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Amazon Reviews Exposed: The Truth about Amazon Reviews
Amazon Reviews Exposed is an Invaluable Resource for Amazon Authors and Sellers! Anyone that is selling eBooks or other products on Amazon will sooner or later ask the question: "How do I get reviews?" Reviews influence sales. And since there is financial gain at stake, certain authors and sellers don't hesitate to game the system with fake reviews. This book has valuable information that you NEED to know. How are fake reviews created? And do they work? How many fake reviews are there on Amazon? How do you detect them? What does Amazon do about these reviews (WARNING!! Your Amazon account may be at stake)? How do reviews influence sales? Does it pay to use fake reviews? Or are there ethical ways to get genuine reviews? The author thoroughly investigated the obscure world of fake reviews, bought reviews, review circles and other "black hat" tactics that people use in an attempt to trick the Amazon review system. This book is about his amazing discoveries. For a laugh, the author included an hilarious chapter with fake review bloopers and a top 10 of the most funny reviews. So if you want to know what's going on behind the scenes of Amazon reviews, or have been thinking about buying reviews, don't hesitate to get Amazon Reviews Exposed.
72 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 31, 2017
Amazon Reviews Exposed: The Truth about Amazon Reviews by Timo Hofstee
Found this book informative because I've heard of others losing all their book reviews that they had posted.
Makes sense some of the rules, but not sure why on some others. Like especially the parts about how to contact others who will read and post reviews on your books.
And why swapping with another author is not the way to go and if you get caught paying others to write a review. Publishers give me ARC copies and I don't know the authors, I just really like to read.
Math is interesting in how the figure out the logistics of it all.
Found this book informative because I've heard of others losing all their book reviews that they had posted.
Makes sense some of the rules, but not sure why on some others. Like especially the parts about how to contact others who will read and post reviews on your books.
And why swapping with another author is not the way to go and if you get caught paying others to write a review. Publishers give me ARC copies and I don't know the authors, I just really like to read.
Math is interesting in how the figure out the logistics of it all.
July 21, 2024
good book and truthful
I have a friend who is a writer. Most of the reviews that he has on Amazon have been written for him by relatives and friend’s. This book points to that. You can tell reviews are fake when there are only so many of them and all really good. I always thought that surely Amazon must know this .This book indeed shows this to be true. . It exposes the myths . I liked it.
I have a friend who is a writer. Most of the reviews that he has on Amazon have been written for him by relatives and friend’s. This book points to that. You can tell reviews are fake when there are only so many of them and all really good. I always thought that surely Amazon must know this .This book indeed shows this to be true. . It exposes the myths . I liked it.
March 7, 2017
The information was good and helpful.
January 31, 2022
Disclosure: This author did NOT give me a free copy of his book in exchange for an honest review. I paid $2.99+sales tax for it. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
As an enthusiastic reviewer, I'm curious about how the reviewing system works for both buyers and sellers. In spite of the presence of fake reviews, I believe that the review system is honest and helpful overall. I've written more than 500 book reviews and not only have I never been compensated for my efforts, I've never received a free review copy. I can't be the only honest penny in this very large piggy bank.
I'm not a numbers person and the author's charts and graphs don't show up on my basic Kindle and I wouldn't understand them if they did. I'll take his word that a greater number of reviews correlates to a greater number of sales, although I was buying e-books on Amazon for three years before I started reviewing and only then did I start reading other reviews. Obviously, I'm in the minority on this one.
As a reviewer of (primarily) non-fiction e-books, I think that the percentage of fake reviews in that area is relatively low, although I DO see reviews which are clearly bought through Fiverr.com or some other source. They're easy to spot because they're short (can't expect much for $5 these days) and generic and usually not very well written. You'll see the same books and products reviewed by all of these "professional" reviewers. I automatically discount any review that uses the word "awesome" but that's old age.
I can't say that I was impressed with his argument that Amazon doesn't do more to stop fake reviews because the fakes bring in business. Profit is certainly the main purpose of any business, but Amazon does allow unfavorable reviews (even unfair ones) and doesn't even limit them. I was interested in his comments about relatives not being allowed to post reviews. I've seen aunts, nieces, and nephews identify themselves as such in reviews. In one case, the author's biological mother (who was featured in the book) wrote a review and it was published.
I think that this author is wise in advising sellers to avoid trying to game the system. As he says, all the five-star reviews in the world won't make a good book out of a lousy one. I've seen instances where publishers "over-sold" a book which then got bad reviews because of unrealistic expectations. For many people who self-publish, simply telling their stories is the main goal. Writing has always been and will always be a precarious way to make a living and every new author should accept that.
I loved the funny reviews. I stumbled onto the reviews of HOW TO AVOID BIG SHIPS and wondered if anyone else was aware of them. Many reviewers try to inject a little humor into the process and I'm always happy to discover them. Nice to see that this author has a sense of humor and that his investigation into the seedy under-belly of reviewing hasn't soured it.
As an enthusiastic reviewer, I'm curious about how the reviewing system works for both buyers and sellers. In spite of the presence of fake reviews, I believe that the review system is honest and helpful overall. I've written more than 500 book reviews and not only have I never been compensated for my efforts, I've never received a free review copy. I can't be the only honest penny in this very large piggy bank.
I'm not a numbers person and the author's charts and graphs don't show up on my basic Kindle and I wouldn't understand them if they did. I'll take his word that a greater number of reviews correlates to a greater number of sales, although I was buying e-books on Amazon for three years before I started reviewing and only then did I start reading other reviews. Obviously, I'm in the minority on this one.
As a reviewer of (primarily) non-fiction e-books, I think that the percentage of fake reviews in that area is relatively low, although I DO see reviews which are clearly bought through Fiverr.com or some other source. They're easy to spot because they're short (can't expect much for $5 these days) and generic and usually not very well written. You'll see the same books and products reviewed by all of these "professional" reviewers. I automatically discount any review that uses the word "awesome" but that's old age.
I can't say that I was impressed with his argument that Amazon doesn't do more to stop fake reviews because the fakes bring in business. Profit is certainly the main purpose of any business, but Amazon does allow unfavorable reviews (even unfair ones) and doesn't even limit them. I was interested in his comments about relatives not being allowed to post reviews. I've seen aunts, nieces, and nephews identify themselves as such in reviews. In one case, the author's biological mother (who was featured in the book) wrote a review and it was published.
I think that this author is wise in advising sellers to avoid trying to game the system. As he says, all the five-star reviews in the world won't make a good book out of a lousy one. I've seen instances where publishers "over-sold" a book which then got bad reviews because of unrealistic expectations. For many people who self-publish, simply telling their stories is the main goal. Writing has always been and will always be a precarious way to make a living and every new author should accept that.
I loved the funny reviews. I stumbled onto the reviews of HOW TO AVOID BIG SHIPS and wondered if anyone else was aware of them. Many reviewers try to inject a little humor into the process and I'm always happy to discover them. Nice to see that this author has a sense of humor and that his investigation into the seedy under-belly of reviewing hasn't soured it.
July 13, 2014
[Disclaimer: The author gave me a free copy of this book to review.]
This concise book is written primarily for self-published authors who want to understand what "fake" reviews are, how they may impact sales, and why to avoid them.
The author backs up his claims with data that shows there is a strong relationship between the number of reviews that a book receives and its sales rank.
What is a fake review? Broadly speaking, it's a product review that was posted for any type of compensation other than a free copy. The author explains the numerous ways people try to game the system.
One of the most useful aspects of this book is to show how authors break Amazon's clear, zero-tolerance policy without even realizing it.
Did you know that if your family member posts a 5-star review, you are violating Amazon's terms (and they do have ways to detect this behavior)?
If you solicit another author to write a review for your book in exchange for a review of theirs, this "review swap" is prohibited?
There is nothing wrong with asking for an honest review. But you can't promise any kind of compensation in return, like a refund or a free copy of your next bestseller.
Mr. Hofstee says he's not a "crusader against fake reviews" although at the same time he emphasizes that such reviews are unethical and undermine a voluntary voting system.
No matter what your view, based on the author's research, he claims there is no actual financial long-term gain to be obtained by using fraudulent product reviews.
But the real question is not about whether fake reviews are dishonest or not. He reminds us that it's Amazon's playground that we choose to play in: "These are the rules. You may like them or not, you may agree with them or not, but we are using Amazon's site for our products. And Amazon can do on their site whatever they want."
Some book promotion tips are included but these seem out of place.
There are some "bloopers" and humorous reviews written for fun that provide light humor.
Numbers and amounts in these book are expressed European style, for example "25.000$" for $25,000" which may be confusing to American readers (or who may think these are typos).
Otherwise, this is a useful, targeted guide for authors learning how to navigate the Amazon waters of obtaining honest, objective product reviews.
March 29, 2017
For the kind of quick guide book that it is, I found it informative and useful. It was a decent introduction to a topic I knew very little about going in. I like that he gets straight to the point rather than trying to make the book longer by rambling.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews