Reviews without reading

[R.]

Has anyone else had reviews left and you know definitely the person didn't read your book?
I have had two so far, that I know of since I started checking through KU from which country the readers were from.
I find this disappointing if instead of reading the book they are giving a review based on the books blurb and previous reviews by other readers.

[Maggie]

R. wrote: "Has anyone else had reviews left and you know definitely the person didn't read your book?
I have had two so far, that I know of since I started checking through KU from which country the readers w..."

Hi R.,
Thank you for your questions - this is an issue that other platforms are also struggling with. To address it, we’ve added the possibility to blacklist “bad” reviewers. In the future, users who are blacklisted too often will be suspended and blocked.

Also note that Amazon doesn’t always count read pages properly. We’ve seen cases where users read each other’s books via KU and still don’t see any pages recorded on their KDP dashboards. This could be an Amazon glitch or something else on their end.

[Wendy]

Maggie wrote: "R. wrote: "Has anyone else had reviews left and you know definitely the person didn't read your book?
I have had two so far, that I know of since I started checking through KU from which country th..."I have had this happen 3 or times. Like you I am now counting ku pages" I take on board what Maggie says"
I am not phased by the odd decrepency

[Shalini]

It happened to me three times, and I have no idea why there was no change in my KENP when someone read my book.

[Jessica]

I have actually reached out to Amazon about the missing KNEP count, and they insist they see the page counts on their end, that they are accurate, but I’m not sure how much I trust that response. I have had one instance where I truly doubt the book was read, but I’ve hesitated to blacklist the reviewer.

[Shalini]

Jessica: At this point, we can't say anything about who's being sneaky; the readers or Amazon itself, so we could just hope for Amazon to do something about it or simply fix the KENP counts.

[Angela]

I know for a fact their system is messed up at times.

[Vikstar]

Maggie wrote: "R. wrote: "Has anyone else had reviews left and you know definitely the person didn't read your book?
I have had two so far, that I know of since I started checking through KU from which country th..." Yes I have and it really irritates me. Would love to blacklist that person but that option isn't available on the Avid Reader plan and it should be. :(

[Dr.]

Vikstar wrote: "Maggie wrote: "R. wrote: "Has anyone else had reviews left and you know definitely the person didn't read your book?
I have had two so far, that I know of since I started checking through KU from w..."

Hi everyone :)

This does happen, yes, but thankfully most of writers do read your books properly.. there seems to be another problem, both with Pubby and Revvue, which is noone picks up your book to review for weeks! despite you reading other books regularly. I know its Xmas and we are very busy right now, but it started before Xmas.. anyone else has the same concern?

Jasmine

[Vikstar]

Yes - I have a brand new book out, 'Halfway Hearts' and so far no one has grabbed it yet. I have mentioned to Adriana that perhaps the team needs to feature brand new books for the first week by highlighting them in some way, or at least put them at the top to get the ball rolling.

[Arnar]

Same here. One of the reviews of Ospreys was definitively made up based on the blurb. Dissapointing for us who actually read and review - but maybe it has some value anyway🤷🏼‍♂️ I really hope for honest reviews in the future, though…

[Maggie]

Vikstar wrote: "Yes - I have a brand new book out, 'Halfway Hearts' and so far no one has grabbed it yet. I have mentioned to Adriana that perhaps the team needs to feature brand new books for the first week by hi..."

Hi Vikki, we released the Boost Review Request feature today. For each review request, you can use it to lift your request to the top of the review pool and offer more coins. This should help your new book get more visibility!

[Maggie]

Dr. wrote: "Vikstar wrote: "Maggie wrote: "R. wrote: "Has anyone else had reviews left and you know definitely the person didn't read your book?
I have had two so far, that I know of since I started checking t..."

Hi Jasmine,
we’ve heard for some time that people have stopped receiving reviews on Pubby. We believe this is because their subscription is expensive - $20/month on the annual plan, and even more if they pay month to month. Many users don’t want to spend additional money buying books after paying so much for the subscription, so they tend to wait for free books, while paid ones are often not picked up.

Several users have told us they only received reviews on Pubby after running free promotions. It’s interesting to see what the situation is like on other similar platforms.