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Good Reads Reviews and Amazon
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Melva
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Nov 06, 2017 10:38AM
From what I understand Good Reads is affiliated with Amazon. Is this true? If it is, why aren't book reviews on Good Reads posted to our books on Amazon as well? Our book sales are enhanced by positive book reviews on Amazon, I feel that Good Reads reviews should also show up on our books on Amazon. How can we initiate this process so that self-publishers like myself who have reviews of their books on Good Reads can benefit by those reviews also showing up on their books on Amazon.
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For what it's worth...and I'm not one of the GR support experts...I'm fairly certain there's no way to "initiate" anything like that. There's no automatic transfer of a review from AMZ to GR or vice versa. If a reviewer wants to post in both places, or other places, he or she can, but isn't required to. And I frankly suspect that contacting a GR reviewer who gives you a review you like and asking him/her to take all the extra steps and time necessary to post it on AMZ (or the other way around) may well be viewed as improper contact with a reviewer.
The general rule of thumb, I think, is you don't contact reviewers, much less ask them to do you a favor. A reviewer might well consider a good review "favor enough" and be annoyed to be asked to do more, just for your benefit.
Just my USD .02.
Eric
For starters, the review scales are different between Amazon and Goodreads. Before there was any automatic import ALL reviews on one site would have to be altered to reflect the difference in the scale. Next you need to consider that not all people who rate/review on Goodreads have an Amazon account, nor do they want one.
Eric wrote: "For what it's worth...and I'm not one of the GR support experts...I'm fairly certain there's no way to "initiate" anything like that. There's no automatic transfer of a review from AMZ to GR or vic..."I have no problem placing my reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon for a book I've read here. In fact, I've read books on Goodreads and left reviews in both places without being asked to do so. I never viewed it as being improper to contact reviewers. I'm sad to hear I'm breaking the rules by thanking someone for a positive review. Maybe I'm just a bit too appreciative! ( ;-) Chuckling)
Melva wrote: "From what I understand Good Reads is affiliated with Amazon. Is this true? If it is, why aren't book reviews on Good Reads posted to our books on Amazon as well? Our book sales are enhanced by posi..."Eric is correct that there is no way to show Goodreads reviews on Amazon or vice versa. The best way to share your external reviews on Goodreads is with a simple blog post (Book Title has been getting great reviews! [link]), which will appear on your Author page right above your authored works.
Eric wrote: "For what it's worth...and I'm not one of the GR support experts...I'm fairly certain there's no way to "initiate" anything like that. There's no automatic transfer of a review from AMZ to GR or vic..."I agree with Eric.
And as A.W said the review systems are different and star ratings don't equate. Fo what Emily said - blog it.
Interacting with a reader who leaves a review is fraught with disaster. Amazon will take down reviews by people who they think 'knows' the author. Even if it's only by an online presence. Be careful.
GR accounts would have to be linked to Amazon accounts. Which many members of the user base here are not in favor of (this is a practice known as "daisy-chaining," and can be dangerous in terms of your internet security and privacy). In addition, the GR scale is different from the one used at Amazon.Also, many members here may not have Amazon accounts in the first place.
I speak for myself here, but I suspect I'm not alone, in saying that as a reader, not an author, an author who is not one of my personal friends making that kind of request would not be welcome.
As far as I know, when I post a review on my Kindle, it is automatically posted to both Amazon and Goodreads.
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "GR accounts would have to be linked to Amazon accounts. Which many members of the user base here are not in favor of (this is a practice known as "daisy-chaining," and can be dangerous in terms of ..."That's interesting. I haven't posted very many reviews from my Kindle, so I'm not aware of whether they post on both Amazon and Goodreads. I'll have to check that out when I finish my current reading on my Kindle.
Melva wrote: "why aren't book reviews on Good Reads posted to our books on Amazon as well? "GoodReads existed and had an established user community before Amazon acquired it. The suggested rating scale is different. Not everyone who posts reviews on Amazon belongs to GR. Not everyone who posts reviews on GR does so, or wants to do so, on Amazon.
GR also has different guidelines and TOS regarding content of a review. Meaning many reviews on GR are within GR TOS, but would not be within Amazon TOS.
I can tell you if my GR reviews were automatically ported over to Amazon I would delete each and every one of my reviews in both places.
Or, maybe I'd just start one staring everything, and posting my shopping list in the text area. That could be entertaining :D
"Our book sales are enhanced by positive book reviews on Amazon, I feel that Good Reads reviews should also show up on our books on Amazon."
And yet, interestingly enough, enhancing your book sales isn't the purpose of consumer reviews in either place. Imagine that!
I can also promise you if what you're asking for was to be done in the future it wouldn't simply be positive reviews that would be ported over to Amazon, it would be all of them, regardless of rating or content.
"How can we initiate this process so that self-publishers like myself who have reviews of their books on Good Reads can benefit by those reviews also showing up on their books on Amazon."
Um. Your perspective is skewed. If you want to facilitate any actual change you'll need to readjust it and address the issue with the powers that be with the correct perspective. (If you approach them with, "How can self-publishers...benefit by those reviews..." it's going to fall on deaf ears.)
On GR consumer reviews function as a variety of ways, recording our own thoughts for our own selves - often to remember things later, have a record of books we've read, to share with those on our Friend list and perhaps facilitate discussion, this is a social site where readers discuss books after all. And also to help each other find books we may enjoy and avoid books we may not.
Notice anything that is not a part of that list?
The purpose of the consumer reviews on Amazon is a bit more limited, as it's not a social gathering place where readers discuss books, nor a book cataloging site for readers to track and record what they've read, want to read, etc.
Therefore the purpose of consumer reviews on Amazon is to help other consumers find books we may enjoy and avoid books we may not.
See if you notice what also isn't on that list :D
Melva wrote: "I have no problem placing my reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon for a book I've read here. "That's YOU. And the really wonderful part of that equation is you get the choice. As we all do.
Forcing everyone to do something because you have no issue with it really isn't a reasonable stance to take IMO. Particularly when it impacts all users, but the motivation is entirely self-serving.
What you want to do is to remove that choice from each and every GR user, because YOU don't have a problem with it, and YOU have a financial interest you care much more about that allowing GR users to have the choice to do so, or the negative impact such a thing would cause for the GR community.
Besides the choice thing, which is HUGE in my book, consider this:
GR is very free about content, and very big about non-censorship. Amazon is too, but to a lessor degree. And that's an issue.
On GR we can use profanity. We can post all sorts of words and language that would violate Amazon TOS.
GR allows a rating with nothing in the Review space. Amazon does not. So, that's another way a change like this would make things more restrictive for GR users. (and then you'd end up with a mix of less ratings and also more reviews on Amazon that are completely unhelpful only to post enough required words to post.)
So, what you want to do, is to make GR more restrictive in what we can say and how we express ourselves, in order to serve the desires of book producers, when that isn't the purpose of consumer reviews in the first place, and that lessens what the purpose of GR is for it's users.
Respectfully, folks, I think this discussion has gotten a little out of hand.As I read Melva's initial post, it was an honest inquiry, and it is something I am very sure a great many authors have thought after: (a) getting a good review on one platform and (b) learning AMZ owns GR. It is a legitimate question.
When I was getting started, I wished the same thing, and that may have been before AMZ bought GR. In any event, once you learn the facts (different rating systems, different purposes, technical difficulties, etc., etc.), you shrug, and go on about your business.
There is nothing in the start of this thread that at all suggests a desire to "impose" anything on anyone, or do anything more than ask for information not presently available.
Just my USD .02.
Eric
Eric wrote: "It is a legitimate question."Her initial question certainly was legitimate. Although the motivation behind the question demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of consumer reviews, and the various ways GR users use GR.
However, in response to her question she received explanations why it is not done, as well as why it would be problematic.
"There is nothing in the start of this thread that at all suggests a desire to "impose" anything on anyone
Either you and I are reading entirely different threads, or one of us has serious comprehension issues.
Currently all GR users already have the option to also post their reviews on Amazon, if they choose to do so. Those that choose to do so, do so.
The OP would like to initiate a change so that GR users no longer have a choice. That would be imposing something upon quite a few someones.
I do believe the OP had not really thought this through, and hopefully sees there are other considerations regarding this issue.
Sorry to have insulted so many. . . that certainly was not my intent.
Melva wrote: "Sorry to have insulted so many. . . that certainly was not my intent."Not insulted, Melva, but I appreciate it. Hopefully there's some food for thought here :D
The problem is that none of the systems connect to each other. A review on Amazon UK doesn't appear on the Amazon US site. So, if the Amazon sites can't communicate with each other, it's easy to understand why the same happens to Goodreads. What I did was to add up all my reviews from Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Goodreads and calculate the rating. I then posted the total number of reviews, the rating and the source in the editorial review on Amazon for my books.
It's not a perfect solution but one that at least lets me tell readers there are more reviews than what Amazon shows.
It's a reasonable question, and one I'm sure we've all thought about at some point or another.As others have said, GR and Amazon started as separate things. Reviews in one don't automatically appear in the other, and there seems no likelihood of that happening in the near future. The rating scales are different (not that readers always understand that).
I'm not so sure that it would benefit authors if all of their reviews showed up in both Amazon and Goodreads. Sure, this would mean that you get more reviews, but then so would every other author. In the long run, readers could start to pay less attention to ratings if every product had a lot of them.
The only real answer, I think, is that we need to earn more reviews on both platforms. A CTA (call to action) at the end of a book can help. Giving away freebies. Running competitions. Helping other authors. Publishing a sequel. Marketing.
If there was a shortcut everyone would be using it. And then it wouldn't be a shortcut.
