Reviews & Rates Are Important but Is Amazon Bias?

 

I’ve read other Indie/self-published author’s comments about how they feel that Amazon KDP is biased and that only a selected few are allowed to obtain reviews/rates. I feel that most of these authors are right. I’ve seen how some books that people would consider cheesy, not worth reading or buying have over a thousand reviews and rates and not all are verified buyer reviews. If Amazon is against fake reviews, wouldn’t they consider those reviews to be fake? 

Some reviews are deleted because they claim that the author knows the person. Really? That’s’ insane. Not all the author’s followers are BFF’s or family members.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

“Amazon is trustworthy and is an important business, so reviews from friends, family members and anyone that they think the author knows personally are deleted.”

What the fuck? Here’s where my beef starts with them. How would Amazon know who these people are? One of my books got a review from someone in another country and I don’t know who that person is. I don’t know half of the people who are following me online. I have a fair number of followers on FB, Twitter, Instagram, and other online websites but I don’t know those people personally. It’s ridiculous. It’s stupid!

Amazon’s algorithm is designed to prevent fraud but highlights bad reviews while blocking and removing the good ones.

Is this true? Well, for the past 10 years that I’ve been with Amazon KDP, it certainly seems like it.

Here’s another author’s experience, which I am sure others can relate:

“The day my first title, Ages of Aenya, was made public, I received a one-star review/rate. The same exact day. The book was not yet available for download, and even with Prime delivery, it would have been impossible for someone to read through a 600-page book in a small amount of time. Clearly, the review was written by a troll, a person who has been harassing me for years online. I reported the guy to Amazon, insisting the review was fraudulent, a thing they could easily prove if only they bothered to investigate the timing, but after numerous emails, phone calls, and complaints from my fans, Amazon let it stay, an ugly and dishonest stain on my reputation. Fine I thought, I have readers who will drown out the troll, and then this started to happen. Amazon started to remove the good reviews.”

Yes, that happens way too often and that is why I feel that reviews that should be posted, never get posted. So, here's where readers should post their reviews, on Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, because all you must do is sign up with them, they don’t care where you bought the book. Google books and Apple Books is also another place to post your reviews. 

Unfortunately, Amazon is still the first thing readers go to, to see reviews on books they are interested in buying. It’s sad really that Amazon adversely influences traditional publishing marketing and drowns out other authors,like  Indie authors who did not publish with a traditional publisher. I must side with the indie authors who are being pushed to oblivion, obscurity. 

So bottom line is, don’t give up fellow Indie authors, I’m with you on this.

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