Tuesday 27 November 2012

Amazon Review Bully or Joker

I am yet again left astounded why anyone would want to leave a bad review for a self publishers hard work. Maybe Amazon should take a long hard look at the review system where sellers can choose which reviews to keep or delete.
At the moment the system is open for manipulation on both sides, authors can find ways to put up five star reviews and also authors can put up 1 star reviews on fellow authors books which they feel threatened by him.

I have just received another 1 star review which is absolutely trying to destroy me, WHY? I suspect it is another author whom is trying to sabotage my hard work.
self publishers are what they are! Most of us are not in the position to hire editors who work for around a dollar fifty a page. we offer an alternative work where you have full protection if you find your not happy with the item.

The bad review left for me criticizes my grammar in every sense available,misspellings, poor parallelism, illogical dialogue, misplaced punctuation, you name it the reviewer has added it.
So if he hated my style of writing so much then why did he buy the book in the first place?
Amazon is heavily weighted on the side of the buyer, which most authors appreciate.
so why when you can read the first four chapters for free? and receive a full refund if you are unhappy, do you feel the need to destroy someone's hard work.
it just does not make sense to me" 

If the following was true
I was claiming my work to be as good as Dickens or Shakespeare.
There was no refund available.
Then I could fully understand why there would be a need to give your opinion so that maybe you could warn other potential buyers.

Maybe there are just cold-hearted people out there who get their perverted kicks trying to ruin someone's dreams?
It is so sad that people in this day and age have to put someone down in order to pump up their own importance.

In short, a guy buys my book and does not like it, he gets a refund simply by clicking a button, so where is the big deal? why be so vindictive? I have not burgled your home or shot your dog. just move on and live and let live. 
Humanity is such a wonderful thing but sometimes certain humans act so sad it makes you wonder where society is going.

3 comments:

  1. It does sound like you are being unfairly targeted and I'm sorry for that. But I do find value in an (honest) negative review, despite all your good points. The one risk I do take, particularly with a work from an author unknown to me, is my time. If a review helps me to decide not to read something that I wouldn't enjoy, that's a help.

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  2. Hi Glenn
    Thank you for your comment and opinion. To be honest with you I fully understand and accept constructive criticism. My first bad review encouraged me to completely re-edit my book where I did find a variety of silly mistakes.
    This last review though is worded very harsh, even to the point of vindictive! And that I find really hard to digest.
    It also so annoying when a review is factually incorrect, in the said review it says that I contradict myself and gives the following example - 'For Zachania, he yelled, quiet men we must sneak up on them.'
    I have gone through the whole manuscript and that sentence does not exist!
    I wish I could go back and ask him on what page or chapter did he find that but I am scared to get into a tit for tat argument on the subject.
    Do reviewers understand the harm they do to a product, I am not sure if they do, or at least I hope they do not understand.
    Since this review my book has drooped nearly 30 thousand rankings!
    In your comment Glenn you mentioned the value of your time and I fully respect that just as I respect anyone's time but when someone leaves a bad review in the calibre of the one I received. I ask myself if the hundreds of hours of my time being respected.
    (Zachania tome one is 576 pages long with a 62 page index, just typing it from paper to computer took me six months!)
    I am already grieved from my ability with the English language, it is something I am trying to work on with every spare moment of my time but it is really upsetting when you get vilified because of it.
    It is interesting to hear another side to this post, it was the reason I blogged it in the first place,so we can open up some dialogue between author and reader away from amazon.
    Thanks for the opinion Glenn I do appreciate it.
    JH

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  3. My dear gentleman friend from across the pond,

    You have accomplished a magnificent feat in writing your epic Zachania! I read the sample chapters and found it absolutely intriguing and creative, and in no way do I have anything negative to say about your writing! In fact, I applaud your magnificent creative mind that you've been blessed with!

    You must follow your dream and continue to write and not be marred by negative reviews. I believe the content, its creativity, plot, characters are the essence of a good story, and while editing is also important, in my humble opinion, it should take a backseat, after all, self pubbed books run the risk of not being edited a hundred percent.
    Find yourself an editor to relieve yourself of the stress of editing; it is a Herculean task to say the least, particularly when an epic is involved.

    God bless. Keep writing! Remember some of the great sin life met with constant disappointment and criticism; such as Walt Disney! He was told he had no imagination or talent!!


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