Barb Taub explains Amazon’s new change in their reviewing policy.
An open letter to Amazon:
Dear Amazon,
I should be your Holy Grail. I’m the real deal, an actual reader who goes through books carefully, thinks about what they mean and how they’re written, and then writes a considered, thoughtful, and hopefully helpful analysis—in other words, I’m a book reviewer.
Writers, potential customers, publishers, and oh yes—you, Amazon—should be jumping for joy and giving thanks that I’ve taken hours to read and yet more hours to craft reviews for hundreds of books. Instead, Amazon, you’ve decided to punish reviewers like me.
In the name of discouraging “fake” reviews, your new policy requires reviewers like me to spend $50 on Amazon’s US site and even more, £40 on Amazon UK before I can share my review. Have you thought about other solutions, or the effect this will have on legitimate reviewers?
Amazon has figured out how to conduct millions of legitimate…
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BOOK CHAT 
And what is even worse, Amazon took down my hundreds of reviews because they said I knew one of the authors whose book I reviewed. I met her on Facebook and friended her. I don’t know any authors personally. They took away the ability to leave reviews from that account. I had to open a second Amazon account, where I had to spend $50 before posting a review. Now I write reviews on Goodreads and skip Amazon altogether.
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What a shame. I’ve met so many people through social media, but that doesn’t impact my reviews. I think it’s just another way for Amazon to make money. It shouldn’t matter who you know or where you get your books. Reviews sell books!
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Amazon is really amazing!
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It’s good to see Barb’s post here as well, Michelle. It is important information. Enjoy the rest of the week. Hugs!
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Thanks, Teagan, you too!
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A most worthy reblog ❤
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I know a lot of people have reblogged this, but I think spreading the word will encourage more to voice their displeasure to Amazon.
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Absolutely. Good stuff must be shared around. And this article pertains to all of us authors and writers. 🙂
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Thanks for bringing this to my attention. It has some far reaching implications but hopefully the ties between bloggers and authors will become stronger through this
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I agree, Steve. And if we all stand together, maybe (and that’s a big maybe) Amazon will change their policy.
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Thank you so much for the reblog. I’d love to think Amazon will pay attention to this issue, but hopefully if enough people weigh in they will at least reconsider.
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I certainly hope so!
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Another fine example of a business that is totally self-serving, at any price. I take issue that somebody has to financially support amazon in order to post a review of one of my books. Of course some past reviews of a book will be questionable, but I think that the average book buyer should be making that call .. and at no charge. The world will always have an unethical element in it, whether it be in politics or business, but charging for a book review to be made public simply puts a false price on ethics (false because it will not eliminate false reviews). It will not ensure a quality review; it will not sell more books; it will reduce the number of reviews; it will present an image of amazon which is not too complimentary … but do they care?
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Well, if we all make a loud enough noise, we can only hope they change their policy. Thanks for your comment.
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🙂
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I couldn’t agree more!
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