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Disappearing reviews on Amazon
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Janet
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Feb 04, 2018 12:31PM
I have just looked at my books listed on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and found that some of my reviews have disappeared. I haven't been notified or given any explanation. Have other writers experienced vanishing reviews, and can anything be done about it?
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Yes, Amazon is changing their review policy. You can file a protest through KDP, and you might get the reviews reinstated.
If Amazon think you have any links to those reviewers, they take down the reviews and don't reinstate them. I've unlinked my Goodreads from Facebook for that reason.
How could Amazon possibly know whether or not a writer had a link to a reviewer? And what counts as a link? Shades of Big Brother here.
They quoted 'algorithms' to one person who tried to leave a review for me. We're in the same Facebook group. Remember that your Goodreads account can be linked to Facebook, and Amazon owns Goodreads.
Amazon's algorithms are everywhere and its damn creepy. They rule the Digital Book World.. Vanishing reviews are definitely a concern..As Chrys has said we have to unlink but then the
first question is how to possibly share the information
second question is why does Amazon asks us to share the link?..
Too contradictory!! and they contradict themselves at times!!
Business Algorithm I guess :-)
It makes no sense. If we try to promote our books on social media, we are likely to get into conversations with people who have read them and left reviews. This is surely a perfectly innocent "link". How are we supposed to promote what we write if we refuse to talk to anybody?
I fully agree. There's some debate as to whether those who follow you on a Facebook page or on Goodreads might also have their reviews removed.
Interacting with an approachable author is one of the reasons I really enjoy reading Indie fiction. If that interaction becomes a reason for discounting or removing my review, then I think Amazon is filtering out reviews using one of the attributes that makes Indie fiction eminently worthwhile. A most unfortunate bias and ultimately counterproductive winnowing since the interaction is evidence of strong approval and support by the reader.
Amazon makes its money by running a largely automated system. It uses algorithms instead of people because the wages are cheaper. That helps to keep their overheads down. It also gives us a relatively cheap platform on which to sell books.Amazon uses those same algorithms to crack down on abuses of its reviews. We've all seen them. The "friends and family" reviews. The sock puppet reviews. The author club (let's all give each other five stars) reviews. The reviews bought from fiverr. And on it goes.
Amazon argues that they need to crack down on review abuse or they (and by inference "we") will lose sales because the public won't trust reviews any more.
In an ideal world, Amazon would use real people to vet its reviews. But that would cost real money and bring us right back to the algorithm vs staff issue. If Amazon had to employ lots of people its costs would go up. And then our costs would go up. Bye bye, free publication platform.
It's a sad but probably inevitable part of the deal that some genuine reviews will get censored while Amazon is cracking down on review abuses. Until and unless someone can come up with a foolproof algorithm we're probably going to have to put up with it ... or accept that Amazon will be more expensive to use.
I noticed 3 of my Amazon reviews disappeared and I taught review on here where also posted on Amazon but it didn't happen for me, I have zero review and 14 book listed, 1review would be nice
No, reviews here are not automatically posted at Amazon. (For one thing, the scales are different.)
Vanessa wrote: "I noticed 3 of my Amazon reviews disappeared and I taught review on here where also posted on Amazon but it didn't happen for me, I have zero review and 14 book listed, 1review would be nice"Goodreads won't post reviews to Amazon automatically (and vice versa). This is because there are different levels of what is regarded as an acceptable review on each platform. Goodreads is a little more lenient in that profanity, pictures and gifs are allowed in reviews; Amazon does not allow these. For this reason we cannot cross-post reviews.
Having said that, readers are welcome to copy/paste their reviews across platforms. On Amazon's side they'll then enter an approval process.
How do you copy/paste reviews from Goodreads to Amazon? Your user name would appear above the review if you used the "Write a customer review" button/form--right? Is there another method?
Robin wrote: "How do you copy/paste reviews from Goodreads to Amazon? Your user name would appear above the review if you used the "Write a customer review" button/form--right? Is there another method?"Robin,
I think what Shaun was saying in #12 is that the author of the GR review is free to (has the right to) copy and paste...by the usual methods required by your operating system...the body of his/her review into the body of his or her review at AMZ, rather than having to type it twice. Or any other review platform, if GR was first.
I'm confident, though, that an author copying a five-star GR review over to AMZ would be highly improper, if not illegal. And as you noted, that copied review would be under the author's login ID at AMZ (or wherever)...thus making the new "review" plagiarism.
Just my USD .02.
Eric
What is "so ridiculous," Pamela?
Eric wrote: "I'm confident, though, that an author copying a five-star GR review over to AMZ would be highly improper, if not illegal. And as you noted, that copied review would be under the author's login ID at AMZ (or wherever)...thus making the new "review" plagiarism."Yes, that would definitely be a violation of Amazon TOS.
Shaun specifically stated that readers are able to copy/paste their reviews to other platforms.
"Your" reviews are reviews you write.
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "What is "so ridiculous," Pamela?"
I am also curious to know what you feel is so ridiculous, Pamela.
I've had 4 reviews slowly disappear one by one from one of my books. Amazon says readers can remove their reviews at any time but I don't think that 4 people by coincidence decided to remove their reviews for this one book. It's frustrating.
D. wrote: "I've had 4 reviews slowly disappear one by one from one of my books. Amazon says readers can remove their reviews at any time but I don't think that 4 people by coincidence decided to remove their ..."Amazon will also delete reviews for what it deems are TOS violations. Not meaning to sound like I'm making any accusations or anything :)
Really authors shouldn't pay any attention to consumer reviews. Just do your thing, writing, whatever promotion and marketing you choose to do, and reviews will do whatever they're gonna do.
Alexandra wrote: "D. wrote: "I've had 4 reviews slowly disappear one by one from one of my books. Amazon says readers can remove their reviews at any time but I don't think that 4 people by coincidence decided to re..."That's easy to say, Alexandra. I don't know about you, but I always read reviews when I'm deciding whether or not to buy a book.
Janet wrote: "I don't know about you, but I always read reviews when I'm deciding whether or not to buy a book..."I don't read Amazon reviews because they are so unreliable with many authors now engaging in TOS violating activities to manipulate the ratings.
I do read reviews on Goodreads, because my friends reviews (who I trust to leave honest opinions) come up first when I am looking at a book. Plus on Goodreads it is easy to identify authors reviewing each other's books and discard those reviews.
Janet wrote: "That's easy to say, Alexandra. I don't know about you, but I always read reviews when I'm deciding whether or not to buy a book. "Apples and oranges, Janet.
What I said was, "Really authors shouldn't pay any attention to consumer reviews." in the context of authors here concerning themselves over reviews of their own books.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with readers who may peruse consumer reviews when deciding if a book might be to their taste or not.
So, yeah, it's extremely easy to say that I don't think authors should bother themselves much over consumer reviews regarding their books. Because I presume those authors aren't trying to decide if they should read the books they themselves have written.
And just as an aside, no, I don't personally always look at consumer book reviews before deciding to read/purchase a book or not. Quite often I'll read a book without looking at consumer reviews, or for which there are no reviews.
A.W. wrote: "I don't read Amazon reviews because they are so unreliable with many authors now engaging in TOS violating activities to manipulate the ratings."Ditto. In fact, I stopped paying any attention to book reviews on Amazon years ago.
"I do read reviews on Goodreads, because my friends reviews (who I trust to leave honest opinions) come up first when I am looking at a book. Plus on Goodreads it is easy to identify authors reviewing each other's books and discard those reviews. "
Same.
The opinion of someone whose taste in books is known to me, and whose honesty I have vetted to my satisfaction, is much more meaningful to me than any stranger.
In addition, information provided in a review to help me know if I'm likely to enjoy it or not is much more helpful to me than simply if someone else liked it, or not.
I've lost track of the number of books I've given a pass to due to information given in glowing 5 star reviews. ;)
I've also learned to ignore reviews by all "Top Reviewers", Amazon Viners, book bloggers, and authors - except for those I have personally vetted to my satisfaction.
And I'm not alone. Consumers have become increasingly more skeptical about consumer book reviews posted by strangers, most especially for self-pubbed books.
Since you've popped back in, I noticed you'd said:Janet wrote: "It makes no sense. If we try to promote our books on social media, we are likely to get into conversations with people who have read them and left reviews. This is surely a perfectly innocent "link". How are we supposed to promote what we write if we refuse to talk to anybody?"
Amazon does prohibit reviews by friends, family, professional colleagues (which would be along the lines of editor, illustrator, agent, etc.), as well as authors posting reviews for other authors whose book is in the same genre/category. In addition to other things, such as authors swapping reviews.
There's no problem with authors having discussions with readers and fans on social media. I have seen a few authors state that they've run into problems with people who were on their Friend list of their personal FB page. Which isn't really smart to do anyway. I've never seen anyone state they've had a problem due to followers, or people who have "Liked" or participate in Author Pages or Groups on FB, nor simply being a "Friend" on GR.
So, yes, you can talk to people about your books :D
Perhaps authors should not pay any attention to the content of reviews of their books, but I'm sure readers do. What potential reader is likely to order an unknown self-published book by an unknown writer? First, readers want to know something about the book, and where better to find information and an evaluation than in a review? I maintain that reviews are vital, and it's unfair to assume that if a review is good, it must be fake.
Janet wrote: "Perhaps authors should not pay any attention to the content of reviews of their books, but I'm sure readers do."Some readers do sometimes, some don't.
"What potential reader is likely to order an unknown self-published book by an unknown writer?"
Potentially many. Just as many readers often will pick up a trade pubbed book by an unknown writer and for similar reasons.
You appear to think a consumer review is the be-all-end-all of a reader choosing to read a book, which is not the case. If it were the case then there would have been zero book sales prior to Amazon and other online book retailers.
" First, readers want to know something about the book, and where better to find information and an evaluation than in a review?"
Seriously? I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps you don't really read all that much.
Readers know that tastes and preferences, and even views about content among readers vary wildly. A stranger saying something about a book simply isn't all that meaningful to a specific reader. How some stranger "evaluates" it or what they have to say about it doesn't mean all other readers would think the same.
There are a multitude of other factors and other ways that come into play. There are definitely ways for a reader to "know something about the book" without ever reading a consumer review.
Regardless, none of that has anything whatsoever to do with what I said.
"I maintain that reviews are vital, "
You can maintain that all you want. I certainly know that sort of misinformation is repeated and passed around in certain author circles. I'll continue to state that authors would be smart to not concern themselves with consumer reviews, but rather spend their time and energy writing and on whatever actual marketing and promotion they want to employ.
There is exceedingly little authors can do to gain reviews, beyond sell lots of books. And consumer reviews are not marketing. Better for authors to spend their time and energy in ways that are more productive.
"and it's unfair to assume that if a review is good, it must be fake."
No one here has said that.
As a reader, I always look at reviews, the description, and inside the book before I buy or read a book. Reviews help some people who are on the fence decide whether to buy it. If I see a book with multiple reviews that say it's poorly edited or poorly written, then there's probably some validity to it and I don't waste my time reading it. Reviews can also give you a sense of the story and if you'll like it. I rely on reviews to help me decide whether to read a book. I realize not all reviews are valid and I take this into consideration. And I also do reviews of almost every book I read!
D. wrote: "As a reader, I always look at reviews, the description, and inside the book before I buy or read a book. Reviews help some people who are on the fence decide whether to buy it. If I see a book with..."Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that authors should focus on things like writing more books, improving their writing, putting out professional quality products, and promoting and marketing their books, rather than spending time and energy concerning themselves with consumer reviews.
I think there are more productive uses of an author's time and energy than focusing on consumer reviews.
There is very little an author can influence and control regarding consumer reviews, and even less they should try to.
The way to get more consumer reviews is to sell more books.
So sure, as a reader read them and consider them as you see fit. As an author ignore them :D
