Been running in circles chasing Amazon this week about an
issue. Finally got a reply from them
today and it’s filled with such faulty and insulting logic I don’t know where
to begin.
The very first review posted by one of my first customers happened to be from my mother-in-law. She’d never read the book. I never asked her to post the review. Only thing I want is honest reviews from readers who can tell me if I’m headed in the right direction with my writing. In this case, she gave one. It was 4-stars and included “I couldn’t put it down,” a line used by one of my beta-readers a few months ago when I pulled the manuscript out of mothballs and needed insight.
Well, Amazon pulled my MIL’s review and never could give me or her a straight answer. So, I poked the bear again and got a reply:
“Subject: A Message from Amazon Review Moderation
The very first review posted by one of my first customers happened to be from my mother-in-law. She’d never read the book. I never asked her to post the review. Only thing I want is honest reviews from readers who can tell me if I’m headed in the right direction with my writing. In this case, she gave one. It was 4-stars and included “I couldn’t put it down,” a line used by one of my beta-readers a few months ago when I pulled the manuscript out of mothballs and needed insight.
Well, Amazon pulled my MIL’s review and never could give me or her a straight answer. So, I poked the bear again and got a reply:
“Subject: A Message from Amazon Review Moderation
“Hello,
“After receiving your response, we have reviewed your
account and re-evaluated the Customer Review removed from your book, "The
Promise."
“Unfortunately, we cannot post the review to the Amazon
website because you know the reviewer.
“We encourage your friends and family to share their
enthusiasm for your books using our Customer Discussions feature. To find
Customer Discussions, go to the book's product detail page, scroll down past
Customer Reviews, and click on the Start a Discussion button. Anyone who visits
Amazon can read a discussion.”
My reply to their reply is as follows with the text of their reply interspersed and addressed point by point:
“Please allow me to address the logic employed by your review moderator, the text of which I will attach and address point by point. It is circular, faulty, and only serves to stifle author readership.
“Subject: A Message from Amazon Review Moderation
My reply to their reply is as follows with the text of their reply interspersed and addressed point by point:
“Please allow me to address the logic employed by your review moderator, the text of which I will attach and address point by point. It is circular, faulty, and only serves to stifle author readership.
“Subject: A Message from Amazon Review Moderation
“Hello,
“After receiving your
response, we have reviewed your account and re-evaluated the Customer Review
removed from your book, "The Promise."
“Unfortunately, we
cannot post the review to the Amazon website because you know the reviewer.”
“I’ve just self-published my first novel. I don’t have the big press releases, the massive staff, and the endless resources of all the major publishing house inNew York who dominate the book world and are
trying to maintain their oligarchy over it.
The only people who are going to buy my book right are likely going to
be people I know or have known. In this
case, one of them is my mother-in-law, who had never read my book until she
purchased it during the first days of its release. Yes, she purchased
it. I didn’t give it to her; that would
have violated the terms of my KDP Select agreement.
“Now, I ask people for honest reviews. Lying to me not only upsets me, it will never make me a better writer. Even my wife is a harsh critic when needs be, but I take everything in the spirit it’s said and run with it. Janet Smith said exactly what a good friend and beta reader (whom she has never met) said, almost word for word: “I couldn’t put it down.” That’s music to an author’s ears! And Amazon wants to keep me stifled? Wants to stifle the honest reviews of it’s customers? Because that is exactly what has happened: she bought the book and then she honestly reviewed it. I didn’t ask her to say anything. Never even asked her to review it. Janet Smith is a customer, my customer and your customer, who, through lawful purchase of a novel she had never read, has earned the courtesy of having her review posted. If Amazon can’t see that that is exactly what has happened, then you’re “blinder than a Tiberian bat.”
“I’ve just self-published my first novel. I don’t have the big press releases, the massive staff, and the endless resources of all the major publishing house in
“Now, I ask people for honest reviews. Lying to me not only upsets me, it will never make me a better writer. Even my wife is a harsh critic when needs be, but I take everything in the spirit it’s said and run with it. Janet Smith said exactly what a good friend and beta reader (whom she has never met) said, almost word for word: “I couldn’t put it down.” That’s music to an author’s ears! And Amazon wants to keep me stifled? Wants to stifle the honest reviews of it’s customers? Because that is exactly what has happened: she bought the book and then she honestly reviewed it. I didn’t ask her to say anything. Never even asked her to review it. Janet Smith is a customer, my customer and your customer, who, through lawful purchase of a novel she had never read, has earned the courtesy of having her review posted. If Amazon can’t see that that is exactly what has happened, then you’re “blinder than a Tiberian bat.”
“We encourage your
friends and family to share their enthusiasm for your books using our Customer
Discussions feature. To find Customer Discussions, go to the book's product
detail page, scroll down past Customer Reviews, and click on the Start a
Discussion button. Anyone who visits Amazon can read a discussion.
“So, here’s where faulty, circular logic comes in. Janet Smith cannot post a review but she rave
about it to the top of her lungs in a discussion at the bottom? Why not just let her post the honest review
of a book she’s purchased and read?
Hell, she could just post the exact same words in your “Discussion
Feature” without clicking the little stars.
And what has she done then if she does that? Posted a review. Not an “official” review, mind you, but a “review”
nonetheless.
“This is treating one of my customers – who is one of your customers – as a second-class customer only because she happens to know me personally since I married her daughter. That’s right: you’ve relegated her to second-class status. She’s not “pure” enough to post an honest, unbiased review (which she did; it got 4 stars; biased would’ve been 5). But she can do the exact same thing without all the bells and whistles in a area reserved at the bottom of the page where no one reads?
“Does Amazon wish to suppress the honest opinions of my fledgling readership? Are honest reader/reviewers of my book, if they just happen to know me, second-class customers to Amazon? Because if you say they’re not, but then treat them like you’ve treated Janet Smith, then your actions are speaking far louder than your words. You are segregating one class of reader away from making a review in favor of others based on a set of assumptions because anyone in their right mind knows telepathic reading of another person’s mind is limited to speculative fiction.
“No author in the world who is just starting out can survive under these conditions if they wish to take their chances by publishing strictly through Amazon KDP. Is Amazon actually protecting the turf of the Big Six Publishing Houses by stifling beginner’s readership voices all the while pretending to support the self-publishing pioneers? Is that how Amazon really wants to be seen?
“Your logic in this matter is not only terribly faulty, but it’s so full of horse manure I could plant roses in it and watch them bloom next spring.
“And, may I add, your review guidelines are buried so deep in the site, I bet don’t see but about 2 hits a month. The numbers for that page will probably be double that this month because I’ve had to hunt for them. And when I say “hunt,” I mean traipse through the brambles and the briars of the piney woods kind of hunting. If you want people to know the guidelines, put them where they can be easily seen by everyone. I had to click five separate links from the Amazon main page to find them. They’re not easily found.
“This is treating one of my customers – who is one of your customers – as a second-class customer only because she happens to know me personally since I married her daughter. That’s right: you’ve relegated her to second-class status. She’s not “pure” enough to post an honest, unbiased review (which she did; it got 4 stars; biased would’ve been 5). But she can do the exact same thing without all the bells and whistles in a area reserved at the bottom of the page where no one reads?
“Does Amazon wish to suppress the honest opinions of my fledgling readership? Are honest reader/reviewers of my book, if they just happen to know me, second-class customers to Amazon? Because if you say they’re not, but then treat them like you’ve treated Janet Smith, then your actions are speaking far louder than your words. You are segregating one class of reader away from making a review in favor of others based on a set of assumptions because anyone in their right mind knows telepathic reading of another person’s mind is limited to speculative fiction.
“No author in the world who is just starting out can survive under these conditions if they wish to take their chances by publishing strictly through Amazon KDP. Is Amazon actually protecting the turf of the Big Six Publishing Houses by stifling beginner’s readership voices all the while pretending to support the self-publishing pioneers? Is that how Amazon really wants to be seen?
“Your logic in this matter is not only terribly faulty, but it’s so full of horse manure I could plant roses in it and watch them bloom next spring.
“And, may I add, your review guidelines are buried so deep in the site, I bet don’t see but about 2 hits a month. The numbers for that page will probably be double that this month because I’ve had to hunt for them. And when I say “hunt,” I mean traipse through the brambles and the briars of the piney woods kind of hunting. If you want people to know the guidelines, put them where they can be easily seen by everyone. I had to click five separate links from the Amazon main page to find them. They’re not easily found.
“I am politely asking Amazon to reconsider their position on this matter. Not only because it looks bad, and it's faulty, but it's just wrong-headed in this case.”
To adapt a line from a good movie: “Here endeth the ranting.”
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