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

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.

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.

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?

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

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this is probably why it took me over 20 years of rejections and nine books under my belt (Some of which are still unpublished!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.

J.

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.

I write to entertain. If a reader enjoys the work, I did my job. If they didn’t, I don’t mind learning why not, so long as they’re honest in their critisism (please spare me the bloody snark.) I do listen.

Bottom line: I, for one, will rot in hell before paying a reviewer or “reader” for a positive recommendation.

Sandy

To me, this is just as misleading.

Why not “out” the authors and commenters? Of course, I haven’t been reading the defamation posts carefully enough to know how much trouble you could get into for doing that.

While I think it’s pitiful and disgusting, I’m sorry to say I’m not surprised. Too many writers aren’t willing to pay their dues, meaning taking the time to learn and hone the skills necessary to create quality, well-written books – books that don’t need false hype or get-rich-quick schemes to appeal to readers. Books that will ring up sales due to word of mouth because they’re good reads.

Regardless of the career (writer, doctor, chef, bricklayer, etc.), there simply is no panacea to replace hard work, honesty and integrity. I guess these pay-for-comments writers believe it’s much easier to pay people to tell others how amazing their work is, rather than actually taking the time to make it amazing themselves during the writing process. How very sad – for both those writers and their readers.

Both books that were pimped were self published books even though one book was ostensibly published by a small print publisher – except the only books for sale were by the two owners of the publishing house.