I hopped on Amazon to find that 3 ‘new’ reviews showed up, but I found that I couldn’t find anything new. Well, I realized that Amazon decided to combine the 3 Beginning of a Hero pages’ reviews. This means anyone who reviewed the eBook and the paperback now have 2 reviews under the same book. It also means that the review from 2007 when I first tried to publish this book is on there too. This was done by a friend who meant well, but went way too far. Basically, the friend made an obviously fake name and said ‘I don’t even like reading, but I loved this book. 5 stars!’ Again, meant well, but it had the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the kneecap.
This also makes me wonder about the button on the reviews where you can say if a review is helpful or not. Is this actually important to anyone who is looking for a new book? I see that ones with any criticism of me have been hit by ‘not helpful’ clicks, but a few of the 5-stars are riddled with ‘not helpful’ clicks. It’s almost like there’s a bizarre reviewer war going on or at least some level of vindictiveness. Can anyone explain how this ‘helpful/not helpful’ thing works exactly?
Legends of Windemere 
You know, reviews are great, but sometimes, things get out of hand. I was on Amazon a few days ago and was reading the reviews on a cheese-making kit (another of my many hobbies) and there was a review that wasn’t incredibly helpful, but several people had ‘replied’ to it and made really mean comments. (Personally I think the ‘reply’ button should be taken away). As for the helpful/not helpful, it is basically the same thing as a review. Say Mr. A favorably reviews your book, and I buy the book based on his review, and then find the book to be truly horrible. (This is just an example). So then I go in and click “not helpful” by his review. Maybe it’s helpful to people who are in a hurry and don’t have time to write a review themselves, so they just agree/disagree with other reviews.
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I get the feeling that a few friends went ‘not helpful’ on a few people who gave me some criticism. It’s a strange system because it seems to be a hive for vindictive behavior. A friend told me there’s a ranking for reviewers so those clicks are like gold for some of them.
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Yikes. I think I’ll stay out of that war!
What’s wrong with just giving 5 stars? 🙂
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From what I’ve been told, some people assume all 5 stars are done by friends and family of the author. It’s the usual ridiculousness of the internet.
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Okay, okay! 4 stars then!
Grrr, reviews are supposed to be helpful, not cause a fight! LOL
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I know. People just love to fight on the internet. Think I need to carry a virtual can of mace and riot gear.
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Hey, I like that idea! (and maybe a can of knock-out gas, as well?)
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The helpful/not helpful piece always had a whiff of “this is personal” to me. On regular products it can be useful, but once you get into things that account for taste (such as books), people tend to use the way they would social media.
And I know all about well meaning relatives…I have a few of those hilarious reviews myself.
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Good point. Personal taste is where things get screwy with this system. With the reviewer rankings that they have, it becomes very cut-throat. I’ve had reviewers ask me to click that they were helpful.
It’s funny because my family is refusing to write reviews because they don’t think it would be fair or something like that. It’s a few of my friends that went a little wild at the beginning. One of them even tried to get me to support an idea to make multiple accounts to post reviews. I had to threaten to out them myself if they tried. On the plus side, I know I have a bunch of loyal, supportive friends.
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Friends are awesome like that. You know they’d be the first ones out on the streets holding up signs for you if you asked 😉
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Quite possibly. Though, I’d be scared to see what they write on the signs.
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Ah, but that would be the fun part!
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With my Motley Crue of friends, I’m pretty sure half of them would involve secrets. ‘He made me walk home in the rain’, ‘He snores in his sleep’, etc. We’ve all hit a point where we can horribly humiliate each other, so we have to play nice. And isn’t that the true essence of friendship?
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If my friends started being nice to me, I’d know something was up!
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Friends can be nice? I think I need to renegotiate a few contracts.
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oh don’t get me started. Being in the top 300 amazon reviewers I can tell you that it gets ugly between the reviewers. Your book and the reviewers who leave a review negative or positive are going to get hit by the reviewer wars no matter what you do. Sad but true that people are actually that immature. Ugh. I have chosen not to participate in the stupid. If I hate it I say so and they can all vote me down to the bowels of Hell if they so choose.
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I knew there was a war behind the scenes. I can see clicking ‘not helpful’ for a review that was negative and insulting or one that is positive and led a reader astray. It was when I saw the well-written reviews get the ‘not helpful’ that I knew something was going on. Too bad more people aren’t wise like you when it comes to reviewing. It’d be a happier place.
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I don’t know about wise. I think stubborn is more the thing. I didn’t set out to climb the charts on Amazon. Oddly I didn’t even know about the reviewer rankings until someone told me last year that I was in the top 500. Then I thought, “top 500 what?”
Now I get the rankings and I still don’t give a crap less. I started reviewing books to tell other people, including the author what I thought about the books. I also write a review if I buy a product that doesn’t work as advertised or if it is a better deal than it claims. I feel the same way about the ranking numbers as I do the star system. Its just a number. Woopee.
I’m not even sure what my number is anymore. I actually can’t remember how I found my number the last time lol.
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I think they’re listed on your profile. I only know this by accidentally looking at mine a few days ago. The reviewer ranking thing really is a horrible idea/contest though. What do you win by being #1? It reminds me of the old game ‘king of the mountain’. Nobody really wins and friendships get damaged by the end of it.
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True! I just think the people who review everything are silly. I looked at number one last year and she was reviewing rubber bands.
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Well, you really do need to review rubber bands. Cheap rubber bands that snap are the leading cause of office owies and sudden cursing explosions. 😉
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lol
My review of these rubber bands:
tey are made of rubber and they are bands. they are stretchy and rubbery and you can band things together with them. they are very rubber bandy. I would use these bands made of rubber for banding things. you should really go buy thes rubber bands.
(Spelling mistakes included.)
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Perfect. I’d just talk about how easy they are to fire off my finger at people. 🙂
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Maybe you should review. lol
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If I ever need to buy rubber bands, I’ll do just that. 😉
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Also I wanted to tell you that I was one of the not helpful clickers for the two star. it wasn’t personal, I just didn’t think the guy left anything of value so I wondered why he bothered at all.
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Wow – I have no sage advice as I’m a complete novie re these things, but I feel for you – how terrible for your book reviews to get caught up in all that! 😦
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I think it’s everywhere on there. Just seems like it’s a simple system to stop trouble with and people on the internet love to start trouble.
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I find the helpful and unhelpful for product reviews useful but for entertainment reviews less so. I would much rather see what people who have similar interests and likes to mine what their opinions are.
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That’s the way it should be. Somebody is bound to find a review unhelpful if it’s a different perspective, so I think it’s really a moot point.
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