THE Group for Authors! discussion
Publishing and Promoting
>
Review circle
date
newest »
newest »
thats good then. always room for another though. maybe just for first time authors.
Of course, goodreads staff has confirmed that review circles, exchanges, assigns, swaps, etc. are not allowed on goodreads. (See one of the most recent staff posts at https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... confirming).It's also illegal on all U.S. sites (consumer fraud) hosting consumer reviews unless you disclose any services/payment you receive for your review.
If you do disclose the payment (reviews on your book in return even if not directly swapped) received for your review -- that's perfectly legal. Different sites will then have different rules on if allowed in with consumer reviews, allowed only in editorial descriptions, any phrasing or other requirements, or if outright prohibited like goodreads prohibits.
I'm not sure of amazon.com policies -- they can be a bit vague or odd. At one time it was clearcut not allowed (then vague open to interpretation by whoever at amazon was deciding if a review from another author was allowed or not) -- but I think you can post pretty much any review in editorial description section of amazon without running afoul of their guidelines or U.S. consumer fraud laws.
Or you could do what other authors do - nothing. Write another book and don't even look at your reviews or averages. The best reviews come in organically as a result of sales.
You can also look for groups of readers on goodreads that read-to-review. Or look in groups for your genre to see if they have a thread for R2R or Read to Review.So long as a consumer/reader discloses if they received the book free for review with no other conditions -- that's fine on goodreads and most sites. (illegal if not disclosed because goodreads is a U.S. site).
And of course you can review what you read just like any other goodreads member (just if receiving a review for that review is where the issue is).
ETA: as an example, Making Connections may be one of the more well known read-to-review groups. They have a good how-to/tip/advice list for new authors at https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... even if not looking to participate in their r2r program (publicly viewable without joining the group ) . The group's home page is at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Panda wrote: "What I have in mind is a little different, take ten authors and ten books, send them all to one author who then forwards them on to the author of his choice. You won't know who has reviewed it until you get it back. ..."No offense, but that's not different. There are a ton of groups already doing that and trying to slide their reviews past the goodreads prohibition by saying not a review swap (when the prohibition is because the reviews have almost never disclosed the payment -- in the form of one or more reviews on your book however assigned/gained -- which creates legal issues for consumer review sites; it didn't work well when goodreads tried to just require the disclosures because no one was disclosing out of concern for reader reaction because goodreaders were already complaining, boycotting and just plain tired of author review circle reviews not saying they were).
It's not a workaround to cry that reviews were not directly swapped. The law is that if you receive something for your review it has to be disclosed--on sites that allow if disclosed you can always explain the system used in the disclosure. The goodreads policy is that those review exchanges/assigns/swaps/etc. are just plain not allowed.
Ok, well let's leave it there, maybe goodreads says it's not allowed but from what I can see it clearly happens, no matter. I agree with letter readers naturally make their own comments and reviews but you need sales to do that and reviews to get sales. Was merely a suggestion. That's me done on the subject.
Panda wrote: "Ok, well let's leave it there, maybe goodreads says it's not allowed but from what I can see it clearly happens, no matter. I agree with letter readers naturally make their own comments and reviews..."Yes, it clearly happens until flagged/reported to goodreads and/or FTC complaint filed (hint: FTC complaint is a slow process in terms of getting removed or disclosed -- doesn't mean it's not in progress or has been denied/approved.). Reviews from paid promoters, publishers, sockpuppets, etc. happen also -- doesn't mean won't get removed when reported or that without disclosures those are legal on U.S. sites hosting or even appearing to host consumer reviews.
Certainly doesn't mean readers spotting those are going to be swayed by them or going to keep quiet on the blogosphere that the reviews are illegally not disclosing payment (services) received for the review. Doesn't mean that noise won't lead to boycotting the book.
A disclosed review to get reviews program, on the other hand, doesn't lead to legal action and is not as likely to alienate customer base. True, readers seeing the disclosure may weigh that review differently than other reviews but if it's useful or even entertaining then it's useful or entertaining and could aid in book discovery and book sales.
Personally, if disclosed, I don't mind review for review. Authors are likely readers. I can do a book compare with them like any other reader to see if we have tastes in common. Prior the several months of follow author bugs goodreads has been experiencing, I followed a lot of authors' reviews. Some were among my favorite reviewers.
Consumer fraud ... *ick* boycott the product. Tell all your friends, groups and random internet strangers plus flag to goodreads and tell the FTC. Consumer speech has protections commercial interest speech doesn't.
Whether or not disclosing reviewing to get a review (regardless of the process and whether or not direct exchange) -- U.S. law requires consumer product opinions (aka "reviews" on sites like goodreads and Amazon) disclose if they got the book free for review and any conditions placed on the review.In my experience, rarely do any of the circle jerk reviews disclose free book either. So it's a one-two whammy in terms of violating consumer fraud laws by failing to disclose.
Not true of all the circle jerks — but, I'd be surprised if many did not offer the book free to the reviewing author.
Just FYI, there are ways to get reviews - http://www.theindieview.com/I've sent off a few requests. It's a pretty straight-forward thing and most reviewers will post on Goodreads.
That way there is no 'cheating' shall we say. Just an idea, anyone interested let me know, new to this as I said so for all I know it may already be in use,
Panda.