Should I trust a review request?

[Heather]

I have a review request from another Goodreads member, however, they haven't done any reviews or have any books they are reading listed and their profile is private. At the same time the request came in, I received an email promising a world of reviews, so I'm a little nervous.

Anybody have any suggestions?

[E.J.]

I'd agree with the previous comment in that it definitely wouldn't hurt to just ask the person a little more about themselves. It only seems fair since their profile is private. Personally, I'd tend to be skeptical of this, but I'm also someone who likes to know every detail of every situation before I dive into it. There are plenty of other groups on this site that are full of readers offering reviews, so if you're looking to rack up a few new ones, that's always an option.

[Heather]

Thank you both for your valuable insight! I truly appreciate it!

[Inishowen]

Always trust your first instinct. It does sound suspect and if it was me I would ignore the request. It's not a good sign that the person hasn't actually written any reviews.

[Heather]

Thank you! I didn't think it was real.

[TaM]

I got one of those from a goodreads member. Wanted an ARC from me. He had no profile pic, no other reviews listed, not reading anything... He had "1 distinct work" listed with a generic cover and on the cover was his screwy name Yummy Books or some such as the author. It was a collection of 30 stories. The amazon buy button didn't work. I searched the ASIN number and no such book exists. I searched the book's description and came up with another goodread's profile name, like Hot Passion, and this profile also had that same generic book listed with Hot Passion as the author name on the cover. I flagged it all and sent it to goodreads for them to take care of. My point in writing all this is for writers to beware and not just give an arc to some random asker... I can't be sure, but I believe this person was trying to acquire books/arcs by pretending to review them but really going to compile them into that collection of 30 stories he was advertising that he already had. Just a thought. A sad, sad thought...

[Heather]

Hi TaM. Thank you for you input. As Luke suggested, I did try to email (through Goodreads) the user to ask for a little more information, but the email wouldn't go through (no member found) so I did flag it and Goodreads took the post away.

I'm glad I had the sense to think before I just sent a copy! And everybody who has commented has been such a big help! Thank you all so much. Hopefully these posts will help others as well.

[TaM]

That's why I put that whole long diatribe on here... to help other people AND to make you feel better about not giving that person your story for review... I want people to beware not to just give their stories out all willy-nilly! Beware. I didn't know until I did my research. You didn't know until you asked the question. That had been my next stop, these discussion boards, but then my extra search engine search gave me the lowdown... ;) Now we ALL have the info... awesome possum! LOL Have a great day!