I’m tired of book bloggers getting no respect.
by Anne R. Allen
The contempt some business people have for bloggers never ceases to amaze me. Every day I get emails demanding I do free work for companies that are obviously solvent enough to hire employees—so why do they imagine it’s okay to demand that bloggers work for them…for nothing?
Recently an employee of a tech company emailed me one of these crazy demands—using the charmingly personalized salutation, “Hey there!” They can’t use my name, because… how could anybody figure out that “Anne R. Allen’s Blog” is run by somebody named “Anne?”
She wanted me to rewrite a 5-year old blogpost in order to link to her employer’s website. Then she said, “we’re on a strict timetable here, so I need it done by the end of the week.”
No offer to pay, of course. Just “hop to it, minion!” Although I’m sure she’s being paid well.
Another email came from a woman who wanted me to read a long, pointless article about a (well-known) magazine she works for. (At least I think that’s what it was about—the writing was so convoluted and jargon-riddled, I couldn’t be sure.) She wanted us to promote this magazine’s pricey reviews.
I deleted her email. But of course she “followed up” the next day asking why I hadn’t responded immediately. How dare I waste time writing books, helping new writers, and producing good content for our subscribers? Did I think my time had any value compared with hers? After all, she’s getting PAID!
I sent her a helpful link to my article on how to write for the Web.
Yes, I can be as sweetly passive-aggressive as my heroine, Camilla, The Manners Doctor. 🙂
A Blogger Deserves the Same Respect as Any other Professional.
But seriously, would somebody email a lawyer and demand free representation because, hey, they got his address off the Internet? Would they demand free work from an accountant or dentist? And order around a doctor as if she were Alexa or Siri?
Most bloggers have a lot of education. That’s why we have good language, tech, and communication skills. Yeah. Those communication skills people want to use for their businesses.
And yet people think it’s okay to treat us like household appliances.
I get dozens of emails a day from companies who want us to run free advertisements as “guest blogposts” for everything from sunglasses to porn…for no compensation of any kind.
They always say they read the blog all the time and they “love” it, but show they have no idea it’s a writing blog.
All they’re telling me is they’re lazy, illiterate liars who can’t even read a blog subtitle before firing off a query.
Last week one of these nitwits responded to my form rejection of her make-up tips (seriously) with a hilariously furious rant. I had spelled her name wrong!! (Of course she didn’t bother to use mine.)
She was so mad, she said we couldn’t run her make-up advertisement after all. So there!
She went on: “I am outreaching, there is nothing wrong with what I am doing. It’s a natural way to build awareness and promote our site.”
She did nothing wrong? You LIED, Peggie (“with an IE”). Lying is still considered wrong in most circles.
Yes, even lying to a lowly blogger.
Okay, now I have awareness of Peggie’s site. The way I have awareness of the poop my neighbor’s dog left in my driveway. That’s “natural” too.
Social media marketing is about networking. Networking means making friends, not infantile demands.
Book Review Bloggers are Not Your Minions
Unfortunately, authors are taught to treat bloggers badly too. I don’t know how many “how to self-publish” books and blogs I’ve seen that blithely tell authors to send out ARCs to review bloggers and “get 50-100 reviews.”
As if getting reviews were like ordering cupcakes.
These articles never say that book blog reviewers work for free and any review is a favor. These gurus’ blogs and courses usually present the issue of reviews as something an author is owed, or something we’ll get if we’re just not lazy.
Many authors pay for blog tours that promise reviews, so they assume the reviewers are getting paid.
They’re not.
Only the blog tour organizer gets that money. The blogger is supposed to be happy with the free ebook.
For an honest and helpful post on how to get book reviews, see Penny Sansevieri’s post on Book Marketing 101.
I heard from a book blogger recently who was late with a book review because a tree fell on her house. The author wrote back telling her to remove the tree faster. (Hint to authors: This is not the best way to get a rave review. 🙂 )
These gurus also tell authors that if they just do some giveaways on Goodreads or NetGalley or do a freebie run on Amazon that hundreds of people will review your book.
But guess what? Nobody owes you a review. Besides, many thoughtful reviewers are no longer allowed to review on Amazon. because of Amazon’s draconian new rules.
Yes, I know the rules combat paid reviews, which needs to be done, but Amazon’s algorithms seem to enable paid reviews and bookstuffers, while removing honest reviews. Online groups offering compensation for “verified” reviews are all over the web. Here’s one author threatening members of his group who don’t review.
Book Review Bloggers Are Under Attack
Book Blog Reviewers are a disappearing breed. Since they’re under attack from all sides right now, we need to treat them with even more kindness and respect.
In a big, unannounced change at the end of last month, Amazon has suddenly banned many reviews of free review copies (ARCs). They have some complicated rules about it, but mostly they want to ban prolific book reviewers because they assume they’re all scammers.
Unfortunately, Amazon has totally ignored their faithful book blog reviewers. As usual, they’ve installed an algorithm that throws out more babies than bathwater.
The new rule says a book can’t receive more than a certain (undisclosed) number of unverified (ARC) reviews in any five day period.
More from Nate Hoffelder at the Digital Reader.
Again book review bloggers are being punished and disrespected. Every day, Amazon continues to ban top reviewers and remove all their reviews with no explanation. This one (of many) FB support group for innocent banned reviewers has over 5000 members and is growing daily. It has become an epidemic.
Here’s the latest news on review removal from The Bookseller.
And remember: reviewers are entitled to their opinions. They may hate your book. That’s their right too.
I’ve heard so many horror stories about reviewers being attacked that I added storylines about reviewer abuse to my last two novels.
In The Queen of Staves, Camilla’s boyfriend Ronzo sees his life destroyed after he gives a band a mediocre review on his music blog. The band retaliates with death threats to his family and pets. Then they fabricate “evidence” that he has committed an unspeakable crime. It sounds over the top, but so are the real life horror stories. (The Queen of Staves is on sale on Amazon until the end of June.)
Note:
If somebody calling themselves a book blogger contacts you and says, “I know I’m going to love your book–can I review it for you?” don’t fall for it. Book review bloggers are way too busy to need to solicit books. That’s a paid review mill scam.
Not all Book Bloggers are Reviewers.
Then of course there are our fellow authors who are so clueless they don’t check to see if a blogger even writes book reviews. Ruth and I don’t. We say it in bold text on our “Guest” page.
And yet we get requests for reviews every week. Often from publicists. Who, yes, are being paid. But they expect book bloggers to do their bidding for nothing.
We all get this stuff. David Gaughran, the bestselling Irish author and industry watchdog, has a FAQ on his Contact page. His #1 answer is: “No, I won’t review your book.”
Book bloggers and reviewers have always been overworked and under-appreciated. But it’s getting worse. A lot worse. Book review bloggers now have to pay for the privilege of posting reviews to Amazon. And if they live outside the US, it’s close to impossible.
Angry, entitled authors, demanding publicists, and Amazon’s increasingly draconian rules have turned reviewing into a miserable experience for many. They’re just quitting.
I don’t know how authors get 1000s of Amazon reviews these days. I’m lucky if mine are in the 10s. I’ve recently seen the statistic that most writers get one review for every 1500 sales. It’s fewer than that in this scary reviewing climate.
Reviewers are quitting all the time and very few new bloggers are replacing them. Why would they, when they’re treated so badly?
One of my favorite book bloggers has recently quit reviewing on her blog. She couldn’t even tell me why. All she said was: “I’m no longer posting reviews on my website (can of worms.)”
Who is Teaching Businesses to Abuse Bloggers?
How did all these people get the idea that “blogger” means “Free Personal Assistant”? I fear it’s become a tenet of social media marketing, because the myth is everywhere.
The clueless emails often seem to have been written using the same template—suggesting the instructions come from the same source.
A whole lot of the people who want free advertising via a guest blogpost say, in these words:
“The thing is, I write on topics very similar to those covered on your site, and I already have a few ideas for a guest post in mind that I’m sure will be interesting for your readers.”
Does anybody know where this template comes from? Do tell us in the comments!
The impatient “follow-up” emails follow a formula, too. They’re all the same. Somebody is teaching these people to be rude.
And that’s a bad thing. For us and for them.
Ruth and I have worked long and hard to build a substantial audience here. Why would we abuse that audience by putting a bunch of ads in front of you? Without pay? For no reason except that a nasty, clueless stranger demanded it?
Spend eight years building your own audience, queriers. Then approach us about guest posts.
And try using a little respect.
Here’s How to Query a Book Blogger.
And How Not to Query a Book Blogger.
And remember we only get paid when people buy our books. Do consider picking up one if you appreciate our blog.
***
What about you, Scriveners? Do you blog? Do you get treated like a minion by random people who get hold of your email address? How do you respond? Does anybody know where the “thing is, I write on topics similar…” template comes from?
BOOK OF THE WEEK
After giving a band a mediocre review, music blogger Ronzo Zolek’s life is destroyed by the vindictive band leader, Mack Rattlebag. The death threats, doxing and accusations of unspeakable crimes lead Ronzo to fake his own death. His only refuge is a California homeless camp. He tries to keep his relationship with Camilla secret, so Rattlebag doesn’t target Camilla as well.
Rattlebag has more nasty plans in store, but Ronzo has a secret weapon: his ability to read Tarot, handed down from his Roma great aunt.
Also available at Barnes and Noble, and in paperback at Barnes and Noble and Amazon
It’s #6 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone
“A pure delight to read! Chock full of interesting characters, mystery, and humor that just won’t stop (“Never ask a favor of a Capricorn. They have spreadsheets where their heart should be…”), this page-turning stand-alone novel offers readers eccentric characters…and a tarot-infused story that moves effortlessly through 66 chapters, each chapter opening with a picture from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Themes from the famous deck resonate throughout the story, weaving its way into dialogue, storyline, and character (including a handyman-turned-tarot-reader), even setting as evidenced in the description of a home of a tarot client that resembles the fortress on the Tower card (complete with a rocky cliff and the dangers it brings). I found the Wheel of Fortune to be the perfect card to bring closure to the novel.”….Julie Valerie
Both the IWSG and my blog get emails regarding guest posts or ads, none of which have anything to do with the topic of either site. Like you said, they don’t even check to see what the blog’s topic is.
I also had a book blogger contact me, offering to either feature or review my book. She sounded knowledgeable enough, so I responded after glancing at her site. I got a form email back stating that my words were kind but I’d misunderstood her – she wanted seventy-five dollars to review my book. Obviously I passed. I’m sure bloggers like that don’t help the situation.
Alex–Aren’t those people infuriating? They must just get a list of blog addresses and fire off mass queries without even looking at the titles of the blogs.
And paid reviews are toxic! I guess some book bloggers are so tired of the disrespect they figure they’ll just break the rules and go over to the dark side. I hope she made it clear that the paid review could not go on Amazon. That could get BOTH of you banned from Amazon. Grrr.
All I can do is shake my head and say, “The nerve of some people!” I’m a book blogger who only reviews books in a very, very tight niche (how-to books for writers) but people approach me with some of the strangest requests. And just like your experience, Anne, I’ve had some pester me three times. Perhaps more–after three I blocked them.
On the flip side, I’ve had some lovely people approach me professionally, with a book that almost–but not quite–fit my niche. I felt badly turning them down because they’d obviously read my book reviews and were doing things the right way. But I have to serve my readers first, and sometimes that means saying no.
Alex–Isn’t it amazing how clueless some queries can be?
We do have to reject some legitimate queries. We have a specialized blog too, so I understand. I have to reject guest bloggers who want to talk about tech or marketing that doesn’t really apply to authors.
Wow Anne, your ahm, passion comes through loud and clear this week! Don’t abuse the helpful blogger ladies? Headline in “Duh!” Magazine!!
I love to review but haven’t done enough to attract attention. Half are for fellow indies, the other half are already dead! Maybe I can avoid your unhappy fate. But stick with your dogged politeness, I’m sure it’s to your benefit in the end.
Will–I almost put a warning on this one. “Warning: RANT ahead.” But then I was afraid nobody would read it. Sigh.
But it does wear me down to get this stuff every day. Often the same people pesteri me with “follow-ups” for weeks. They seem to feel entitled to free services. I’d love to know why. Somebody is teaching this stuff. I’d love to be able to confront them.
My blog/website contains many of my poems and is (obviously) a blog dedicated to writing and (in particular) poetry. However I have had requests to publish posts on beauty, or link to other sites with no connection whatsoever to the subject matter of my blog.
Kevin
My blog/website contains many of my poems and is (obviously) a blog dedicated to writing and (in particular) poetry. However I have had requests to publish posts on beauty, or link to other sites with no connection whatsoever to the subject matter of my blog.
Kevin
Kevin–Exactly. A poetry blog is not all that likely to publish posts on make-up tips. And yet people like Peggie not only think it’s okay to query you, they think they are entitled to free advertising on your site. I sure would like to know why!
My blog is about books and writing but I receive lots of requests for guest posts about random things like mattresses and furniture. Just a quick glance at my blog would tell them I don’t post that kind of contact. It’s so annoying. I totally agree that book bloggers are getting more nervous about posting reviews in the current climate, it’s a shame.
Tizzy–Isn’t it amazing how people approach a writing blog with these random things? I haven’t had many for furniture or mattresses, but I sure get a lot for watches, phones, make-up, and… pressure cookers. Last year I was getting 10-12 pressure cooker queries a week. Insane.
Losing book bloggers is only going to hurt us all. I wish Amazon had better policing of their site. They always throw out the baby and keep the bathwater.
I love lipstick, but I don’t review lipstick. I love movies, but I don’t review movies. I love to cook, but I don’t review pots, pans and recipes. I love books and so does Anne, but we DO NOT review books.
Please stop bugging us!
Ruth–Amen! I sure hope we can find out who is sending these clueless morons to harass us. Grrr. 🙁
Hey Anne —
Ah, rudeness. It seems to me we have a societal problem with that. We’ve convinced ourselves we’re all in a rush, & somehow we’ve also bought the idea that civility wastes our valuable time. If only Kurt Vonnegut were here to write us out of the hole we’ve dug.
CS–You’re right that rudeness has become the norm in a lot of circles..That “need for speed” does contribute.
I hear you that we need a voice of reason like Kurt Vonneguts. Maybe instead of my form rejection to these entitled little liars, I should send them this Vonnegut quote: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
I loved this post. Yes, book bloggers aren’t treated well at all in many cases. I don’t know how this can be changed, but I really hope it is before no one is wiling to write reviews anymore.
Lydia–I do think reviewers are being driven away by multiple forces. We can all help by treating them with respect. We can help if we accept negative reviews with grace and read guidelines before sending queries.
I’ve reviewed books both for indie and traditionally published authors. In both cases, I’ve been treated with respect. I make it clear–on my blog and in my email–that the choose to review is mine alone. Maybe that helps. Thank you for writing this article, Anne.
Leanne–I’m glad to hear you get respectful queries. Unfortunately the rude ones never bother to visit a website, so they don’t know what our review rules are. Most of our queries seem to come to people who are afraid their eyeballs would fall out if they actually looked at a blog before sending a query. I don’t know where this sense of entitlement is coming from.
Ahhh, such a lovely minefield that you decided to tip-toe through today. Lots of opinions on this. I have a friend on FB who used to be (key world, used) a book review, but gave it up due to the aforementioned reasons in this blog post. She simply got tired of the abuse and cried uncle.
I’ve mostly stopped reviewing books/music on Amazon mostly for the reasons you state. Even got semi-trolled on a review because I had the audacity to mention “white guilt” and Ruben Carter in my review. Saving grace on that was that Amazon pulled one of his nastier comments on my review and that a lawyer agreed with some of the points in my review.
Also had someone once contact me about reviewing his 120k word sci-fi book. Had to politely tell him that I wasn’t doing book reviews any more (this was about five years ago) and I thanked him for the consideration.
The main reason why I didn’t want to review his book was that I am honest as all get out when it comes to offering my opinion on something, and I can state unequivocally (guvt worker here) that people do not like to be confronted with the truth and have absolutely no qualms in retaliating to get even.
And one more thing: back when I was blogging on a regular schedule I had a fashionista comment on my blog, follow my blog and ask me to return the favor. Since my blog had nothing to do with fashion, I politely declined.
GB–Alas, this is all too common. I see most of the reviewers I know quitting reviewing. It’s not just that authors expect everything to be positive, but they can be demanding about timing and treat the reviewer with disrespect.
Too funny when somebody totally off the wall wants you to reciprocate on their blog. Maybe you should have taken her up on it and made a case for tighty whities or beer hats. 🙂
I had something similar with a writer who asked me to review his “action-adventure thriller.” At the time, I was writing that genre. So I looked at the book…cover looked to be fantasy. Checked the first couple of chapters. It was a fantasy detective series and no sign of anything that would suggest action-adventure (he billed at as such because he had a big action scene at the end). And the chapters were riddled with typos. I’m an honest reviewer, so I would have hit him pretty hard on the lack of action in the action-adventure. So I turned him down politely and just said “Not for me.” He got mad, and it was apparent he thought that if I wrote the same thing he did, I should review it. He demanded to know why not, so I told him. Then he had a big, big meltdown.
Linda–Oh, that’s so typical! And they wonder why they don’t get rave reviews.
And staging a temper tantrum because you won’t do this guy’s bidding and lie! That’s why so many reviewers just quit. I wish we could put a sign on our blogs that says. “Your emotional age must be *this* high to use this blog.” Sigh.
“… got tired of the abuse and cried uncle…” ?
Why “cry uncle”?
The definition of “cry uncle” = surrender or admit defeat. Like Anne pointed out so eloquently, Amazon tightened their algorithm, mostly because of review club’s nonstop abuse of their review platform.
Amazon also kicks out more than 100 top reviewers every three weeks. That means, top reviewers are risking using years of work because of review clubs’ activities.
So, top reviewers get abused and get risk getting kicked out? Quitting under these circumstances isn’t defeat. It’s evaluating what’s going on and drawing appropriate conclusions.
I quit too. I gave it five years, and reviewed over 300 indie books, and about 400 altogether. Let others carry the torch.
oops, spellcheck error:
corrected: “… top reviewers risk losing years of work…”
Gisela–Are you talking about review-trading Facebook groups? Those are called “review clubs”? They’re a huge menace. I didn’t even know they were a thing until recently when a local group tried to form one and I said they’d all get kicked off Amazon. They thought I was nuts. “Everybody does it” they said. I guess it’s way more widespread than I knew. No wonder they don’t want you to review anybody you know on Facebook!
I think a lot of real reviewers like GB feel defeated. But there are other venues for reviews, like Bookbub and Kobo where you will be welcomed with open arms.
Yep, Anne,
that’s the ones I am talking about. No feeling of defeat here on my end. Even authors whose books I criticized called my review the best they received.
I will still review the one or other book but I am “off the market.” In the 2015 edition of my book about how to get book reviews, and again in the 2016, 2017, and 2018 edition, I wrote,
” …it is also a sad truth that many writers who want to make a living as an author put only ten percent of the effort they would put into applying for a job into the promotional activities for their books, which includes asking for reviews…”
Of course, today the problem is worse b/c every year more people publish a book.
Authors who followed my manual were able to get as many as 16 reviews from top reviewers in one month, easily. Eventually, in winter 2016/17, the review clubs took over.
They created an atmosphere that makes it impossible for professionals like me to do my thing, let alone “free.”
Maybe I’ll set up a paid-for review platform, like Kirkus. Their reviews are rather dry, mine are not.
BTW, Amazon does not spy in FB groups or anything like that. In 2016, Amazon established that everybody has to log in when they purchase, review, AND when they “like” a review on the Amazon platform.
That means, Amazon collects the data right there. No guesses, no spying, no whatever.
Remember the popular “street teams”? Every time a street team went in and 100+ authors liked some other author’s book reviews without buying anything on Amazon, Amazon learned something.
And, with 30 computer centers (50,000+ sq , filled from top to bottom with computers there is no problem with evaluating this billions of data bits.)
Amazon knows who is friends with whom b/c the people volunteered this information when they formed street teams, just like Cambridge Analytica collected the data of the people who did their da*n quizzes. Only Amazon did not violate any laws.
It was their own platform and their guidelines said, “You cannot post reviews and like reviews of friends,… Or – participate in any kind of ORGANIZED efforts.”
It was all right there. Totally proper. I explained everything, including how this process works in two of my books – with graphics!!!
The information was available for less than a cup of coffee.
In other words, the problem isn’t Amazon, the problem is
people who never read up on “Amazon as a worldwide leader in AI (artificial intelligence)” advised people to join review clubs, form street teams, do all kinds of ORGANIZED EFFORTS, which is exactly what Amazon does not allow.
So, now we are where we are.
Gisela–That “Organized Efforts” clause should be in every single book on self publishing. I had no idea how much organizing there was until the cockygate bookstuffing info came out. These people are organizing teams to click through 1000s of pages for the chance to win big prizes. So obviously unethical and illegal as well as being against Amazon’s TOS. But they continue to make big bux and the real reviewers are out in the cold. I wish something more could be done.
Right you are, Anne.
And, Amazon is doing something. I followed it for a while. Every three weeks they kick out between between 1.5 and 2.0 % of their top reviewer. That’s only from the top-10,000. There is no way to know how many others.
And, that’s why top reviewers like me who have invested 5 to 10 years into this are “going into hiding.”
We know what’s really going on. Reviewing the book of an author who are engaged in review exchanges is toxic for the reviewers. If I get kicked out I lose close to 500 reviews, 5 years of work, and all benefits for my author books. And, I am the good guy who does everything right.
(and 300 indie authors lose reviews)
So, in other words: “the pushers” lost the top reviewers who wrote free, exquisite 7-paragraphs reviews, to gain in part complete uninteresting, 2-sentence reviews which Amazon might delete any minute.
Can’t help them and can’t be part of this.
Many authors will spend a fortune to gain nothing.
Gisela–How Amazon imagines that kicking out their top reviewers will keep down the review clubs is beyond me. I hear from reviewers who have been kicked out for no reason almost every day. It’s beyond stupid. When a car is broken, you don’t kill all the mechanics.
Anne, that’s not it.
Personally, I believe Amazon has given up. I have a long list of free marketing features Amazon installed for indie authors. From 2012 to 2014, I used all of them. Starting mid-2015, absolutely every single one was abused for the purpose of trying to cheat on Amazon.
Hundreds of blogs have been written, e.g. “put your book into a category with fewer books so your own book is ranked better.” I’d love to know how many librarians threw up reading this advice.
Now, picture yourself being a department head at Amazon who may have had a great idea for a marketing feature, for indie authors. You had meetings, you designed it, you had it installed. You monitored it, you wrote reports, you are proud, maybe you even got a pay raise.
BUT THEN: Not only does the feature get abused, at the same time a mess is created on Amazon. (fake reviews, fake likes, books sorted into the wrong categories, etc)
Then, you (as the department head) have to explain to Jeff Bezos what happened. The company spent all this money and time to achieve a mess? I can see Jeff Bezos peering at the poor department head with his “Bezos look.”
[BTW, something similar unpleasant happens in another field unrelated to indie authors. People troll Ivanka Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders et al to vent their political opinions, on Amazon. Amazon closed off the section “biographies of political influencers:” completely. People who don’t buy at Amazon can’t review, neither 5 stars nor 1 star. Just – not at all.]
So, you are still the department head explaining to Jeff Bezos what happened. You are suggesting some kind of adjustment, and another one. Your department spends hours trying fix things. You monitor the progress. And, eventually you delete the feature because you realize that maybe some good guys will get hurt BUT overall Amazon’s platform will be less messy.
And, that’s what de facto is happening.
As for the reviewers? Amazon just tightened the algorithm as much as they can. Statistically speaking, a few reviewers will get hurt. (Amazon counts almost 60 million reviewers). The majority of clever, good reviewers who see what’s going on will stir clear of problems which is what I am doing. Others will switch to products (which makes Amazon more money). And, that’s the business approach Amazon seems to use.
Which should make sense to anybody who runs a real business.
Amazon is not a charitable organization. They offer opportunities and if their givings cause them trouble they take them away.
I have blogged for 7 years, I have had a few incidents of bad behaviour but the majority, for me, has been very positive. There are some shady “bloggers” out there but we don’t call them bloggers they are blaggers, people telling others to make a blog because you get free books (and you don’t even need to review them because a lot don’t check up). That infuriates those of us who put so much time and effort into what we do.
The other are the scammers, approaching authors to review their book because they love the sound but then following up, after agreement, oh I meant to say I charge X amount of money!!! These people are a disgrace, we uproared and BC on Facebook created the badge you will see on a lot of bloggers sites, I am a BookConnector reviews are FREE. We do what we do because we love books, we love spreading the word. Many bloggers only review books they love and message the author or publisher if they have an issue with it. I tend to review all the books as what I didn’t love or like can be the selling point for another. Sure many times I have been not sure wether to buy a book the one star review has sold it for me as what their rants and ravings for what they hated is what I love in a book.
I don’t do a whole lot of tours or Q&As but recently did a Q&A with an author as when approached to review their book it really wasn’t for me. Whilst I read juts about anything, I won’t accept a book if I don’t think the blurb appeals. Why would I agree to a book I am most likely to dislike/hate. However, the author had a great reputation with other bloggers so I made an exception. Reputation is everything, if you are a rude dismissive muppet it gets round quick and you will find a wall of silence or polite refusals. If you are polite that also gets noticed, spread and bloggers will go out of their way for you.
Also, I am in a lot of book groups and there are many authors in them, big publishers signed or indies. I have bought 6 books by one author purely because I was so impressed by the way they are online, not spamming left right and centre, just gabbing like normal and when I discovered they wrote I did a nosey and thought I may well like these. If I don’t get on with them, I would do giveaways on my blog and get some highlights on them. I don’t understand folk who threaten, abuse or even having had a bad experience with say one blogger then go on and publicly slag bloggers as a whole or say not all bloggers but then blanket statement and slate them.
Ha, sorry I have wrote half a book here 😛 Great post, I think I just needed a wee vent. So many great bloggers are getting so down but so much crap, from readers in book groups, from “blaggers” from horrors getting ARCs and selling them again bringing more negativity onto other bloggers despite us being as disgusted and angered as the authors, that they are quiting their blogs altogether, which is a damm shame. We are in this together, I would never tar all authors with the same brush because of one bad one, all bloggers shouldn’t be tarred because of one or two negative experiences xxx
Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net
Lainy–Thanks for your great commentary on the current state of book review blogging–and letting us know why so many of you have stopped reviewing,
I knew about the Amazon rules that make it more and more difficult for book bloggers, but I was clueless about a lot of this stuff..
I did not know about “blaggers” or that charging for a review was now a thing. I’ve got some of those emails soliciting books for review. I knew that real book bloggers are way too overwhelmed to solicit books and the smarmy tone showed they were going to slap a fee on there. But I thought they were from a click farm or review mill, not individual scammers.
No wonder Amazon keeps clamping down. Now if they’d only clamp down on the scammers instead of the legit reviewers, we might have a level playing field.
Thanks for all you do and on behalf of all authors, I want to give you a great big THANK YOU!!
OH yeah. So familiar. I get all the indie-published authors who have written something they think is humorous wanting to come on my blog, because they read somewhere (but can’t remember where) that Library Journal compared me to Janet Evanovich. But the thing that kills me is they don’t even stop to think what’s in it for me. WHY would I want to feature a person I don’t know, who has *never read any of my books* and has no idea the type of comedy I write?
I think that’s the thing that gets me the most, Anne. People wanting me to read and push their debut books, when they’ve never taken the time to read any of mine, or even follow my blog. There’s a level of desperation here that makes people stupid.
Melodie–Oh yeah! None of these people has read our books. Or even our blog. In fact they can’t even read the title. And they have no idea how rude that is. Or pointless.
Their attitude is: “You have to do this because it’s important to my career.” As if we’re little machines that exist only to fulfill their needs and we have no needs of our own.
“Why would I want to do that?” Is the question I keep asking myself, too. But these people seem to have been taught that all these altruistic bloggers are out here just dying to do them personal favors for no reason. Sigh.
You’re right that desperation makes people stupid. I also think somebody is selling them misinformation. I wish I knew the source.
Afternoon Anne!
Great pearls of wisdom again today! I must be on the same list as you – really tired of being hit up to post stupid guest posts for subjects that don’t have anything to do with the content of my blog. Or hit up on Twitter for a “Great New Release” in a genre I clearly don’t read. Honestly, sometimes I play with these folks – giving them a topic for a guest post that is so niche they would struggle just to see what they will do. Or the ones that offer money for a post, quote a price that is quite high to see what they do. Maybe I need a different hobby…but seriously, who ever is teaching these folks needs to change their course material….
Barb–This: “who ever is teaching these folks needs to change their course material.” I’ll swear they’re being taught, because they all use the exact same wording. And they’re so miffed when we don’t hop to it and fulfill their every need. Where does this entitlement come from?
I love that you’re being sly and asking for a guest post that would require actual work. I imagine none of them have ever come through. And some of them want to charge for a writing sample? Haha. The chutzpah is mind-boggling.
My blog is so small no one has ever asked me to review a book for them. I’m glad I enjoy the writing process and will continue to work on my novel, hoping that when I finally get it published, people will still be reading! Maybe my goals are small, but they are my goals. Thanks for your tireless help.
Hi Beth–I think we can count on people still reading, at least for a while. Boomer Highway is a lovely blog and I always enjoy visiting. I’m surprised you haven’t been approached, at least by Boomers. I guess maybe most Boomers aren’t savvy enough to know how to be rude to bloggers. 🙂
Hey Anne,
I”m not a book blogger at all and I get requests all the time. And as you say, unfortunately, at best they expect that you are just going to do what they want. In fact, the last two ‘requests’ came with a pdf version of the book attached. The asking part of the email, apparently, was merely a formality.
I do write the occasional review of books I’ve read because I like them or I’m a fan of the author. I don’t think I’ve ever written a review because a total stranger approached me to do so. Although, if it were a book I would be interested in and the request was respectful, I might consider it.
Apparently, I somehow got on some lists of book bloggers though. I had started a featured called Indie Spotlight, in an effort to just help out some of my fellow indie authors and I suspect that’s why. I wanted to just have to way to pay it forward, offer some help, rise the tide so all boats could float, kind of thing – but it kind of became a problem.
I was somewhat shocked to discover that many indies don’t understand that a guest post is not an advertorial for their books and what is so incredibly great about them. Many of them couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a title for their posts. And I guess allowing them a link for their book, and three social media links was not enough. The last one I did emailed me and was miffed I hadn’t included her website link among the already 4 posted. In my defense, she sent 8 links and I simply chose the first four. Not a mind reader, right?
I even did a page explaining what was wanted, what a guest post was and the linkage I allowed, etc. – still in all, I’ve had maybe 2 or 3 authors follow the reqs. Basically, I’ve just discontinued doing it because it was too much work editing posts that aren’t really posts, and sending multiple emails just to get some basic info. I started to realize that if I was going to do that much work then I might as well write my own post.
Anyway, I guess you hit me where I live with this one. It is a shame because I really do like to help others out – (even though I’m not any kind of big potato in this particular garden) – but when it becomes this aggravating and frustrating it’s too much to put up with.
LOL – though any time YOU want to guest post on my blog you have an open invitation. 😉
Thanks and have a good one.
Annie
Annie–Yup. This: “many indies don’t understand that a guest post is not an advertorial for their books and what is so incredibly great about them.” And it’s not just indies. Publicists are some of the worst offenders.
Everything you describe has happened to me. Over and over. No good deed goes unpunished.
Lightbulb. I think I need to write a post on “How to write a guest blogpost.”!
Thanks for the invite. I might take you up on it sometime. 🙂
Any old time you want. Heck I’ll let you have 5 links. 😉
Ugh, I stopped taking any requests for reviews or even beta reads. I barely have time to read as it is, and when I sit down to read, I want it to be something I enjoy. I’m so gun shy of Amazon’s new rules, I’ve taken to posting reviews on all the retailers, just in case the Zon dislikes something I said. Plus I always post to Goodreads in order to use their reading challenge tracker. Love seeing those numbers go up. I did participate in a blog hop recently, because it was a book I was going to read anyway (The Electric Menagerie, about two guys who travel by flying train and give shows with robot things they build–and somebody is trying to bump them off).
But yeah, I’ve already gotten weird requests through my blog for weird things. Looks like I have lots to look forward to. I think the value of book reviews has plummeted, but people are still reading advice from 2013, so …
Kessie–I think you’ve hit on one of the big problems. This industry is changing by the month, but ” people are still reading advice from 2013.” They do not have a clue.
You’re very wise (and kind) to post reviews on several retailers and GR. You never know when the Zon is going to take you down for no apparent reason.
And I hear you about wanting to read what you want to read. Even for a friend, I’m not going to immerse myself in a genre I don’t enjoy. These days I need my reading to be fairly violence-free. I don’t want those images in my head. There’s too much real-life horror going on.
Great post as usual! I learn so much from your blog.
I am one of the lucky ones so far, I have not encountered any of these problems. I don’t charge for a review, however when an author wants me to promote their book for a week that is something I do charge for. Right now I am booked two months out for promoting books. Who knows how long I can keep doing this before Ama-zon drops the hammer on me?
Hyper–Charging for promotions is fine. And it’s a good way to get paid for your work without selling your soul. Amazon doesn’t care what the heck you do on your blog. They just don’t want anybody buying customer reviews. So you’re just fine if you don’t review those books on the Zon.
I had a social media consultancy approach me with the “opportunity” for me to promote their website via my blog (by sticking a link on my front page – which currently has no links). In return, they’d promote my website to their “thousands” of social media followers.
I checked out their numbers. They had less than 1,000 followers on Google+, Instagram, LnkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter combined. The only network where they had more followers than me was LinkedIn, which I don’t use.
But they had a handful over 3,000 followers on Facebook. That looked suspect to me … especially as the average FB post had only one Like. I have only a few hundred followers, but manage to get more engagement than that on most posts.
Social media experts? Yeah, right.
I ignored their first two follow-up emails, but summarised the above information when they wouldn’t go away. Oddly enough, I haven’t heard back.
Iola–I’ve had to deal with that scam too. I think there may be a bunch of them. They want to get backlinks to their sorry-a$$ website, so they ask you to link to them and lie about what a major site they have. (And if they have followers they are from a click farm.) Benefit to you: zero. Benefit to them: major. You did exactly the right thing.
Anne, this seems to be exactly what I get daily – Hey there, I love you blog and can write on many topics similar to yours on your blog. Most of the time there’s no website, when there is something to check it’s a content mill website full of ad writing stuff. I don’t bother replying anymore. I’m great friends with my delete button. 🙂
Debby–Those emails keep coming, don’t they? The trouble is, when I delete them, I get follow-ups. And rants from people like “Peggie”. But I do think most of the crap comes from content mills and scammers. So exhausting.
Oh yes Anne, gotta love those follow up emails, almost demanding that we pay attention. Next time you get new ones or follow ups just tick the check mark beside the email and mark as spam. That’ll get rid of them returning, lol. 🙂
Back in the stone age, before I was a full time writer, I worked in advertising and public relations. My clients, who should have known better, didn’t get the difference between advertising (paid for) and publicity (unpaid and at the journalists’ discretion.) I was often asked to “make” a journalist write what the client wanted, when that was never possible. It took me 20 years and many books before I was game to blog, feeling there was so much already out there, until I started blogging about the reality of being a writer, the fears that never go away, the vanishing muse, and the like. I love your blog, Anne, and will tweet the link to this one, You and Ruth are a breath of fresh air.
Valerie–I’ve never heard it put that way, but of course there’s a huge distinction between advertising and publicity. That’s why it’s publicists who are the most obnoxious queriers for bloggers.. They’re trying to “make” bloggers do their bidding. Thanks for the great insight!
I’m glad you enjoy our blog!
I agree with everything you said. The “I read your blog all the time” is my favorite when it is followed by something that makes it obvious they have barely even seen it. 🙂
Big Al–Seriously. How many positive responses do they get when they say “I read your book review blog every week, and that’s why I know you’re going to love my post on “205 sexy things to do with dryer lint”? Sigh. I wish they’d give it a rest. They can’t be having much luck.
My favourite is that most of these people say how much they liked my link posts – in other words, a post that consists entirely of a link to someone else’s work. Like calling to like, maybe?
solsdottir–Actually, if they know you write link posts, they’re way ahead of most scammers. They’ve actually visited your blog! It’s a rule with some of these guys that they can’t visit a blog before they query. They NEED you to know how lazy they are.
Link posts are generally popular and I often suggest new bloggers do them to get more traffic and widen their network. So don’t let the scammers discourage you from posting links. The people you link to can become excellent contacts.
I caught a link to this post on Twitter and headed over to read it while having my morning coffee. I do enjoy a well-written rant in the morning! I’m an indie author and I’ve got nothing but the utmost respect for book bloggers. Without you guys, we’ve have a much smaller reach. I cherish every single review – be it positive or negative – written by a book blogger because they took time out to read a book by a lesser known (and by that I mean mostly unknown) author and that means a lot to many of us.
Keep doing what you’re doing – there are those of us out there who do respect you and what you do 🙂
Lee Ann–Maybe I should have put a “caution: rant ahead” warning on this. Haha. 🙂 But when you get this stuff in your inbox every single morning–sometimes by the dozens–it makes you want to scream.
We don’t do book reviews, but we do offer a great venue for our 12 guest bloggers per year. And we need those bloggers to be top-notch, not some sleazy hucksters flogging knock-off watches and sunglasses. Grrr.
And book review bloggers are a treasure, I agree!
I write and do reviews, Anne, and I’ve seen most of what you comment. I belong to a group of reviewers and there is strength in numbers, although it’s getting trickier by the minute (I also review NetGalley books but not even that is terribly easy with Amazon these days). Thanks for this post.
Olga–Thanks for being a reviewer! I have heard the problems of reviewing NetGalley books these days. Amazon needs to get a clue. And if you don’t review on Bookbub, do consider posting your reviews there. I haven’t heard of them removing any and they aren’t a retailer, so they don’t care where you got your copy.
I’ve started getting lots of requests to either include backlinks to things that bear no relation to my content, or writers asking me to publish one of their guest posts because they “love my content” (but can’t indicate they know what it is) or they’ll “promise original content”. I think people just see bloggers as this free resource that they can tap whenever they want, and we should be grateful “for the exposure”. It’s so frustrating!
Icy–Isn’t that annoying? Please rewrite your post from 2010 on the Oxford Comma to include a mention of our sunglasses with a backlink to our site. Because we “love your content.” Right.
You’ve hit on the problem: “people just see bloggers as this free resource that they can tap whenever they want.” I’d love to know who gave them this idea. Makes me crazy. 🙁
Thank you for this insightful post. I wish I had read it before agreeing to review a lot of books I would never have chosen to read, I get stressed with deadlines for book reviews then ask myself ‘why am I doing this?’ An author once asked me to remove a disclaimer because mine was the latest review and therefore it devalued the older ones. It was a rave review , it was just the disclaimer she didn’t like! I need to toughen up. I learnt so much today from your blog post and all the comments, thank you everyone x
WaggyTales: You’re one of the good guys! Thanks for doing all those reviews. But yeah, you’ve got to learn the power of “no”. I’ve had to as well. Sometimes these people seem so pathetic I feel like I should help. But all it does is stress me out and they move on to the next pigeon.
And asking you to remove a disclaimer?! From a rave review? Removing that disclaimer could get you banned from Amazon for life and all your reviews removed. Tell these ungrateful whiners that you follow the rules, and if they don’t, they’re going to lose their careers.
It’s not that hard to be nice. I have never had a problem asking people to do things for me and that’s because I teach them with respect. I talk up not down. I get to know them. I ask if this is something they would like to do and if not, I thank them and never ask them again.
Throughout my life I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been involved in difficult situations. Most of the times the people were simply bad people. My success is simple: Follow the rules of paragraph one and good things will probably happen.
Bryan–Good manners can get you a lot farther than bad ones, that’s for sure. That’s what people always say about my heroine, Camilla the Manners Doctor. “Politeness is her superpower.” It works!
Thanks, Anne (with an “e”). 🙂
Right-on advice, as always. I’ve noticed a dearth of new reviews since Amazon’s crackdown. It’s a sad situation, especially since they allow garbage at Goodreads–which is owned by AZ.
Kathy–Isn’t it amazing that trolls, abusers, and paid shills abound on GR even though Amazon owns them? I’ve never figured that out. Sigh.
“Would they demand free work from an accountant”
Yes, yes they would. I do taxes as my day job, and you’d be amazed at how many people expect things for free. “My tax return is simple, so why are you charging me?” “Why would I pay you when I can do it for free on TurboTax?” “Gosh, isn’t $50/$100 a lot of money?”
When I was trying to find a decent full-time job and wanted to make a few extra bucks, these things would drive me up the wall. Now I just adopt a “take it or leave it” approach – go nuts with TurboTax, and I’ll use those extra few hours to write!
As for blogging, I don’t really blog, but I do write for a website called Hypable – essentially a fansite for all kinds of fandoms and pop culture. Skews very young (their flagship podcast is “Millennial”) and with a worldwide audience. My shtick is writing about theatre that’s relevant to the site – plays that parody Harry Potter, musical adaptations of Percy Jackson, Mean Girls, etc. So I always crack up at the very insistent emails – “We have a wholly original off-off-Broadway musical about an octogenarian lady looking for love, and we’re sure your readers will love it!” “We have an improvised play about an alien invasion of a big family home, which will surely grow from this ten-seater black box theatre straight to Broadway!” They’re usually not very rude, but damn are they persistent.
Irvin–Well this is an eye-opener! It never occurred to me that anybody would ask for free work from an accountant! I guess that’s because I grew up pre-TurboTax. But my goodness, what a jump from “I can do this with a computer program” to “I’m going to treat an accountant like a computer program.”
And your experience on Hybable is another version of me getting pitches for make-up tips, but it is funnier. 🙂
“An improvisation about an alien invasion of a big family home” Oh, yeah. People will line up for that! (I used to work in improvisational theater and I can tell you pretty certainly that it won’t. ) I love the idea of Harry Potter parodies, though.
If you love HP parodies, have you any familiarity with Puffs? It’s a play about the Hufflepuffs in Harry’s year, and how much it sucks to be them.
That’s sort of what began it all for me and Hypable – I went to see this goofy HP parody at the People’s Improv Theater, wrote up an article about it that went crazy viral… two years later, Puffs has an open-ended run Off-Broadway, launches an Australian production, is screened across America by Fathom Events. And I find myself in the wholly unexpected and bizarre position of having my pull quotes on giant billboards in Times Square.
But I wish I had a nickel for every single email saying, “An improvisation about an alien invasion of a big family home is totally the next Puffs, except it’ll be even more successful!” SMH.
Irvin–Pull quotes on giant billboards in Times Square?! Wow. Congrats. I’ll keep Puffs on my radar. Brilliant premise!
All. The. Time. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even finish reading some of the emails before deleting; same with the follow-ups. If a fellow author contacts me, I will respond if the email is nicely worded and respectful. Most sound desperate, which also tends to trigger my yearning to help others. It’s not easy to ask for a review. I can relate. But authors need to do their homework first. I don’t EVER post book reviews on my blog. A simple search would show them that. Most of the ignorant emails latch on to a keyword of some kind. After writing How to Include Pets in Fiction, emails from every pet industry under the sun flooded my inbox, some for paid ads, some wanting free advertising. Anyone who reads my blog knows my main focus is crime and crime writing. It’s insane to contact me about anything else. I should probably add, 99.9% of the strangers who contact me never guest post on my blog. I also don’t read their book(s), with a few rare exceptions. For example, a PR company contacted me recently about reading Hunting Charles Manson by Lis Wiehl. They’d reviewed my blog AND the type of books I read. Plus, they sent me not one but two ARC paperbacks with no promise to review. I did end up posting a review on launch day, but only because I loved the book.
The funniest ones are where the author writes, “This book will change the world!” Oy. *facepalm*
I am amazed that these things happen. Truly amazed. I read your post and then most of the comments and can’t believe those people…. Wow – scary!!!
Patricia–Yep. There seem to be more scammers in this business than legitimate writers and reviewers. It gets discouraging.
I get those e-mails and the comments awaiting moderation (after three days) are usually worse. I generally don’t respond to anything that sounds like spam. That’s probably worse than a form letter, but I feel like the spammers are wasting the time I could spend writing. I have had a few individuals contact me about reviewing my books for free because they liked them and thought they needed permission. I quickly responded to those and I asked for the link to the reviews. They were actually legitimate and it was really nice. However, I have also received the “we’ll review your book if you sign up for $$ services.” I don’t respond to those, but my parents did once, which bothered me because I wasn’t sure how they figured out how to contact my parents. That was scary.
Tyrean–They contacted your parents?! That’s creepy!! Yikes. I’ve had some people ask me if they could review my book or link to my site but they mostly were scammers trying to butter me up for a pitch. If you ran into some legit reviewers who did that, you lucked out. Right now there’s an epidemic of paid review solicitors and I get very personalized pitches from some of them. But paying for an Amazon review is just plain dumb given today’s climate. The risks are too great. If they just want to review on their blog, you need to check their ratings and see if they have enough traffic to get a return on your investment.
Great rant, Anne! I’ve yet to put a contact form on my website for this reason. I get enough solicitations through my FB Author Page…I can’t imagine having to deal with emails as well. I’ve stopped granting interviews/features/etc. to people I don’t know, no matter how nice and responsive they are. After the post run, they disappear. Putting together an interview/feature post is time-consuming, and you get little if anything in return from unknowns. I have an enormous amount of connections on LinkedIn, and not a day goes by where I don’t get at least one or two requests for a review. I now delete those messages, along with the ones I receive on FB. I’m a much happier camper now 🙂
Tina–I like to have readers be able to contact me, especially about my writing books. That’s kind of the reason we’re on social media. But these creeps sure do make me question that policy sometimes.
I’ve had some great responses to interviews, but I do check the Alexa rating of the site. If they have a ranking in the 10 millions and only two sites linking in, it’s not worth my time.
Personally, I’m fed up with LinkedIn. I’ve turned off all notifications. It seems to have the most number of spammers. But if you’ve got a lot of legit contacts, it might be good to get notifications and screen them the way you do.
Most legit requests come to me through email, but I’ve had some big name bloggers contact me through Twitter recently, so I don’t rule anything out, but I screen carefully.
Screening can consume an enormous amount of time, Anne. I’m near ready to turn off notifications on all of my social sites. Having a chronic illness limits my functional time, and dealing with solicitations/notifications makes writing and reading near impossible. I’ve got to find a way to write, read, blog, and still have a life.
Then turn them off! I do. Most of them take too much time for me. I thought you said you had lots of good contacts on LinkedIn. I don’t.. I sometimes look at DM’s on Twitter and FB, but they’re low on my list of priorities, since they’re usually spam. Just dealing with email takes enough of my time.
I’m not a book blog reviewer (though I occasionally review books on my blog) but as an Amazon Vine Voice I had to remove any contact information because so-called “experts” were telling people that Vine Voices were a great way to get reviews. So I started getting all these people wanting me to review their books. It got to be pretty annoying. Like book bloggers, Vine Voices don’t exist to be at the beck and call of authors.
Pat–Amen! I’ve been preaching this for years. Every time I see a “guru” telling people to contact top rated and Vine reviewers, I say, “prepare to be ignored. You’re going right into spam with the rest of the hordes.” Top reviewers review the books THEY CHOOSE, not the ones they’re pestered to read. Thanks for providing this info direct from the source!
I don’t review books on my blog either but I get those emails from publicist a lot also. Only a few from businesses, but my blog isn’t as big as yours. I’ve been to many workshops on marketing and I’m amazed at the ‘expert’ ideas on how blogging works. Most of these people act like bloggers are begging to promote your book for you.
Susan–This: “These people act like bloggers are begging to promote your book for you.”. That’s why I wrote this post!! But I don’t suppose any of the offenders will ever read it. Sigh.
I feel your pain, Anne! Indies Unlimited gets emails like that daily. Just absurd stuff – yeah, make-up, fashion, electrical engineering, and dog-walking articles, because, you know, they “fit” with our content. And three or more follow-up emails. It’s nuts. I hope it calms down for all of us. Thanks for doing what you do. 🙂
KS–So Indies Unlimited is targeted by the same people? It must be a ratings thing. If you have an Alexa rating below a certain number, you must get on a list and they just fire off their dog-walking articles (and obnoxious follow-ups) to all of us. So annoying. I keep hoping if we send them all to spam that eventually all their emails will get permanently blocked and maybe they’ll give up.
It’d be lovely to be rid of them. And yes, we get usually 2-3 follow-ups. Obnoxious is right! Thanks for doing all you do, despite the annoyances. 🙂
– Kat
Grrr those people are infuriating. I get almost no blog traffic, but my author LinkedIn gets blown up daily with these ridiculous “offers” to work for free, some even involve travel to speak… all at my expense. Because “exposure.” It’s all so insulting.
Kristin–LinkedIn seems to be the worst source of spam of any social media. It seems as if the longer a site has been around, the more it’s filled with shady stuff. I agree that stuff is insulting.
I suppose it is difficult for Amazon to know who is genuine and who isn’t when it comes to any review if the item wasn’t purchased from their site. A hard one for everyone. Fortunately, I don’t get any of these sorts of emails even though I do review books on my blog.
Robbie–It’s obvious the Zon’s algorithms aren’t working. A solution would be, as you say, to allow only reviews of Amazon purchases. That would mean no reviews of ARCs or library reads, and it wouldn’t stop the people who buy the book and get reimbursed by scammy authors. or the authors who trade reviews. I think that’s why the Zon hasn’t blocked non-verified reviews.
But I’m glad to hear you’re not getting targeted by all these scammers. Shows it’s not as widespread ad I feared.