So I thought I would address an issue that’s bothering me: Amazon (fake) reviews.

Most people who are thinking about buying a book head off to Amazon to read the reviews. Many of you do this and put little thought to the validity and source of the reviews. There is a dark side to the Amazon review system: it’s actively being gamed by both unscrupulous authors and publishers.

Never thought about that did you? The Amazon review system is vulnerable to anyone who wants to take advantage of it. Practically anyone can post a review on Amazon undery any pseudonym. The word on the street is that publishers pay marketing firms to “promote” their books on the web. One of these “promotional” tactics, probably the most effective book sale-wise, is to register a medley of fake personas and use them to pad the 5 Star review ratings of a book on Amazon. Yes, this takes some effort on the part of a person, but one or two people determined to give top ratings to a book can easily spend a couple days (or weeks) writing up fake reviews and posting the on Amazon. There are entire marketing teams out there that are dedicated to this. A publisher’s own marketing team might even do this.

Why would publishers and authors sell out their ethics to try and con people into buying books? Money, lads, it’s all about money. Success or failure can rest upon the Amazon rating. Now for big name authors, their books’ Amazon ratings may not matter so much – they have such a reputation and presence in bookstores that the average Joe will just buy the book off the shelve without doing research first. But new authors and authors who publish in smaller genres often earn their bread from the Amazon review system. A drop of a star can make a significant difference in the sales of the book. It should come as no surprise then that people will try and game the Amazon rating sytem to generate more money.

You can bet your mother and your first born child that many authors and even more publishers stoop to posting fake, glowing reviews. Can I directly proof this; no. Am I positive? Yes.

Why does Amazon allow this? Because they make a lot of money from this. Sales of books mean money in Amazon’s pocket. It’s kind of like eBay trying to stop seller of counterfeit items. With each sale of a fake purse, eBay get’s a commission. So why would they actually want to do something about stopping it? It’s taking money out of t heir pocket. Amazon, my readers, has even less reason than eBay, who is at least being sued by the companies affected by the fake products being sold. So Amazon is happy, the publishers making money from the fake reviews are happy, and the authors are probably happy as well, given that they benefit from the process. Do all authors write fake reviews? Probably not, but there are a lot that certainly do.

How To Protect Yourself From Fake Amazon Reviews
So if you are scoping the Amazon reviews and trying to make a buying decision, here are three things you can do to protect yourself.

1. Read the 3 STAR (and below) ratings.
More often than not, these are the real reviews, not publisher-paid fake review crap. These reviews often show the true substance of the book. ALWAYS take 5 star reviews with a grain of salt and then some. If you really want to be sure, take a look at what other reviews the review has written. If there are lots of different genres and books reviews, it’s probably a real review. One of the signatures of a fake review is that the “review” only has a couple other reviews (though they could have a lot of reviews if the persona is used on regular basis — say as a job), and the reviews are all about the same author’s books.

2. Look for the Cons
Usually these fake publisher reviews give a gushy 4-5 star rating. If there are no negative points listed, be very wary. Rarely is a book so perfect as that. If there are negative points listed, make sure the rating makes sense. Some fake reviews list a couple negative points as a matter of principle, just to make the review look genuine. You will also note that the language and style of some fake reviews look the same. That’s because they are often written by the same person. More on this below.

3. Search the Web for Blog Book Reviews
Type the name of the book + “review” in google. High profile genre book blogs will often show up with reviews of the book on em. Read a couple of these reviews. These reviews are often far more trust worthy than any review you’ll find on Amazon.

A Portrait of an Amazon Fake Review: Case Study

Now, it’s nice to talk about all this in theory, but let’s do a bit of a case study. Let me present to you the biggest online fake review scammer of them all: Robert Stanek (or Robert Stinkit as I like to call him). This guy has mastered to art of posting fake, glowing, smary reviews about his books. And he’s apparently made a great living off doing it. Robert Stanek is the worst writer in the fantasy genre. All his books are self-published, and they are utter and complete crap. But, if you look on Amazon, you will notice he has 300 + reviews with almost perfect 5 star ratings. Don’t believe me, check out Robert Stanek Fake Amazon Reviews

Let’s see some of these so called reviews from someone named Jodi F.:

My husband and I are both teachers and as a parent with boys in 5th and 6th grades, I found this an outstanding novel. You only have to read this to see why it is becoming one of the most beloved books of all time. The writing sings, the illustrations and the wealth of extras take your breath away and the story is as deep and rich as stories get. I doubt the author knew he had written something on par with Rowling’s Potter when he finished it but he certainly had to know he’d written something special. And this book is truly something special.

A look at other reviews she’s/he’s written show other 5 star reviews written about…you guessed it…Stanek’s other books.

Let’s look at one more review by someone named GrammaBonnie:

Since their first publication nearly a decade ago (2001 in ebook), Stanek’s Ruin Mist books have become some of the most beloved books of all time. There’s a reason for this: they are very well produced, very well written and gorgeously illustrated. I hold these books in as high regard as Lewis’s Narnia and Tolkien’s Hobbit.

I’m thrilled to be able to share this book and hope my kids will share this book with theirs and theirs with theirs. Truly a joy to read, from an author who is among the most skilled I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Our favorite editions of these are the special illustrated. The next one is The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches II (Keeper Martin’s Tales, Book 2, Special Illustrated Edition). Don’t miss the sequel series In the Service of Dragons (In the Service of Dragons, Book 1). I also found Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ruin Mist: The Essential Reader’s Guide to be a fascinating read.

Now, notice the same overly effusive praise? In fact the language is very similar in tone and style. I’d be willing to be it’s written by the same person, probably the author himself, Robert Stanek. In fact, both reviews contain two phrases that are identical: “the most beloved books of all time.” A coinsidence? Nope.

Then we even get a list of, lo and behold, more books written by Stanek. A quick check on what other books our old granny has written reveal all her other reviews are written of…guess? Robert Stanek’s books.

Now take a look at an actual, real review — a review that gave the book its deserving 1 star:

I can’t understand why this book has such great reviews. I usually don’t write reviews, but I was so disappointed by this book, I felt I had too. Bad grammar, boring characters, jumps in the plot that make NO sense, and terrible formatting. The illustrations where not great either. The book is only 140 or so pages, and I have had to force myself through them. Save your money, don’t buy this book. There are MUCH better fantasy writers out there.

Don’t believe me still. Want a sample of a book, according the one of the fake reviewers here that is “truly something special”? Well here is an excerpt taken from the book:

“Always more reminders of the things she should or should not do—her proper place, always her proper place. She knew all about the proper things, the proper mannerisms, the proper greetings, her proper duties, her proper place. She had even been taught, though only recently, the proper things to do to invite a man’s attention. She was to begin courting. But why?”

My eyes are bleeding already and I’m about to have a proper fit…

“Seth returned to the room they shared then and did a thing he claimed not to understand. Galan was sitting on the edge of her bed, running a comb through her long hair. He sat beside her and the next thing he knew his lips were pressed against hers.
Immediately afterward, Seth fled the room and in his confused state of mind, said he knew of only one person he could turn to. Brother Liyan had been meditating in his private chambers and, without announcement, Seth burst into the room and in one great rush of thoughts explained all that had happened since he left the hall.”

There are even worse abominations of the English language present in the book. My three year old niece can write better then this. This book is truly something “special,” something especially bad!

So, be very very careful when using Amazon’s Review system to decide whether to buy a book or not. Look for other non-amazon reviews and always treat the Amazon reviews with more then a few grains of salt. For my next posting, I’ll going to post a review of Stanek’s book. It’s should be funny.

You’ve written that brain child and want to gain recognition as a writer. Should you go the self publishing route?

Every writer has probably faced this question at some point. In the modern age, self-publishing is becoming easier and easier. Why spend all the work sending off a manuscript after manuscript only to get rejection after rejection. I mean, it’s simply easier to write your novel then send it off to a vanity press and get your novel instantly published…for a price. Or you can opt for the many online self publishing services. These services will even put the book onto an online store so you can start reaping instant profits. They practically promise your literary and commercial sucess should you go ahead and pay them to publish your novel. So should you go the self publishing route?

No, I do not feel this is the path you should take, should you wish to be a “Writer.” There are two types of writers out there: writers and published writers. If you want to be the former, by all means self publish. But all the “real” writers are published. Real writers have readership. Sorry if that stings, but it’s the bare truth.

Now, there two types of self-publishers out there. The first type are those who want to create a vanity project, with no aspirations of readership or literary success. You can probably throw in those who write a book that has no chance of being picked up by a major publisher because the book has low salability — it’s eclectic or some sub genre that won’t attract to much readership. If this is these are case, then self publishing may work for you. The other type of self publisher are those who want to gain commercial/literary success with their writing but aren’t willing to put the work in to get published.

Now, sorry if this sounds rude, but I feel this is absolutely true. Oh, I’m not saying that these types don’t spend the time to write a book to the best of their abilities. But these types are unwilling to endure the growing pains of becoming a Writer – growing pains that include constant publisher rejections, rewrite after rewrite, and years of writing without seeing any tangible results.

If you are considering self publishing and want to be a Writer, with the capital sense of the word, then don’t self publish – you are shooting yourself in the foot. The problem with self-publishing is that many writers want an easy path to becoming a Writer. That’s fine. But like anything in life, most things worth having or achieving take some god-honest work. In life, there are no shortcuts – this applies to writing as well. I know there are many writer types out there that feel going the published route is giving into the “Man”, that true artistic merit cannot be judged, blah blah blah. These types of self-published authors remind me of those kids who show up on the American idol auditions with delusions of their singing prowess. They are only fooling themselves.

Now, I’m not trying to offend self-published authors here. I’m just stating the facts of how it looks from my side of the fence. Many self-published authors absolutely believe self publishing is a path—or an easier path–to commercial or literary success. I am simply stating in my experience, it’s not and it will probably lead to a dead end or at least delusions of success. What’s the difference between unpublished authors and self-published authors? A string of rejection letters over the years and a hell of a lot more hard work on the part of the published author. Most published authors out there have a plethora of publishing rejections under their belt. They use each successive rejection to improve their writing and storytelling abilities until they get to the “publishable” level. This can take years, maybe even ten years, of single minded dedication.

If you think that simply having a book that you can feel in your hands instantly puts you on equal footing prose-wise or storytelling-wise with writers who have spent years getting rejections by professional editors and using those rejections to improve their writing craft, think again. Any self-publishing website that tell you otherwise is flat out lying.

Now I know there are those lucky few that don’t go through all these hurdles, but these are an exception to the rule. Most published authors can list off a litany of publishing rejections – for writers it’s some what of a in joke to list their battle scar rejections.

But ironically it’s these rejections that help you to get published. There is a lot to say having a pro editor look over your work and offer critiques with the rejection – these rejections and critiques help the writer improve their prose and storytelling, and make each new book effort more likely to meet with success.

Now, if you want to self publish and you know what you are getting into, I truly wish you the best. I’m sure there are many good reasons for doing so, and I am sure they are all valid ones. But if you want to find commercial success and gain a readership as well as social respect, consistently self publishing books is not the way to go — indeed, self publishing your books may only be stunting your growth as a writer. As an experiment while honing your writing chops, sure. But if you want to be a writer with readers, no. If you want to go the self-publishing route, by all means, self-publish away, but make sure you at least understand exactly what you are doing when you do so.

Best Fantasy Books Expose: The Dirty Truth behind Advanced Book Review Copies

When I was looking through some of the fantasy book sites linking to my site, I noticed an author’s website as one of the links. I explored this site and found it was the site of an author whose publisher offered to send me a review copy as part of a virtual tour promotion they were hosting for the author. This author, R Scott has written a new book called The Saga of Beowulf.

Now, he’s an independent author not backed by a major publisher (you know, TOR, Harper Collins, etc). For authors who are not backed by the mainstream, it can be a difficult challenge finding readers and success. I understand that and I have nothing but admiration for writers who can find commercial success. As such, Scott is sort of an “everyman” for struggling writers who don’t have a major publisher propping them up. So I thought I would use him as a bit of a case study (sorry R. Scott to use you this way, but you know what they say, publicity is publicity!).

R. Scott complains about sending expensive review copies out to websites with nothing to show for it and concludes that this is a waste of time since he hasn’t experienced any instant benefits from Amazon sales.

I thought I would offer my insight into the matter as “one of these book blogs”. Now, in this case, I was initially suppose to receive a book to review from this author but there was a mix-up and the book never came in the mail – which made this site and me, look bad. Apparently, he was almost expecting this no show of a review from his previous experiences. This entire ordeal really highlights something: if you are an author not backed by a major publisher, your book has a much greater chance of not being reviewed.

Let’s look at this whole model that’s sprung into existence that past few years: publishers and authors want to promote their book so they target some of the better known genre blogs or book websites with email offer to send in a review copy with the expectation of a review. This is usually a good deal for both sides. The website gets some material to write about and the author/publisher gets publicity. However, this beneficial relationship seems to exclude certain parties; independent authors backed by small, unknown publishers and self published authors often find themselves stuck outside while the “big boys” get to play inside. Why?

There are two main reasons. The first is because destined-to-hit-the-bookstore-books have innate value. Book blogs eagerly snap up review copies from known publishers because it gives them the opportunity to review the book before the book hits the bookstores (giving them some “exclusive” content). They can also use the book as a giveaway prize which can increase readership of the blog (hey, who doesn’t like a free prize?). Some blogs even gasp, sell the book on ebay – if it’s a highly anticipated book, say a book by George R.R. Martin, that hasn’t been released, this can fetch a pretty penny. A self-published book or book published by small publisher that no one has ever heard of can not be used to leverage in extra cash or increase visitors to the site. If I write a review for a book that’s going to be in the bookstores, this increases my website traffic. There are people out there who are searching for that book on Google. They will find my website based on the review. Writing a review for a self-published book, or a book that wont be in the bookstore (available online only, or through the author’s/publisher’s website), won’t bring in the traffic because the book doesn’t have the publicity to generate Google searches. You basically write a review for the sake of writing a review. Yes, I’m sorry to break it to you guys who think your favorite fantasy/science fiction/mystery book blogs are “pure.” For some, especially the bigger ones, it’s a business and as such, treated like a business. Whichever path yields the most traffic and money while requiring the least amount of work will be taken.

The second reason is because books published my major publishers are usually make better reads. Gasp! Yes, it’s true – at least in my experience. This is also why many of the big book blogs (in this case, let’s say fantasy book blogs) won’t accept books not published by “big name” publishers as a way of a quality screen. It sucks for the poor (probably literally — being a writer is usually no path to riches) author on the other side of the fence, but that’s just the way the cards have fallen in this day and age. It’s sort of like who everyone complains about having to cater to the corrupt education system by taking tests but in the end still take the test. Folks, that’s just the way it is.

“Oh,” you say. “You are being unfair.” Well maybe I am, but the undeniable truth is that self-published books have a certain stigma to them. Self published books, as a tendency, are vastly inferior in both content and quality to published books. Now, before all you self-published authors start sending me hate mail, your book may be terrific. But, the thought that rings through my mind when considering whether to read a self-published fantasy novel is that if a publisher has rejected your manuscript (and these people make their bread and butter from gleaning publishable-worthy material out of the thousands of manuscripts sent to them a year) why would I want to read it? If you didn’t even bother to send it to a publisher to be evaluated, why would I also want to read it? I’m not trying to smash the dreams of all who believe they are destined for literary glory, but I’m saying that if you really want to find sucess as a author, consider other options other then self-publishing or vanity press options. I’m not saying that you can’t find success by going the self-publishing route, but you have an Everest of a climb ahead of you. There are a few authors who have found great success with this model, but they’ve resorted to smarmy tactics to do so. If you are a self-published author, you might ultimately come to a crossroad choice: keep your literary and intellectual honesty and remain poor and unknown, or sell out and lie to the public to make money. I won’t say how it done (it’s dishonest and incredibly annoying), but this is probably your only route to actually writing self-published fiction as a day job. It’s rare indeed for a self-published author to eventually get the backing of a major publisher; it’s been done, but it’s more of a rags-to-riches fairy tale than a daily reality (I believe Eragon is one example of a book that did so).

Authors who choose to go with a small (unknown) publisher may also find their battle for success quite difficult. A somehat similar (though much less) stigma applies to small, unknown publishers, especially if they sell their books through a website or via Amazon. The first thing potential reviewers do is look at the publisher’s industry creds. Online-only distribution is a big red flag for *some*. Now, I have to be careful here because many of the people who read this blog and send me book review offers are from small, little known publishers. My goal is not to offend you guys, but offers some information to elucidate how some big book websites/blooks consider what books to review. If the publisher is little more than a married couple operating out of a garage — and this is apparent from the presentation of the publiser’s website and credentials, well let’s just say that said reviewer will not be too inclined to read the book from this publisher. Now, again, I am not bashing small publisher or authors who have the backing of small publishers — we all have to start from somewhere. I’m just saying that it’s still going to be an uphill battle, but one that certainly easier than going the self published route.

I get inundated with publishers and authors wanting to send me their books (usually independent authors or small, almost unknown publishers). I usually say yes to these offers, afterall I like to help out the little guys in the literary world, but it’s getting to the point where I have this big stack of books that I’m obligated to read and very little time to read them then write a complicated review. I can fully understand why many of the major book blogs or websites say no or implement a “publisher screen.”

Now, back to R. Scott. This new author was complaining about sending review copies to book blogs only to find that these websites did not write a promised review. I’ve outlines some of the reasons why this may be the case. His ultimate conclusion: don’t send out book review copies because it’s a waste of time.

I disagree.

Yes, some websites may accept a book and run, but that’s part of the risk you take. If you do get a review, that’s a pretty darn good deal, considering someone has to plow through 500 or so pages then write a review. How much do you think someone would charge to read 500 pages of text that they have no initial interest in, and then write 500 word review of said text? That sounds suspiciously like work to me; if you were to go out and pay a writer to actually read and write a articulate review, we’re talking a couple days wages here. Many authors and publishers (small ones) seem to take it for granted that sending us a free book means we book blogs are obligated to review it. In my case, if I accept a book, I’ll review it. It may not be an instant review (unless we agree on a timeframe), but I’ll write one eventually. Some book blogs may not. It’s a bit dastardly, but remember, if you are a new author or small publisher who does not put books into a bookstore, it’s a favor for us bloggers to read and review your book. There are a zillion other published books out there for us to read, and many means of reading them for free — and writing reviews for those books benifits our websites with traffic.

Frankly, if I want to read a book for pleasure, I’ll go out and buy it for 10 bucks. The 10-20 or so hours it takes to read a book then write a review is a monumental effort — especially if reading the book as favor to the new author or unknown publisher. I certainly don’t get any benefit out of it, traffic-wise or financial. It’s one thing to read a book you want to read; it’s another thing all together to pick up and read a book that’s given to you by a 3rd party with commercial interests in mind. Now, I’m not saying reading a review copy won’t turn into a pleasurable experience, it’s just at the outset, there is no innate interest in the book. It’s sort of like you are expecting a bad book and waiting to be proven wrong. How’s that for sparking you interest in a book?

However, despite having these cards stacked against you, this doesn’t mean you should stop trying. If you do manage to get a review from a website, that review will sit around in Google — in perpetuity. That can add up to a lot of exposure over the long run. You also expose your book and name to thousands of potential readers; if the author is kind enough to link to your website, you also get a nice (permanent) increase in traffic AND an increase in your website’s Google rankings from the backlink.

If you don’t have a major publisher backing you by pushing your book into the bookstores and you refuse to send out review copies, how will you get any exposure? So, to all your self-published and independent authors out there, the road is long and the journey hard, but keep on tossing those review copies out there, the payoff will be worth it.