a wide berth. (And I would be very polite because I don't want this to happen.)
Both Julia d. and Rail Traveller's reviews were left weeks ago. I haven't commented and I have no intention of doing so.
Why I don't say anything
My books' pages on Amazon aren't my pages, and readers don't go there to find me. In my opinion readers should be able to browse a bookshop without bumping into authors fussing and preening next to their books; thanking kind reviewers and gently pointing out errors in less good reviews.
But sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder about my decision in the case of the factual errors. I'd hate to think someone wasn't reading my book because they read something untrue.
What do you think?
What's your opinion. Have you ever commented on a review on Amazon (of your own book or someone else's)? Would you? Under what circumstances? Have you seen anyone do it?
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