Many of your know that I am very touchy about free speech rights. After all, I am a writer and writers who live where speech is curtailed are, to say the least, limited creatively as well as politically.
As a former retailer, I am also sensitive to the needs of retailers. I also know that retailers need to be sensitive to the needs of their customers. Online bookstores are indeed retailers. That includes Amazon.com. Thus when my friend John Kremer sent this letter that he had received from one of his readers around, I was...mmm, on alert! You can read the letter (with permission) below as well as John's answer and then one from me. I'd really, really like to hear from you all on this! See the comment link below this post.
Letter from Cheryl Kaye Tardif send by John Kremer:
"I am bcc'ing this to ALL my author friends because I really want you to have this information before Amazon deletes all your reviews.
"A week ago I found that all 85 of the reviews I've written for other books had been deleted. It has been a very difficult and stressful week dealing with Amazon. They are not very accessible and I was given at least 3 different reasons why my reviews had been deleted. After numerous e-mails, this is what it's come down to:
"Their final ruling: 'Please know that our participation guidelines don't allow customers to promote their own titles in their reviews.' If you sign your review with anything other than your name, your reviews could be deleted.
"If any of you are in the habit of signing your reviews with something like "..., author of Whale Song", which has been common practice for years, Amazon has deemed this as "inappropriate" and will be deleting them. It seems they're on a campaign to go through reviews posted.
"Amazon recently made changes to the Amazon Connect program and all our blogs were temporarily gone too. Most are back up.
"Amazon will delete your reviews if you have added the book link (that they supply) and directed it to your own book title's Amazon page. Many authors have used links like that in their signature line. It can lead to deletion and suspension, according to Amazon's latest e-mail.
"I argued the that thousands of authors sign their reviews like this,and that it's common practice in our industry. I was told by my last publisher to sign my reviews like this... . It made no difference to Amazon that this is what my publisher wanted me to do; they aren't accepting signatures with titles.
"Amazon is starting to take note of such practices and you'll get no notice; they'll just pull all the reviews you have written. That's what they did with me, even though many of my older reviews were signed with just my name.
"So to clarify, according to Amazon, when posting a review, you are not allowed to have a signature of anything more than your name, and NO links to or mention of your books whatsoever in the review or sig line.
"I am giving you the heads-up now so you can go in and edit your reviews if you choose. That's what I'd do, to be honest, because fighting with Amazon is not easy. There is no one who will talk to you by phone, and waiting for their response is not easy.
"This rule also applies to any comments you leave on a book review. Amazon does not want authors to mention their own books anywhere on the review pages.
"I haven't heard from Amazon.ca yet, but I expect this will be funneled over to all the Amazons, so I'll be working on editing my reviews there next week..."
John Kremer's response:
I think Cheryl's e-mail sums up the problem with Amazon.com right now. How stupid can they be! How really, really stupid. This leaves the door open for someone to create an unAmazon that really serves authors rather than exploits them brutally.
Amazon is stupid. Amazon is stupid. I want them to know that I think they are stupid. I hope they read this newsletter (which will be reposted to my Website). I think Amazon is incredibly stupid, stupid, stupid. I really do hope someone creates an alternative.
I do agree with them that reviews written only to insert your link do no good for the book buyer, the author, or Amazon. But legitimate reviews that reveal that the reviewer is an expert (a book author) should be allowed, indeed should be highlighted.
Amazon is stupid. The people at Amazon.com are imbeciles. Jeff Bezos is sleeping at the wheel. This is what happens when one Website becomes too dominant. Watch out for Google next. Start sending your customers to BN.com today.
Signed -- John Kremer, author, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
You can order my book at BN.com here: http://search. barnesandnoble.
com/1001-Ways- to-Market- Your-Books/ John-Kremer/ e/9780912411491
From My Letter to John
John, you said policies like this open the door for "someone to create an unAmazon that really serves authors."
Well, I'm not big like Amazon but I've had a sort of "unAmazon" for a long time. Authors may submit their reviews (up to one a month) to my www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. I let them put a nice tag/credit on their review. After all, reviews ARE about selling books and though my blog doesn't get any money for doing so, still the more books that get sold, the better for the entire publishing industry.
Recycling reviews this way is a great way for reviewers and authors to get more exposure for their favorite books. They need only get permission from the reviewers to reprint their work. Reviews must be submitted according to the guidelines in the left column of the blog where they'll find the e-mail address for submitting, the format, etc.. I need submissions to be pretty much a copy and paste process because, unlike Amazon (ahem!), I'm not automated.
BTW, I'm not going back to fix any of my Amazon reviews. I'm a Vine review for Amazon and will be cautious about credits in the future but as for back reviews. Nope. Not going there. It's time consuming and I have better things to do with that precious commodity.
A few years ago Amazon deleted all my Listmanias with the same excuse, too commercial. It seems they don't know that THEY are in the business of SELLING books, too! I even used my Listmanias as references for the classes I teach at UCLA (so of course they had to include my books. I mean, they were texts for my classes!).
Those Listmanias were such a handy way to recommend books on the subjects I was teaching and still build traffic for my lists. I view policies like this as Amazon's loss. There are other ways to promote. Your 1001 Ways, my book and many others are full of them. If they take down my reviews, I will simply move on to other promotions.
I’ve long recommended writing reviews as a good way for new authors to build a platform. There are many venues other than Amazon available for that. MyShelf.com is looking for reviewers. Norm Goldman at BookPleasures.com may be open to taking you on. BN.com and Powells. Both allow authors to post their reviews of others’ books as do many other online bookstores.
So, go for it!
Oh! Also look up Mayra Calvani’s The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing (note I’m not including the Amazon link--I’m a little ticked this morning, but I get over those things fast!) and the section in your copy of The Frugal Book Promoter which gives tips on how to use reviews to help others, to network, and to promote your book.
So, what do you think? About free speech. About a commercial entity denying commercialism to its customers. About reviewing as promotion. About Amazon's short sightedness.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
21 comments:
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Wow...
ReplyDeleteAmazon has just grown too big. (And I've sent people to B&N's site first for years.)
That's like telling a doctor he cannot put MD after his name. It's not promotion - it's our credibility!
L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net
I personally think Amazon is currently being run by some frustrated writer wanna-be who is bent on making things as difficult as possible :-(
ReplyDeleteAmazon needs some competition. Seriously. If a company came along with even a smattering of a sense of customer service and care about their clientele - their repulsive and usury monopoly would come tumbling down like a house of cards.
ReplyDeleteThey will fall eventually - there IS such a thing as karma.
Power corrupts; absolute power absolutely corrupts. Amazon has gotten too big. It is a monopoly, and even hides any way to contact the company. When a business isn't up front with a way to contact it, that's a red flag.
ReplyDeleteI won't put a widget for them on my website or blog because I really don't want to give them free publicity. Turn about is fair play, right?
Grrr ...
Ooops, forgot to have emails sent to be with other comments.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Marvin that competition would put Amazon in their place. They've grown too big and forget that it's US, the writers and readers who promote, highlight, and offer links back to their website that help bring traffic.
ReplyDeleteAdding a link to our books, or stating we are reviewers, or anything to highlight that we have a book out there, which by the way probably is sold via Amazon, is nothing and shouldn't be given a sentence of 'dismissal'.
It is petty to pick on us because at some point down the line, Amazon is going to regret it.
They began with removing buy buttons from some 'romance' books they deemed unsuitable thus taking away our freedom of speech in some way; they told publishers they couldn't go with Lightening Source but their own printing company; and now this.
Enough is enough and we need to unite and speak out before another decision comes along that will affect us as writers, readers, and reviewers.
I agree that power does affect people and business.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what Amazon's purpose is here, but it seems to be detrimental to them as well as authors. They sell the books authors are promoting!
Karen
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI posted about it on my site and the VBT - Writers on the Move site. Both leading back here!
Sorry it's so late - I was out most of the day.
Karen
I think that Amazon is committing something of a sin against authors. Your book is as much a way to identify you as your name and you should be able to show it proudly. It's an example of your work and where you've been. Not that you need to show your resume to do a review, however it is "you". How very sad for Amazon that they feel they must treat their reviewers this way.
ReplyDeleteI have always liked B&N better.
ReplyDeleteBut they do not include me as the illustrator to the books I have worked on so I use Amazon link instead
I agree with you. Amazon is too big for its britches. I'm not going to promote amazon.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Touchy subject!
ReplyDeleteYou chose a good controversial subject, Carolyn! :-)
The truth is, from the beginning Amazon has always received a lot of criticism because of their reviews, which are mostly seen as overly positive or overly negative and with no real value to the consumer (believe me, I have interviewed many booksellers and librarians on the subject and this is their view).
I'm sorry to say that when you have authors (besides the friends and relatives of the authors who write reviews) writing reviews in order to promote their own books, this adds to the problem.
I think Amazon is trying to legitimize its reviews.
There are honest authors who will read a book, then post a review along with the title of their book. And that's fine. But this isn't always the way it goes.
Many unscrupulous authors will not read the book, but simply make up a review based on other reviews of the book and post it for the sole purpose of promoting their own titles. And this is no good!
How can amazon tell one from the other? It's easier to get rid of them all, if you ask me.
I love to promote my books, but I see where this is coming from from a reviewer's perspective.
Yet another form of corruption in our society. Seems to me when an organization or individual gets to big for their britches they think they are unstoppable. They should definitely re-evaluate themselves and realize in the end they are hurting not only the reviewer, the author, and themselves. Unfortunately, power is blinding and they forgot how to think outside the box. Frustrating. We all need to take a stand. And I for one, will not go back to any of my reviews and change out my signature line. Like everyone else, our time is so valuable and to waste it like this would drive me more nutty then I already am.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Donna McDine
http://familiesmatter2us.blogspot.com
I agree with all of the above. It seems that Amazon is making a mountain out of a molehill and they will not do themselves any favours in the long run.
ReplyDeleteHelena
www.helenaharper.com
Thanks for all following my this issue and for posting leads on your own blogs. These kinds of things affect us all. But my mother used to say "Never cut off your nose in spite of your face." I know that not using Amazon's power to its fullest would be detrimental to an author's promotion campaign. Having said that, to contribute and then have that time wasted is no way to to spend valuable promotion time.
ReplyDeleteI think the answer is to use the features that Amazon might censor (reviews, Lismanias, etc) guardedly and infrequently but continue to use their sales power to your benefit.
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers
Seems like they're trying to make all reviews "equal," but everyone knows reviews aren't equal. Some reviewers can write. Typically they're the ones who sign their reviews with a book, and they're the ones who know what they're looking for besides just whether a story appeals to them.
ReplyDeleteThat's insane -- how am I supposed to distinguish some random Joe Public from someone who really knows what they're talking about if authors can't mention their books?
ReplyDeleteAnd what's wrong with a little promotion? Doesn't Amazon expect that *any* of them have books that they sell? Come on!!!
Makes me crazy the things Amazon does sometimes! Yikes, I would think an author has such great credibility with reviewing books. Seems like a no brainer. I don't know what they are thinking sometimes. How about letting us sign our name, with our book title linking back to the book on Amazon's site? Seems like it would make Amazon MORE money... not less.
ReplyDelete~Barbara Techel
Author & Mom of Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog
http://www.frankiethewalknrolldog.blogspot.com
Thank you all for taking an interest in this topic, but I do have to tell you this is now old news and it has been resolved. I'm Cheryl, the author who wrote to John. :-)
ReplyDeleteFor a few days this was a definite battle with Amazon. At first no one seemed to know why every review I'd ever written and posted on Amazon had been deleted. Then a couple of employees at Amazon gave me the reasoning I stated to John--that authors couldn't mention their own books even in a signature line.
In the end, 2 senior people at Amazon said that this was a mix-up, that my reviews were deleted by accident. There is NO such policy. They were very apologetic and quickly restored all my reviews, even adding my signature line to each one individually.
My impression is that there are people working at Amazon who don't know what they're doing and think they understand the policies, but don't. There have been problems with disappearing reviews before, books have been accidentally banned from being listed or ranked...the left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand is doing over there.
But I will say, they handled this as quickly as they could. I received an apology and all is well. I'm very happy with how Amazon resolved this.
Please read the full story HERE. If you have blogged about this, please add a link to direct your readers to the whole story.
Thank you. Happy reviewing! :-)
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif
author and book marketing coach
Cheryl, I am so glad that you got this resolved. That you made waves with your letter to John (that many--like me--picked up on) probably didn't hurt. And that this came on the heels of Amazon's "glitch" snafu covered by about every newspaper in the nation.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, the removal of my Listmanias was not handled well. They were removed and never replaced, some 87 of them (if my memory serves). Listmanias I had spent many, many hours on. Listmanias that I had used to recommend lists of books to my classes at UCLA. Listmanias that were complete with mini reviews. Listmanias that I had taken pains to show the reader (disclaimers if you will--but without apology) which books I listed were mine and even which were books of colleagues.
I hope that Amazon has learned its lesson about treatment of its authors who are also readers and therefore also its customers; they not only deserve respect but their credibility can be used to give Amazon's reviews (and other features) more cache, rather than less.
It is probably too late for my Listmanias. That event occurred more than two years ago. The "glitch" incident (and yours only a few weeks ago). Yay! Your case is resolved! But I still advise authors to use caution before investing a lot of time in Amazon's features. It has been risky in the past and it is anyone's guess whether it will continue to be risky.
That you took to the time to fight back on behalf of yourself and other authors is admirable. I hope that you continue to do so.
You will be needed! It appears that Amazon does not have a clear policy on what is commercial and what isn't (they themselves are commercial and criticism of others who practice good, solid capitalism like theirs should not be punished.) Nor do they appear to be clear on how to define opinion (which they invite). Until their policies are clearly considered and disseminated among their forces, these kinds of things will continue to happen.
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Lecturer, author, actor
I have no luck with amazon as a publisher of 204 titles. The bogus occasional one star and 4 sentence reviews can kill a book or an author, and so-called reviewers who d this have nothing contructive to say and complain about a book with a single Typo as being poorly edited. After being told by Amazon to correct this problem by submitting my own reviews, I was cut off as not in good standing to write reviews of any kind, and not only did all my reviews disappear, but other reviews written by people I didn't even know disappeared. Now Amazon doesn't even respond to me--I am on a blackball list and was threatened that if I submitted another review all our titles, now 204 titles, would be de-listed, and I never even mentioned our books when I reviewed other books that I had actualy read--many times countering a one star for Hemmingway or Mark Twain---My Sony laptop drops letters and has a poor keyboard--maybe I should throw it against a wall--I think so caed reviewers give one star reviews to get their money back--or competng publishers send out the shills when a book starts to sell. I was surprised others have this problem of deletions---Good luck---I went for a long time with no problems--then suddenly? The old 1 star popped up--and no one is a shill for me--I can't get anyone to do it, even when they loved the book--so I am out of luck--book trashed. Too bad for me--too bad for truth and honesty.
ReplyDelete