tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post8800710788186132996..comments2024-03-18T06:16:18.802-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Konrath Posts Fake Amazon Reviews!JA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-14436110867863213612016-02-01T03:38:10.957-06:002016-02-01T03:38:10.957-06:00Keep on working man, great job! Inspiring posts on...Keep on working man, great job! Inspiring posts on the blog, I love it.<br /><a href="http://www.theeyegen.com/consumers-confidence-and-the-online-fake-reviews" rel="nofollow">online reviews confidence online</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11718088637061523602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-31089896298938889512013-03-26T17:57:58.918-05:002013-03-26T17:57:58.918-05:00now that some hilarious style
from indonesianow that some hilarious style <br />from indonesiacyber-malanghttp://www.cyber-malang.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-6475492222775819332013-03-03T07:12:01.026-06:002013-03-03T07:12:01.026-06:00I LOVE LOVE the funny fake reviews on Amazon~! I w...I LOVE LOVE the funny fake reviews on Amazon~! I was really happy the first time I saw one - it was for binders right around election time. Suddenly there were over 100 reviews for those binders and most left 5 stars. I thought - I should be selling binders~! So please always leave 5 stars whenever you make a fake funny review.<br /><br />On the flip side, I have a brand. As a brand, I have competitors. I had 3 fake 1 star fake reviews all saying different complaints: one burned, another did nothing, etc. all the same exact product. They killed that product on Amazon. I had to pull it down. I think that's really messed up. Am I supposed to go around leaving bad reviews for other people's products rather than spending my time making more fabulous products than my competitors? I think not. The knowledge that anyone at any time for any reason can just shut down my business... wow, I can't even tell you how much that sucks. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-60227088228417250392013-01-03T15:16:46.208-06:002013-01-03T15:16:46.208-06:00As an indie author who just published my first boo...As an indie author who just published my first book, I don't get many reviews - certainly none with any humor; what I do get are reviews from my reading circle (mostly positive) and those from people who hate me, found out about my book and want to get my ratings down.<br />I wish someone would give me some fake, funny reviews! I would appreciate some honest ordinary ones too....<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-35618048530105843562012-12-31T09:46:37.812-06:002012-12-31T09:46:37.812-06:00Amazon is removing reviews that *it thinks* are fr...Amazon is removing reviews that *it thinks* are fraudulent (without explanation or trial) and leaving bad reviews which are clearly fraudulent. That's a great business practice: do everything you can to destroy your vendors' credibility.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-38956383828067188902012-12-02T15:54:29.652-06:002012-12-02T15:54:29.652-06:00Seriously amusing; great post. Read all your revie...Seriously amusing; great post. Read all your reviews and loved them, especially the one about the "toy security checkout." <br /><br />Cannot believe it actually sells, but it must. But why? To help kids accept such things as "normal?" To allow invasive security checks to become woven into our lives without question? <br /><br />Reminds me of the "all clear" scene in "The Time Machine." Who's the toy maker? The former Blackwater? Am ever amazed at how well negative products sell. Guess I shouldn't be. Who doesn't love an adrenaline rush? Peace and tolerance-building games and toys really can't match the thrill of being strip searched. ;-)Clyohttp://www.prayerforce.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-20573956333984293232012-11-12T09:54:49.499-06:002012-11-12T09:54:49.499-06:00The problem with fake reviews isn't in what is...The problem with fake reviews isn't in what is written. I think we can all agree that spotting the joke is easy enough (even if we don't all find it funny).<br /><br />The problem is that Amazon uses star ratings to push products on the basis that higher ratings = better products. By giving fake 5* reviews, you push products up above legitimately better competitiors (e.g. via 'sort high to low best reviewed'). Seannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-35612589457112340912012-10-09T00:06:58.203-05:002012-10-09T00:06:58.203-05:00I laughed so hard, I cried.
I, too, bought the Th...I laughed so hard, I cried.<br /><br />I, too, bought the Three Wolf Moon shirt on the strength of the reviews. I also featured it in one of my books as its mystical powers enabled my psychic character to solve murders.<br />Dora McAlpinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01725279935403499768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-72598918145922167672012-10-07T11:42:30.271-05:002012-10-07T11:42:30.271-05:00Clever to post fake reviews because now when you g...Clever to post fake reviews because now when you get accused of leaving fake reviews you can point to this post.Gary Dobbs/Jack Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10935686140719743351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-82311457427258514702012-10-03T05:04:56.634-05:002012-10-03T05:04:56.634-05:00Complete and good article... thank's for share...Complete and good article... thank's for share this ..Ricdetophttp://www.ricdetop.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61417849219184547902012-10-02T18:21:20.381-05:002012-10-02T18:21:20.381-05:00Rob Gregory Browne said:
"I've also said...Rob Gregory Browne said:<br /><br />"I've also said more than once that I believe SOME people may base their decisions on reviews, but that the number one factor in sales is WORD OF MOUTH. Meaning recommendations from friends, family, etc., that readers know and trust."<br /><br />Believing this or that means nothing. You either have the figures or you don't.<br /><br />Eric supplied the figures. And the first line of the report says that consumers are increasingly making decisions based on what they read online.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-385447092238306942012-10-02T11:24:40.521-05:002012-10-02T11:24:40.521-05:00@Eric: thanks for the data. I went to Google Schol...@Eric: thanks for the data. I went to Google Scholar, googled the beginning of the article title and got a full text version on line for free. Printed it out and will read it, cover to cover. Glancing at it now, and factoring in what my own experience and instinct says, reviews CAN (not WILL) affect books sales. How much (if any) depends on the circumstances I think (i.e. a new author as yet unheard of versus established author or book with tremendous publicity for any reason, etc.)<br /><br />I found it particularly interesting that, according to this research, rating manipulation alone didn't effectively influence sales, but that good review writers (my spin) who were able to reflect individuality (such as sentiment) DID "significantly influence a consumer's purchase decision." Eeek. I guess that means writers, assuming they're even a little bit good, could cause harm with nasty reviews of their competition.<br /><br />Here's the url to the full text article: http://dblab.mgt.ncu.edu.tw/%E6%95%99%E6%9D%90/2012_SNM/34.pdfStella Bakerhttp://www.stellabaker.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-10021406179722603402012-10-01T19:41:05.128-05:002012-10-01T19:41:05.128-05:00Most authors would probably like to have good revi...<i>Most authors would probably like to have good reviews rather than bad reviews. Except Rob Gregory Browne who seems confident that readers ignore every review and make up their mind about book purchases based on, well, hmmm, the cover? </i><br /><br />These two snarky lines alone make it clear that you haven't really been reading my posts.<br /><br />I've said at least twice now that I prefer to get good reviews over bad. Of course. It's an ego thing. Would WOULDN'T want good reviews?<br /><br />I've also said more than once that I believe SOME people may base their decisions on reviews, but that the number one factor in sales is WORD OF MOUTH. Meaning recommendations from friends, family, etc., that readers know and trust.<br /><br />Apparently you have no interest in actually reading what I have to say, so, really, what's the point? <br /><br />At least Eric seems to have looked carefully into this thing and offers illuminating links. He also includes his name...Rob Gregory Brownehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785299355462748009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-78869020859015485002012-10-01T12:30:45.418-05:002012-10-01T12:30:45.418-05:00gagitarThanks for this, Eric. Interesting and info...gagitarThanks for this, Eric. Interesting and informative. The whole business, whether the fake reviews are positive or negative, still leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.I.J.Parkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-78115213320892877032012-10-01T12:10:30.349-05:002012-10-01T12:10:30.349-05:00Here are a few findings for this audience from the...Here are a few findings for this audience from the studies I've been linking to--because you have to pay $40 bucks to access them, or else are able to get around the fees, and because these studies are currently the only ones of their kind that focus on the manipulation of online book reviews. The findings are based on thousands of books sold on Amazon and/or B&N.<br /><br />-- About 10% of the online book reviews on Amazon were deemed to be "manipulated," i.e., fake reviews. (But this is 2005 data and I expect the ratio to be higher today, and there are good reasons for believing so.)<br /><br />-- There is a higher percentage of fake reviews on B&N than on Amazon.<br /><br />-- Readers are fooled by fake reviews to a "statistically significant" extent. But they're not fooled by average star ratings. They are by the sentiments in the text, and as a result the fake review writers do reduce the informativeness of the consumer reviews system and increase sales of their own books.<br /><br />So to my mind the debate about whether harm occurs via fake reviews is over. It's just a matter now of debating whether a statistically significant finding of harm is significant in a real world sense. <br /><br />-- Fake 1 star reviews have a larger negative impact on sales than fake 5 stars have a positive impact <br /><br />-- Incidents of fake reviews, positive and negative, begin early in a book's life, but by the time a book reaches about 50 reviews the incidence has decreased considerably. By that point it has become too hard to influence sales, negatively or positively, by fake reviews.<br /><br />-- Lower rated books are more likely to have fake reviews than higher rated booksEric Christophersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03534731344216684771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-80281382071857531322012-10-01T08:35:48.113-05:002012-10-01T08:35:48.113-05:00Carmen McCormack said...
"Reviews DO NOT hur...Carmen McCormack said...<br /><br />"Reviews DO NOT hurt sales - go look at the reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey on Amazon - there are almost as many 1 star's as 5 star's - that book remains a best seller."<br /><br />You can't judge the impact of online reviews from a book that already has other favorable media coverage. Too many other promotional factors at work here.<br /><br />Vast numbers of people bought the book compared to the number of reviews on Amazon.<br /><br />But the average author wants and needs good reviews.<br /><br />New authors sell hardly any books at all in the early days. Every good review counts.<br /><br />This is such an obvious proposition that I'm surprised anyone is debating the value of good reviews.<br /><br />I can only surmise that authors prefer to hold nonsensical views than believe the bad reviews they get say something about the quality of their writing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-39106645742207440212012-10-01T05:06:04.957-05:002012-10-01T05:06:04.957-05:00"Posts Fake" ......., I just heard the &..."Posts Fake" ......., I just heard the "fake address"Harun Arhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09893566506759296572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-52824514606239563362012-10-01T02:14:43.081-05:002012-10-01T02:14:43.081-05:00Reviews DO NOT hurt sales - go look at the reviews...Reviews DO NOT hurt sales - go look at the reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey on Amazon - there are almost as many 1 star's as 5 star's - that book remains a best seller.Carmen McCormacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-5847540999470239992012-09-30T22:35:41.806-05:002012-09-30T22:35:41.806-05:00Eric, thanks for the link. There's a lot to di...<i>Eric, thanks for the link. There's a lot to digest there, but from what I was able to gather from a quick read, their conclusions are anything but definitive and they admit that they're dealing with limited data.</i><br /><br />Well if you're interested in more evidence that reviews of books hurt or improve sales, Rob, you could dive into this article too, but you might have to pay for the privilege, and graduate training in statistics would really be helpful. :) <br /><br />http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167923611002065<br /><br />It's a study of 5,000 or so books on Amazon in which the regression model developed suggests that two-thirds of the variation in book sales are explained by online reviews.Eric Christophersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03534731344216684771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-75976849774311372462012-09-29T18:40:04.347-05:002012-09-29T18:40:04.347-05:00Seriously, Dude - that was hilarious!
You made my...Seriously, Dude - that was hilarious!<br /><br />You made my day.Paula Millhousehttp://www.paulamillhouse.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-78731678146988950472012-09-29T05:04:54.944-05:002012-09-29T05:04:54.944-05:00Wow! They sell a lot of weird stuff in America, hu...Wow! They sell a lot of weird stuff in America, huh.<br /><br />It's up to the customer to use their brain. Any idiot can write a review. You have to judge the intelligence of the reviewer and not just take their, often misinformed, opinions as fact. We shouldn't <i>need</i> babysitting for everything online, it's just common sense.<br /><br />That was a good laugh - I salute you, sir.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-21894866093489363392012-09-29T03:57:48.998-05:002012-09-29T03:57:48.998-05:00Now that's some hilarious stuf..lol...from IND...Now that's some hilarious stuf..lol...from INDONESIA with smile.Icahbanjarmasinhttp://www.icahbanjarmasin.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61786935432491258302012-09-28T20:43:26.285-05:002012-09-28T20:43:26.285-05:00OK, one time that resulted in a sale from a bad re...OK, one time that resulted in a sale from a bad review.<br /><br />I love zombie books. Found one by Rhiannon Frater. Lots of bad reviews. Most of the bad reviews complained because her protagonists were female and OMG the book had sex in it!!<br /><br />I bought that book as fast as possible. And the rest of the series too and everything else she has written because once I read the first book I was hooked on her voice.Jill Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754506629717417267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17912113778003492092012-09-28T20:27:51.198-05:002012-09-28T20:27:51.198-05:00Rob Gregory Browne said:
"I acknowledge that...Rob Gregory Browne said:<br /><br />"I acknowledge that some people are swayed by reviews beforehand, but I tend to believe that most people—especially people who love to read—have minds of their own and are independent enough to choose a book in spite of its reviews."<br /><br />I think it's already been established on this blog that reviews do make a difference.<br /><br />Most people definitely don't have an independent mind. Ask anyone in the persuasion business from advertising to politics.<br /><br />Given a choice between good reviews and bad reviews, most people will buy the book with the good reviews.<br /><br />Most authors would probably like to have good reviews rather than bad reviews. Except Rob Gregory Browne who seems confident that readers ignore every review and make up their mind about book purchases based on, well, hmmm, the cover? The price? Whether it fits into their bag? Whatever it is, Rob seems to believe it's not the opinion of other people who have actually read the book. Go figure.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-42915415641455847222012-09-28T14:31:36.414-05:002012-09-28T14:31:36.414-05:00Brilliant blog as always and one I thoroughly agre...Brilliant blog as always and one I thoroughly agree with.LK Wattshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09366991733427612418noreply@blogger.com