John Kremer's Book Marketing Tip of the Week

Amazon Gets Stupid

Update from Cheryl Kaye Tardif: Apparently now Amazon will allow you to list a book title with your book reviews. No links. This is not official yet, but they did allow Cheryl to list a book title with her book reviews.

I received the following information from several authors today. Here is a good summary of Amazon's new enforcement policy from Cheryl Kaye Tardif:

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 for why my reviews had been deleted. After numerous emails, 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. They recently made changes to the Amazon Connect program and all our blogs were temporarily gone too. Most are back up.

They also 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 that in their signature line. It can lead to deletion and suspension, according to Amazon's latest email.

I argued the fact 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; he even wanted us to include the ISBN, which I only did a couple of times then stopped. 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.

Please forward this on to all authors you know and any writing organizations or associations you belong to.

[Reprinted with permission from Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author and Book Marketing Coach, http://www.cherylktardif.com]

John's Comments:

I think Cheryl's email 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 post. 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

Addendum from Cheryl Kay Tardif: Amazon's last stunt was to ask me to tell them which other authors (because I said thousands of others) were signing reviews with their book titles. Can you believe it?? I was stunned!!

I basically said, “Sorry, but I'm not comfortable pointing the finger at other authors. You'll have to look for the thousands and thousands of authors who write reviews like this yourself. Sorry.”

I highly recommend that if you're an author you edit your reviews now and have only your name as a signature. You cannot mention your own book title in any review or review comment. Trust me, you do not want to go through the week of hell that I just did. The Amazon review department is only accessible via email.

More from Cheryl: http://writetype.blogspot.com/2009/04/update-on-my-battle-with-amazon-over.html

Second addendum: Once I was told about my book title in my signature line being the reason, I told them that if this is a policy they're going to enforce, I'd be happy to edit my reviews. I was fighting Amazon because of HOW they went about all this, not because I wanted to complain that my book title wasn't allowed. Anyways, it's done. I'm glad we can all just carry on. :-)

One more note from John: I don't really have a stake in this issue. I've only written about ten reviews and, if Amazon deletes those, it's not my loss. It won't hurt my book sales. I just think it's really stupid to penalize the best reviewers Amazon has — that is, other authors.

Cheryl's update from Monday late . . .

So much has happened in the past 24 hours. I have been contacted by authors, author organization reps, reporters, book marketers, bloggers and finally, someone from Amazon. Amazon has been bombarded by emails from authors, orgs, marketers etc, and last night I noticed that Amazon in Seattle had checked out my blog posts. ;-)

Today I received an email from a senior member of the Amazon Communities team. He apologized and stated that my reviews had been reinstated.

I began my reply with a thank you and how I knew they'd been reinstated 2 days ago. It wasn't until I got to the end of writing my reply that I had a strange thought. I immediately went to check my reviews on Amazon. Guess what I found??

All my reviews have "author of Divine Intervention" added to them! It's not how I signed them exactly, but it's a start.

I am now gong to notify the dozens of sources who are following this story.

To those who edited their review signatures, I'm sorry but I gave you the info that Amazon reps told me, that we had to remove our book titles and any product links to our own books. At this time, by reinstating my reviews to include my book title (not linked), I think it's safe to say that they are not going to reinforce this policy, so we can relax and add this info without worry.

I am trying to get an official statement from someone in Amazon on this.

Cheryl, Thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog (http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com) which covered your story.

I am so glad that you got this resolved. That you pursued with with Amazon. That you made waves with your letter to John Kremer. That many--like me--picked up on it probably didn't hurt. And that this came on the heels of Amazon's recent "glitch" snafu that was covered by about every newspaper in the nation probably helped as well. (BTW, that disaster was also fixed--but only after it made headlines.)

Having 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; authors (customers) 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 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.

— Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Lecturer, author, actor

Responses: Amazon Is Stupid

Here are some responses I've received to the original post above.

I don’t think that policy is at all stupid. What credibility can a book review have if it is written by the author of the book being reviewed? Amazon simply does not want its review process used for shameless self-promotion and even though I am an author and book publisher I totally agree with that position.

John's Comment: This isn't about authors reviewing their own books. It's about authors reviewing other books and products on Amazon. Amazon is telling authors that when they review other books, they cannot list their credentials: no book title, no website, no link to their Amazon book page.

I agree with you that an author reviewing their own book is shameless and stupid. I could see why Amazon would not want those reviews. But why would Amazon cut out their best reviewers: other authors?

As a group, authors read more books than 95% of the population. Authors also buy more books than 95% of the population. That means that authors really are in the best position to review books.

Why in the world would Amazon limit the ability of authors to give their credentials — which provides potential customers with a good reason to give more credence to such reviews? If Stephen King reviews a novel, I know it's going to be great. But how will I know if the reviewer on Amazon is the noted horror novelist or one of thousands of other Stephen Kings around the world? Even Stephen King won't be able to give his credentials.

[There is one way, but many customers wouldn't know to do it: You can click on the reviewer's name to find out a little more about him or her.]

I had over 50 reviews removed, that I wrote on financial books -- by Amazon.com....

All at once, each and ever review was removed. That was over 1 year ago, perhaps more that two years ago. I did not address this with Amazon.com, as they purchase all the books I publish and keep their warehouses stocked and send me an order weekly – usually Sundays. So I was not going to question their reasons for removing what I spent hours & days reviewing when they order weekly.

I did not have negative feels about the removal of my reviews except maybe a week when I saw it happen. I figured they were concerned about self-promotion….so I left things well enough alone.

Now, I do want to say that most of the books I have ordered off of Amazon.com are due to the reviewers having their book on their signature line or the reviewers mentioning other titles. I would always look up the reviews on recommended or self-authored books and have received many of my best purchases from this method. Also, when a reviewer mentions another book within the review, I check that out too—and most likely get the book(s) suggested....

I buy from Amazon.com so I get free shipping and no tax added. I may start looking on BN.com and BAMM.com, and compare prices, even though tax will be added. Actually, I am in a bordering state to Amazon’s warehouses (I live in Indiana and Amazon has two warehouses in Kentucky). So I get books super fast this way, with no taxes (yet).

If it were not for you, I would not have known about what Amazon.com had recently done about reviews and mentions of ones recommended books. I would have simply thought that I had somehow gotten a complaint and was singled out.

Good heavens!!!!! I want to write about this in my newsletter next week and join the chorus you are creating that is screaming “Amazon is stupid!”

How incredibly idiotic! I have been preaching to people for years, as you have, that these reviews, good or bad, can help authors gain exposure for themselves.

Is Amazon unaware of all the bad publicity they are going to get from this? Apparently not. Is it OK if I include your item below in my newsletter next week and quote you?

John's Comment: Amazon has only begun to delete reviews. They probably have another million to go. And seem intent on deleting all reviews that point to the reviewer's product, website, or Amazon product page.

May I offer another opinion? Amazon book reviews are for reviews not free advertising of my books. To be this upset because an author is no longer allowed to schlep her books on Amazon's dime is not poor management but smallness on the part of the author.

I wonder what Jesus would do in such a circumstance? My guess is that He would not send blind cc's to everyone trashing a company for upholding its policy. My advice to this author is to be thankful for the years she was able to advertise this way and then move on.

John's Comment: This isn't about free advertising. It's about potential buyers knowing a little more about the credentials of the reviewers.

I agree that Amazon should probably delete reviews from authors who write poor reviews of other books just so they can post a link to their book, website, or Amazon book page. I have no problem with that.

But when Amazon deletes legitimate, well-written reviews done by an expert, well that's just stupid. Don't forget that Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple. He didn't suffer hypocrites or fools.

I am saddened by Amazon's stupidity in deleting so many good reviews because the authors listed their credentials. I called them stupid and wrote the above dramatic email because I wanted to get their attention. Personally, if they continue with their policy, my life will go on just fine. Still, I do hate big companies who ignore their best customers.

I agree! That is rather stupid of Amazon. I have never had a problem with seeing an author put a link to their work in a review. How is that any different than Amazon's "If you like X, then you might like Y" program? If an author says insightful, interesting things about the book I am also interested in, then there is a good chance I will want to also read his or her work! Ergo, I will then *buy* it from Amazon. Amazon's management has made some questionable decisions lately.

John's Comments: Yes, they've lost sight of many things. They've become too big, too corporate. It's hard to get any response from them. Cheryl did an amazing job to get a response from them at all.

I am one of those who believe there is NOTHING WRONG with an author reviewing his own book. No one knows it better.

I have had reviews on Amazon reflecting reader’s who do not know the subject making totally inappropriate comments. The worst ever was a long and detailed review - and I do wish I had kept a copy, was finished when the expert reviewer wrote: “Of course, I have not read the book.”

Amazon needs to assert some editorial control over the process but I believe the author should be entitled to write a review appropriate to the audience.

John's Comments: Yes, Amazon should exert some control, especially when authors or publishers bring bad reviews to their attention. Alas, they don't make much effort to do that.

Can you send the contact emails for Amazon? I think everyone should email and express their disgust with this policy.

I prefer to read a review by an author, and I appreciate that they sign their name to it. Too many folks write hatchet job reviews and remain anonymous, so you never know if that is a competitor, or ?

John's Comment: Amazon makes few emails available and even those they do make available either don't reply or take forever to reply. I honestly don't have an email to send you.

Sadly, authors can't even get Amazon to delete the hatchet job reviews. I've had one on my 1001 Ways to market Your Books page that falsely accuses me of giving advice I don't give. The hatchet job review even quotes me (but with sentences that don't appear anywhere in my book!). Even after numerous requests, Amazon has never deleted this bogus review. Fortunately, that author listed his book in his review so maybe Amazon will finally delete that review (that would be one good result of this new Amazon policy).

And now they threaten to delete thousands of legitimate, well-considered reviews by the best book reviewers around: other authors. Now an author can only write a review if they promise not to provide their credentials. Such stupid thinking.

Great info. Check out http://www.myebook.com.

John's Comment: Yes, MyEbook.com is a great ebook website that features page-flipping ebooks, magazines, and other digital documents, some for free, some for payments.

There is a good chance that an ebook website might be the thing that actually replaces Amazon.com, especially since Amazon has abandoned ebook formats other than Kindle.

Is there a trend here? Is Amazon really getting this out-of-touch with its customers? It abandons other ebook formats. It abandons authors who write well-considered reviews because they append their credentials to the review. What is Amazon thinking?

About Amazon: unless you have purchased something from Amazon, I don't think you're allowed to do a review either.

John's Comment: I do believe you have to be an Amazon customer to write reviews. You do not have to purchase the item from Amazon to write a review about it.

Honestly? I have ethical issues with the practice of including one's book title in a signature on reviews, although I did it myself for a while. Not that it ever did any good, and I'd like to see some hard evidence that it ever did on any kind of scale.

You'll recall a flap some years ago where an author purchased several thousand copies of his own book to drive up his Amazon rating, closely followed by another flap when it became known people were posting multiple reviews under various assumed names for a single title.

I know for a fact that at least one group of authors routinely tag other members' books at Amazon, even though they probably haven't read most of them, and I wouldn't put it past some of the small presses to have their authors review each other's books on Amazon on the basis that it (a) boosts the review rating of the reviewed book and (b) promotes the reviewer's book because it's in the signature.

IOW, people are abusing the system to promote their own books. So, since Amazon's are supposed to be reader reviews, not thinly disguised promo, I can understand why they've enacted the policy whereby including your own book in a sig isn't allowed. I don't pay for book reviews, and I discourage my authors from posting reviews of each other's books because I believe their doing so brings the honesty of the review into question. It also might suggest I put them up to it. Talking about each other's books, in a blog or other venue, is different.

Let me speak now as a consumer rather than an author and publisher. In all my years of shopping at Amazon, not once have I looked at, much less purchased, a book that was included in a reviewer's signature or linked in a review. Heck, 99% of the time, I don't even read their names, and I think you'll find, if you ask around, that I am not a minority.

So, perhaps, before we all get all bent out of shape over an Amazon policy again, it would behoove us to actually think about whether this one will seriously impair anything. For my part, I doubt it. You of all people should know where reviews fall on the scale of "what made me buy this book." Personally, I'd rather see everybody get worked up about the trolls who leave one line "reviews" that say basically "This book sucks," and do so under a pseudonym so there's no way of tracking them down.

John's Comment: I agree that most of the manipulations on Amazon: reviewing each other's books, tagging, etc. don't really have much impact on book sales. Nor are they really worth the time or heart of the author. The gross manipulations of buying your own books or posting multiple reviews are, to put it kindly, spam.

As a consumer myself, I do reviews. And I do like knowing the credentials of the reviewer. You don't see the New York Times publishing anonymous reviews. I like to know the background of the person who is doing the review. It gives me perspective on the review.

As for another of your comments, I do agree that few books, if any, have been sold directly because an author has linked to their book. On the other hand, I do know that accumulated impressions do have an effect on book sales. The author's book at the end of a review is one such impression. A small impression, but still one impression.

I also agree that this-book-sucks anonymous reviews do not serve Amazon well, nor the author. Amazon should clearly be targeting those reviews first.

There is a new alternative recently started by Jigsaw Press, an independent publisher, called 45 Caliber Books, which was conceived because the publisher is fed up with the tactics of Amazon.

Http://www.45caliberbooks.com charges only a dollar a year to post your book or novel and ten cents a copy sold with proceeds going directly to the author, and the best part is that payment is on the honor system.

John's Comment: It is an alternative. But the traffic isn't there, not even close. Jigsawpress.com's Alexa rank is 9,499,015 and 45caliberbooks.com is not ranked at all. Compare that to Amazon.com's rank of 33 and BN.com's rank of 1,157. Until an alternative website has the same kind of traffic as these sites, it really isn't an alternative. Of course, any alternative has to start somewhere.

This post prompts this reply: I stopped reading reviews on Amazon a long time ago because of the blatant pitching SO many reviewers do for their own products, their titles. I don’t read reviews to get pitched to. I’m not an Amazon-ophile but can see the logic. Some authors are so desperate for PR, they use whatever means to get it including writing a review so they can also say how much better their books are.

John's Comment: I agree such efforts are sad. They really don't result in much. It would be better if authors spent that same time creating relationships with the top websites that their targeted readers are already visiting.

But, if you've read a good book and write a review of it on Amazon, that review should include your credentials (if they are relevant). For example, if I were to review Dan Poynter's The Self-Publishing Manual, the fact that I'm the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books has real meaning. As a potential buyer of Dan's book, I'd give more credence to a review by John Kremer than one by John Smith or an anonymous reviewer (but only if I knew that John Kremer had credentials worth paying attention to).

Wow! What the heck is Amazon thinking???? Don't reviews with mentions of other books sold on Amazon or links to Amazon purchase pages help generate further revenue for their company???? Why on earth would you purposely limit your revenue streams?

John's Comment: Yes, that is one way they are stupid. But I understand that they want to maintain the reliability of the reader reviews. That's understandable because those reviews, too, lead to many sales of books. But they are deleting many legitimate reviews simply because the author listed their credential. If Amazon was serious about getting junk reviews out of their product pages, they'd start with all the this-book-is-junk anonymous reviews that serve no real purpose but to diminish sales.

There is every reason to believe that a high percentage of the reviews on Amazon are bogus to one extent or another. First off, I have had books posted that were not even available yet and someone had written a bad review. Sometimes the review has nothing whatsoever to do with the book. Other times they are written by those who just don't happen to like the author.

A couple of years ago there was a widely circulated article to the effect that due to some technical glitch the real names instead of the screen names of the reviewers were shown - tons of the reviews were written by the authors of the books that were being reviewed. I can understand why because if you start to have people post all negative reviews for one reason or another you can hardly ever work your way back to a decent rating.

I would say reviews are OK but giving stars as a part of Amazon's ranking system sounds like having stars put on a second grade paper you once wrote and if the teacher liked you you might get three stars instead of the one I probably got (some of the same teachers have since asked me to help get their books published).

John's Comment: I realize that Amazon has a serious problem with its review system, but they also don't seem to be in a big hurry to change it. So some reviews are bogus (no one knows for sure how many), some are blatantly promotional, and some are real. Too bad more aren't real.

I sent the info about Amazon to VP of Marketing at PGW/Perseus (also our marketing manager). They are one of Amazon’s top customers and speak with them probably daily. Perhaps the feedback will filter through to Amazon about this misguided policy.

John's Comment: Thanks for doing that. I'd be surprised if that alone did the trick. Big corporations have trouble changing course once set on a path, no matter how misguided. And Amazon is now a big corporation, not the innovative bookselling site it once was.

As you note, Amazon’s action are ridiculous. Authors are prestige reviewers.

OTOH, some people review books by trashing the book and recommending their own. These One-Star “reviews” should be deleted.

John's Comment: Agreed. Those junk trashy reviews should be deleted. Sadly, Amazon is throwing the baby out with the bath water. To eliminate spammy and trashy reviews, they are deleting author credentialed reviews and ignoring all the anonymous junk reviews. That's stupid.

I wonder if we authors who use the Amazon Blogs can use them to quote reviews from other authors? Since Amazon sends them out to the customers, this could be a powerful tool.

Authors can also use this to link back to their own websites so they might be able to say....read more reviews by other authors ... the ones not allowed by Amazon.

John's Comment: Yes, that is possible. There are also dozens of other things you can do on Amazon. I feature a dozen other ways to promote your books via Amazon in chapter 12 of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.

John, no kidding, they're stupid! I completely stopped doing business with them after their new rule on POD books. I have no Amazon links anywhere on my site or blogs and give readers free postage if they buy from me instead. I make a lot more this way than the piddly amount I make from Amazon. All they're doing is driving away customers and authors are big readers.

John's Comment: Most authors make more money by selling direct, but still a lot of potential customers do like buying via Amazon. It's a tough choice for an author to abandon Amazon altogether, what with their power in the marketplace.

Thanks for posting my comment about Amazon. One other point: I notice you've made the comment a few times that authors should direct customers to bn.com instead of Amazon. IMO, Barnes & Noble is just as corporate, if not more so, than Amazon. And honestly, the same goes for Borders, although they are a little better, in my experience. How about, instead: "Send your potential customers to your local independent bookstore"? Sure, it's less convenient than shopping from the comfort of your own PC, but you don't have to worry about shipping costs and you support the local economy.

I also just discovered http://www.indiebound.org. When you find the book you like, you enter your zip code and it lists all of the independent bookstores in your area that you can order it from. I think many of the stores even offer online ordering through their individual websites.

John's Comment: Yes, do support the independent bookstores. One problem with blindly sending readers to the indies is that most indies only carry 10,000 to 30,000 titles. That means the chance that your book will be in their stores is slim.

That's one reason it's good to send them to http://www.indiebound.org.

And, yes, BN.com is as corporate, but at least a change from what was happening on Amazon.com.

John, you said "an unAmazon that really serves authors."

Well, I'm not big 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.TheNewBook Review.blogspot.com. I let them put a nice tag/credit on their review. It's a great way to recycle (get more exposure) for their old reviews, (exclusivity is not required). Authors themselves can get permission from their reviewers and submit reviews to me, too. If you decide to use this information in your newsletter, please ask your readers to observe the guidelines in the left column where they'll find the e-mail address to send them to, etc. I need it 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 reviews. I'm a vine review for Amazon and will be cautious 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 they they deleted all my Listmanias years with the same excuse. 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. It was such a handy way to recommend books on the subjects I was teaching and still build traffic for my lists. Oh, well. There are other ways to promote. Your 1001 Ways in fact, my book and, really, many others.

John's Comment: I didn't know that they deleted Listmanias as well. How stupid can they be. Those lists are designed solely to sell books. Why couldn't authors include their own books in their lists? It can only help Amazon sell more books. Alas.

Amazon does not exist to serve authors; Amazon exists to serve its customers, the buyers. Authors, including me, are suppliers and as suppliers authors need to adjust to the demands of the end-use customer and the distribution channel, in this case Amazon. Customers read reviews to be informed by the comments of knowledgeable people about a specific book. It would seem that authors have been gaming the system of posting reviews by using the reviews as an opportunity to do self-promotion. Amazon, like any good distributor, is policing its distribution to protect its customers. Overall, my opinion is that Amazon is not wrong and it is not stupid.

John's Comment: As you noted, customers read reviews to be informed by the comments of knowledgeable people. Yet Amazon is deleting the reviews of the most knowledgeable group on Amazon: other authors. And why? Simply because the authors listed their credentials. Again, how do customers know the reviews they are reading are by knowledgeable people if those reviewers can't list their credentials.

I agree that self-promotion has been overdone by some authors, but many authors have simply written good reviews and listed their credentials for doing that review. Amazon is stupid because they are not distinguishing between those two groups: the spamming authors and the authors who are providing a legitimate service of providing really knowledgeable reviews.

Author's Response: There is a continuum of self-identification as being knowledgeable to self-promotion. Where does one draw a line on the continuum? Perhaps a strict prohibition on self-identification is the simplest method. As far as authors being the most knowledgeable, perhaps the best authors and the best readers are the most knowledgeable, but since books (and politicians and cars and DVDs) are ranked by the relative accumulation of reviews (votes and purchases), the individual review, vote or purchase is much less important, despite the possible risk of all smart people voting one way and all stupid people voting another way.

There are many authors on Amazon, but it seems to me that having your book online at a real bookstore like Barnes and Noble etc. is a far better choice than to put up with Amazon's decision to do this. The bottom-line is that either way you still have to do all kinds of marketing to get your product sold. Maybe it's time to boycott the unhelpful.

John's Comment: It's obviously impractical for many authors to boycott Amazon since 10% of their sales might be coming from Amazon.com. But certainly we authors can send more of our traffic to BN.com. We have that power to choose where to send the traffic.

You are way out of line on this issue. Once you quit your ranting and raving and foot stomping, You will see the point.

Sober up, John, anyone that posts 85 reviews is simply using the site for free advertising (that none of us want to read).

If you want to be a scam artist, do it at another site.

Now, put on a dry diaper and have a good day

John's Comment: Oh, my, such rudeness. I do agree that people who post scammy reviews simply for the free advertising are not wanted. But the authors I've talked to so far are not scam artists. They write well-considered thoughtful reviews. And posted their book title as a way of letting the readers know their credentials. That's not scammy at all.

I'm just in shock for you! How awful you must feel! And this is a terrible thing for Amazon to do! May we all fight against this and get them to change their policy!

John's Comment: I don't feel awful because it didn't happen to me. It has happened to a number of other authors and WILL happen to more if Amazon continues its crusade.

I'm fine. I have so few reviews on Amazon that it really doesn't affect me — except as a consumer because now I won't have any credentialed reviews on Amazon to read and trust. That makes me less likely to buy products from Amazon in the future.

So, John, how do you REALLY feel about Amazon.com?? I am sorry ... just had to. :-)

John's Comments: I love Amazon on many levels. They have sold a ton of books for authors and publishers. They do many things right. They do a few things really badly. Their interaction with authors is terrible. Their interaction with customers is a whole lot better.

I've gotten so many emails from authors and publishers in the past complaining about trying to get something done with Amazon, especially correcting book listings. I get tired of that. I've been trying to get Amazon to eliminate one review of my book that is completely misleading. I think it affects the sale of my book, but they have never done anything even after I proved the review was full of mistruths. That is frustrating.

So, as with all good things, there is a love-hate relationship. It would be all love if Amazon didn't get so corporate sometimes and make it almost impossible to implement changes for authors and publishers.

I would think the issue you bring up of wanting to know the background of the reviewer would be served by simply having all reviewers set up a profile to which their ID would then be linked. This would also, need I say it, eliminate the trolls.

However, credentials aren't really what Amazon wants in their reviews. They want consumer reviews, reader reviews. That Midwest Book Review and other organs post reviews there is nice for the authors and publishers but it's not what Amazon is looking for.

I'm sure you've read the flurry of recent articles about how user reviews are one of the top sources of buying incentive these days, and the emphasis is made that the potential buyers most definitely do not want "expert" testimony. For all their faults, the people at Amazon are superb at keeping up with the latest information--I know for a fact they had people on various Yahoo groups dedicated to ebooks doing research before the Kindle came out. No surprise that they want to winnow the reviews down to actual reader reviews.

Of course, if they said as much, all the authors now howling in protest would be complaining they are readers etc., etc., and nothing would have been any different. It's their business. They're entitle to run it any way they see fit within the limits of the law. Maybe, given the current cries for tighter regulation, they'll have problems later, but I don't think it will be over this. As far as I know, the law doesn't require them to give charity to struggling authors. ;-)

John's Comments: I have no problem with Amazon running their business any way they want, but they are doing it stupidly right now. Eliminating the most qualified reviews because those reviews feature credentials is mind-boggling stupid.

It's their choice, but I still call it stupid.

For those of us involved in writing this is a call for a Boston Tea Party. Suggest you pass this on to any authors or want-to-be's you know.

Amazon is a very short sighted greedy business that will, by their default, raise up an entrepreneur to replace them. If I had the capital, I would find the best alternative and partner to make it happen.

John's Comment: All big corporations, like Amazon is becoming, eventually grow lazy and begin to ignore their core customers. Some upstart comes along with a new technology, a new approach, or a new customer-centric strategy and becomes the new big kid on the block. Sometimes, however, this takes years. Alas.

About Amazon pulling authors' reviews because of book titles and links in their signatures, I agree wholeheartedly with you: they are stupid.

I thought the same thing when some time ago, they began disallowing reviews by people who did not purchase from them. I have never purchased from them, but I had an account in order to do reviews. But to bar people like me from doing reviews was, to me, cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Didn't they realize that a review on a book they sold could help sell more of their own stock? Well, now I'm glad I've never purchased from them.

John's Comment: I understand your point. I'm not sure why they'd disallow reviews from any reader. It seems the more reviews, the better for them because more reviews tend to lead to more sales.

Authors often scratch each other’s back … I’ll review yours if you review mine. This automatically eliminates objectivity, which, I think, is what Amazon is after. And, after all, it’s Amazon’s site and I don’t believe we can tell them how to run their business. But, then again, I could just be stupid.

John's Comment: Yes, the scratch your back syndrome can result in empty reviews. But I know authors who scratch each other's back with very well-considered reviews. That's the only way I would recommend authors to scratch each other's back.

The minute we start saying that it's Amazon's site and we can't tell them how to run their business, we abandon our obligations as consumers. That's how the American auto business got in trouble. That's how the banks got into trouble. We certainly can and should speak up when we see corporations do stupid things. We can't control their actions, but we can control when and how we speak up.

IndieReader.com is a new site that provides self-published/POD authors with visibility, a sales venue and a website page with their own URL. We don't treat them like second class citizens because they've decided to self-publish. On the contrary, we understand that there are many great books that don't make it into the traditional publishing system because the author doesn't have a good enough platform, or the subjects of their books don't have enough mass appeal. Just as Sundance has done for Indie films, IR's mission is to promote and legitimize independent books and authors.

What makes us different? To start with, I have over 20 years experience as a publicist working with consumer-friendly companies including M&Ms, Dunkin' Donuts and Hanes. Joining me are two incredibly experienced book publicists, who together have worked with best-selling authors and major publishing houses. Our first Featured Author, with a piece written specifically for IR, is Lisa Genova, author of The New York Times bestseller, Still Alice, which was originally self-published by iUniverse.

Why will the world welcome IndieReader? It's simply human nature. People are drawn to the next cool thing, be it Indie movies, Indie music...or Indie books. And with more and more of those books finding mainstream success (Still Alice, The Shack) and more mainstream authors writing Indie books (Dave Eggers, Noam Chomsky), it is clear that, to quote Dylan, "the times they are a-changin."

The fee for inclusion on the IR site is $149 per year (but if an author signs up prior to IR's going live...about June 1st) we are offering a discounted rate of $99 per year. The author will set the sale price for their books on the site and IR will take 25% of each sale. IR books will be vetted and only books of high quality will be accepted. Good books must be in good company, to enhance the appeal of the site for people browsing for great off-the-beaten-track reads. The site will be heavily promoted to bring in traffic to ensure that the books get maximum visibility.

You can find further info at http://www.indiebooksellers.com (we're in the process of a name change).

John's Comment: Sounds like an alternative, although personally I don't like the listing fee. But then the percentage cut per book is a lot less than what Amazon gets.

I wrote you about Amazon wiping my reviews about two weeks ago and you said Amazon would never do that. It's probably a software issue. And you were not wrong. The next day all the reviews on my book were back up. But after reading your newsletter, I am skeptical again and lost as to where to send my customers because Barnes and Noble isn't much better.

Barnes and Noble did a strange thing as well. There were a few reviews on my book whereby the reviewers had signed in with their names. About a few months ago Barnes and Noble removed all their names and instead posted the Reviews as Anonymous which I thought was a terrible thing to do because it gave the review less credibility.

John's Comment: Alas, no website or company is perfect. I know mine isn't, and my experience is that most others are not as well.

An interesting aside to this policy of Amazon's that not really a policy (nothing in their link says you can't put the title of your own book in the tagline of your reviews).

I noticed after joining Tag My Book on Amazon that a couple of different author's names appeared in the tags on my book...as did two other book titles. The tags, as you know, are supposed to be descriptive of a work, so it seemed completely inappropriate to me that another author attach their name to a tag which is supposed to be describing my book. I complained to Amazon about it, and they said that they couldn't do anything about it. Sorry, but *that's* the way they look out for their authors?

John's Comment: Yes, lots of odd policies and inconsistencies. Happens a lot when you get big.

Right on John! I'm just a little pebble in the brook when it comes to writing and such, but I hate it when the big guys take advantage of us. I've been around for 77 years, successful in business, consulting and teaching. I've even written five books and one manuscript ready for publishing, so I'm not naive when it comes to dealing with powers. Give 'em hell, John.

John's Comment: I hope I'm doing that already :))

John, promoting your own book in customer reviews is a rampant form of spamming on Amazon, especially since it is promoted by various experts on Amazon promotion. I have been discouraging it for years, and I'm glad to see Amazon do something about it.

This is not about an author (such as yourself) establishing credentials by citing a publication or two on an occasional review. It's about deliberate, extensive campaigns to divert attention to the reviewer's own book, often at the expense of the book being reviewed.

John's Comment: I think authors reviewing books that they've actually read is a good thing. Not spam.

Authors review dozens or hundreds of titles that they have not read -- that is spam. And really not that productive. There are better ways to spend your time on Amazon or on Internet marketing.

Just thought I'd pass this along regarding Amazon: Years ago, when they first started up and when you could actually get someone on the phone to discuss an issue (plus I am a local author and maybe that carried some clout) I asked them to take down a review on one of my books because I knew for a fact it was submitted by someone who had it in for me. This is what I was told and I quote: All we care about is content. Unquote. So, that has stuck with me over the years. When I see them doing a rights grab such as text to audio on Kindle or simply bullying writers, I remember, all they care about is content. Not the content of the content, apparently. Of course, that 'clerk' I was talking to back when Amazon was a start up probably owns a major league baseball team by now and I am still plugging away, writing a word at a time.

John's Comment: Me, too :))

As a matter of fact the monopoly, the shark called Amazon, doesn't seem to care about service. Friends have rated my book and weeks later they still didn't show on the website. My publisher paid Amazon (from me of course) to look inside my book. Two weeks and counting. My publisher said many of Amazon's activations seem to take 3 weeks (maybe more).

At this stage switching to B&N would not help me because I have only 2 ratings there, while Amazon has 12 of them. Of course there's no way to switch them to B&N, I think, unless B&N could somehow do it. I doubt that.

John's Comment: You don't have to switch. I really think every author's book should be on both Amazon.com and BN.com. But you do have a choice on where you send book-buying traffic from your website. For me, I made the choice to now send that traffic to BN.com rather than Amazon.com. More of my online sales will still come from Amazon, but perhaps BN.com will get a little more than they have been getting.

You can order 1001 Ways to Market Your Books at BN.com here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/1001-Ways-to-Market-Your-Books/John-Kremer/e/9780912411491

Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571