Comments on: Authors Paying for Chatty Readers

By: Presque vu XXX - John Baker’s Blog

Presque vu XXX - John Baker’s Blog — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:06:45 +0000

[...] authors are paying to have their books mentioned in your blog’s comment section. Dear Author has been investigating: What I think is particularly pernicious about this is that we readers [...]

By: Jules Jones

Jules Jones — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:29:24 +0000

We have a vanity published author in sf who is notorious for going around posting pseudonymous negative reviews of books on Amazon, ending with a sentence along the lines of “If you want to read a *good* book, try something by decent author such as Big Name Author 1, Vanity Published Author, or Big Name Author 2.” For some strange reason he got so upset with newszine Ansible’s mocking of this practice he threatened to sue Ansible’s webhost for libel, and they temporarily pulled the plug on Ansible. (UK libel laws are not the same as US libel laws, and there have been some… interesting… internet libel cases.)

(I am deliberately not naming him. He greps, and we don’t need that flamewar over here…)

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:00:23 +0000

Heck, I think I’ve already cemented that label, TP. I think my concern in not naming names, is that it could be a coincidence. I don’t think that it is, but since my emails to the various parties involved netted total silence, I don’t feel comfortable giving out any names

But as one previous commenter said, it is hard for newcomers to jump in right away and I don’t want to further deter new commenters for fear that they will labeled a spammer.

By: TeddyPig

TeddyPig — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:52:27 +0000

Sophia,
You know the proper thing would be to ignore this junk and delete it where you can.
BUT… the more I look at the way the internet works the more I think authors sometimes should just smack the people doing this and point out the obvious underhandedness involved. Hell enjoy any negative backlash for doing that. Because you know they will immediately whine that you are a mean mean girl.

By: Sybil

Sybil — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:26:26 +0000

When did it become wrong to read a book because they sounded like someone else? I don’t think there is anything wrong with a reader saying they tried a book because they thought it might be like someone else.

If it is ok to say ‘If you love Julie Garwood try Sophia Johnson’ it should be ok to say ‘If you were disappointed in this book like I was try Karen Marie Moning.” Otherwise does everyone who loves Julie Garwood email her and tell her she is an ass if they don’t enjoy your book because another reader compared you to her?

Who is to say KMM even knows and when did writers become readers keepers? It seems to me the point here is being confused.

By: Sophia Johnson

Sophia Johnson — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:43:31 +0000

No, Amazon hasn’t caught on yet and I don’t believe they give a hoot about it. Recently I had two bad reviews that recommended the reader buy another author’s book in the same genre instead. I was tempted to write the author and let her know how sleezy the practice is.

If I had to pimp for a few sales by trashing someone else in the same genre, I’d realize I was a terrible writer and should throw my computer out in the woods.

Hm, maybe we should start posting the quoted comments and the names of these “recommended” authors?

By: summer devon

summer devon — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:15:55 +0000

Yo, Jackie! over at Amazon a couple of years ago, someone was doing just that. Not downgrading with a review but everywhere I went there was someone posting the “consider this book instead” on every new romance book listed. I saw it on at least twenty books, none of which were even the same sub-genre (it was a sexy contemporary indie book and was all over the historical books)

I haven’t seen it lately so maybe Amazon found a way to fix that glitch?

By: summer devon

summer devon — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:10:32 +0000

Oh pyre! Thank you for that link. It makes my day.

By: Jackie Ivie

Jackie Ivie — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:08:37 +0000

I feel every new technology has the ability to get misused and manipulated. That being the case, I don’t mind reviews about my book that tell me they hate it. I don’t mind those that say they love it. I don’t mind sales on any site that say I’m a bestseller, and conversely those with stats so dismal it must mean my books haven’t sold in weeks.

I had to quit taking these things at face value, especially those that are so easily manipulated – even sales stats. Yes. I firmly believe the numbers (on and off the net) are easily manipulated, especially if you have deep pockets.

–and I also wonder if the flip-side of this could be paying someone to write 1 star (horrid) reviews on books that are in competition in a certain genre.

In other words…you get what you pay for on BLOGs, internet sales site, etc. since you aren’t paying a thing to look at it.

…and hey. Some readers/reviewers think my books aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Oddly enough, this is probably why it took me over 20 years of rejections and nine books under my belt (Some of which are still unpublished! *gasp*) before I got published. I’m pretty sure it’s because everyone has different taste, and there really are some people that think my writing stinks.

Luckily, some don’t.

By: summer devon

summer devon — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:08:11 +0000

Love your blog! Great stuff! by the way, since you care about books, let me tell you about this great new writer I’ve just discovered, Summer Devon. Her stuff rawks!

Yeah, I’ve gotten a few of those but they are so obvious, it’s easy to ignore. Spam-a-rama. I mean if they’re doing it for money, they’d be in a hurry right? Just plug it in without taking time to read the content of the blog because time is money.

I hope they are as easy as that to spot. I worry because a writer (well known!) admitted she paid her fans to talk her up. That might harder to discern. But heck, if they really ARE fans then it’s also difficult to decide if the money would change the honesty of the reviews? Meh. That’s murky stuff.