For What It's Worth


Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Tell me something tuesday...


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Tell Me Something Tuesday is hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings and discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging.

Today’s question is:
Do you cross post your reviews on Amazon?

Answer:

Not anymore - for two reasons.

1.) When I started reviewing on there about 7 years ago - I got weird comments about my reviews. Like they're too long. (It was one person who was apparently commenting on ALL bloggers reviews with the same complaint, no matter how long or short the review was, so I guess she just didn't have anything better to do lol). Then there were the fans of the author commentators who came to complain about my negative reviews and inform me of how nice the author was. 

My reviews are just my thoughts. I love to have book discussions about the book, even if there is disagreement, but not about the author or in a way that I feel like I have to defend myself for being honest.

I know this happens in other review forums like Goodreads - but it's only happened to me on Amazon.

 2.) The main reason I gave up reviewing there though is that people were stealing my reviews and using them as spam comments on other blogs. They will take passages from real reviews on Amazon - so it looks like they've read the book - and paste it in the comments on a blog review for the same book - then add a link to whatever website they're hawking - usually perfume, shoes, travel, religious zealots etc.

This was a few years ago and it happened to a lot of us.

This happened almost weekly to me. Astute bloggers would notice and email to let me know but there's not much you can do about it and I don't want my hard work to be used that way.

I know authors really rely on Amazon reviews for the algorithm and sales so I may need to come up with a way that helps them but protects me.

I was thinking shorter, 2-3 sentence reviews that aren't worth stealing but still convey my thoughts. 

I do cross post to Goodreads and have never had a problem on there. 

Has anything like this happened to you? Where do you cross post? 

50 comments:

  1. I've not run into any issues like that or had issues at all. I've not run into the bad comments or people saying mean things, but with time it might happen. I've only be reviewing/blogging for three years now.

    I do cross post to Amazon. I also post my reviews to B&N, Kobo, Riffle, BookLikes, Goodreads, and BookBub, but I don't post them all on the same day. Goodreads is my main and first place a review will show up and then I pick a day and post all my reviews I have waiting to the other sites.

    Thank's for sharing your amazon cross post. #getsocial17

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    1. I don't really care about people not agreeing with me. I usually just ignore it but this was more critiquing each review or defending the author - which I'm not even talking about in my review. I just can't be bothered. I had turned off notifications so I don't even know if somemone commented but then the stealing of reviews started and I said forget it then.

      Delete
  2. I do cross post review on Amazon as well, also in Goodreads. Lucky for me I haven't experience what you experienced..yet. Well, I hope it wouldn't happen to me.

    And I understand about the complaints too, well there are just people who don't understand that we are all entitle with our own reviews and opinions and it's subjective.

    It sounds pretty complicated but I hope you can come up something that would work best for you Karen :)

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    1. I'm more upset with the stealing of reviews to spam others than the complaints. I don't really care if people disagree with me. There's no way I'm getting into an argument on Amazon over my review.

      Delete
  3. I don't cross post my reviews, aside from on Net Galley if they're for an ARC I've received through them. Other than that I only post reviews on my blog and ratings on Goodreads.

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  4. Oh, wow. That's really bad. Like you said, authors rely on Amazon reviews for different reasons than your usual blog or Goodreads etc. reviews. I'm afraid that even very short sentences would get stolen in the long run...but at least it would be less painful.
    And is it true that Amazon kind of owns your reviews once you post them on there?

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    1. Oh yes! another great point that factored into my decision. I forgot about it.

      That's the other reason I'm thinking just a few sentences. I don't put in all that work on my blog for them to own it.

      The stolen stuff seems to be people taking really great reviews and copying whole paragraphs and posting them in comments. I thought it was so weird at first when they started popping up in my blog.

      Like why would you post a review int he comments. Then I realized it was spammers trying to get you to check out their sites.

      And a few other bloggers recognized my reviews when done on their blog.

      Delete
  5. They stole them there? Ugh, god amazon sucks

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    1. Yeah - and not even to use on their own blogs. Just for spam O_O

      Delete
  6. That has never happened to me , that I know of. I had no idea that this was happening , that is so bad. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

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    1. It just so happened that a few bloggers, who also followed me, recognized my reviews int heir comments and put two and two together. It's such a weird reason to steal reviews.

      Delete
  7. I'm sorry you had to go through that, I've never dealt with any of these cases. I do cross post my reviews on GR and Amazon, even though Amazon sometimes won't let me because a word might be against their guidelines. So annoying!

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  8. I used to post on amazon my thoughts , but like you it has changed so much from before. I usually just only do my thoughts on goodreads.

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    1. I try to review the smaller self pub authors I enjoy but only brief comments and rating because it's been too much trouble in the past.

      Delete
  9. That's nuts about them stealing the reviews :/

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    1. I know. It's awful

      Plagiarism by other bloggers is bad enough but you can usually say Blogger A stole my review. This is spammers - there is no way to even track them down or report them and they aren't even bloggers.

      Delete
  10. Hmm, not something I'm aware of. Perhaps we all need to be more vigilant and especially so when it comes to spammers using our reviews to link to whatever it is their selling. Thanks for this useful bit of information.

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    1. I have no idea if it's still going on. I haven't gotten one of those types of comments on my blog in a year or so but you have to have pretty vigilant bloggers to catch it.

      Delete
  11. That's crazy people stole your reviews. I haven't posted on Amazon in a loooong time.

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    1. I know right??? And to use as spam. Why????

      Delete
  12. Wow. That's so weird. I don't know why someone would take the time to yank reviews just to spam other websites. I crosspost to Amazon and BN but Amazon is a little annoying. I always get "unhelpful" ranks when I leave a rating of 3 or under on a book but when I write a raving review I get all the "helpful" votes in the world. I really wish they'd do away with that because it's frustrating that people are using that to boast certain reviews.

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    1. I know!

      You have to find a blog review to comment on - then go to Amazon and copy another review to go back and comment?? It's labor intensive and ridiculous.

      If I click on the profile to see who it was - I'm not going to go by your light bulbs or shoes after you stole someone's review and spammed me lol

      I really feel author's/their followers worry more about rankings with Amazon and tread where they shouldn't.

      I don't care about my rankings and people are free to disagree but if you're arbitrarily voting up/down just to boost/hurt a book - I don't want any part of that. I spend a lot of time reading then writing fair/honest reviews.

      Delete
  13. I really only cross post if I'm asked to by the author or something. I get that it's really helpful because people are on Amazon all the time, etc. but it's really time intensive sometimes and while I haven't had people make bad comments before, I know it happens and I don't really want to deal with that. I think the idea of a shorter review could be good - you aren't likely to get people stealing your thoughts!

    -Lauren

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    1. At first I turned off the notifications because I don't really care about my rankings or whatever as a reviewer there. So, if I don't know - who cares? But I've seen some ugly stuff happen there and I'm not sure I want it being said and I don't even have a chance to defend myself.

      The stealing was really my last straw though.

      Delete
  14. oh I just love this post so much. I used to cross post to amazon, barnes and noble, and library thing. Now I just do Goodreads and librarything. Its too much of a risk to do it on Amazon and B&N. But I never have problems on bookish type sites like Goodreads.

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    1. There's so much drama on Amazon it seems. I *think* that author's worry more about the ratings on there and get more riled. It seems more like sending in friends and family to counter you if it's 3 or below.

      I've definitely had people disagree with me here and on Goodreads but that's fine as long as it doesn't get personal or pushy like it has on Amazon.

      Delete
  15. Wow nuts about people stealing your reviews and leaving nasty comments. I do cross post to Amazon sometimes but I forget a lot to be honest. My blog automatically posts them to Goodreads so that is easy.

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    1. I do Goodreads a few days after I post my blog review.

      Delete
  16. Ugh. I don't remember the stealing of review for Amazon and I have been blogging for six years. I remember lots of plagiarism. I am sure it still goes on when posting on Amazon, so best to steer clear. I am glad I am not the only one who has had a negative experience. To answer your question about next week's TMST...offense to me is are you going out and actively trying to grow your blog by hosting authors, doing tours, hosting giveaways, emailing publishers, planning ahead, or are you just doing your best to keep up. I am more on defense these days.

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    1. It's just something a few bloggers started to notice. I can't imagine how you would find out otherwise.

      Thanks for clarifying!

      Delete
  17. I've never had that happen to me, the weird comments yes but not the stealing. At least not that I know of. I know that Amazon has taken precautions to keep things like this from happening but right now the big problem is Amazon taking down your reviews for "violating" the TOS. Some reviewers have been banned from reviewing on there permanently for no solid reason given.

    I do cross post but I'm careful about adding the disclaimer at the end instead of at the beginning because my reviews were getting rejected for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I feel like Amazon's TOS are random and conflicting and geared more towards author's feelings these days and I can't be bothered. Blogging takes up a lot of my personal time already but I do feel bad because I know it does help them with the algorithm.

      Delete
  18. A long time ago I decided not to post reviews on Amazon and I think it had to do with a) the TOS, which may have changed since then and b) that (back then at least) there seemed like more people there who wanted to argue. I don't mind different opinions but I don't really want to go back and forth with someone when we can just agree to disagree and go on with our reading.

    But since Goodreads is owned by Amazon, you'd think they could have some kind of optional integration, where you could choose to link a Goodreads review to Amazon.

    Jen @ YA Romantics

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    1. Their TOS keep changing. I had heard that you can't follow author's on SM and then review them because you're considered a friend. I don't know if that's true or not but that would eliminate a lot of reviews right there.

      I'm the same - if you want to give your pov - that's fine. We don't need to agree but if you're trying to get me to change mine or my review - it's not going to happen so move along.

      Delete
  19. I rarely cross post to Amazon and occasionally do to Goodreads (I actually wish I would do Goodreads more but it's more of a slacker thing on my part lol) just because I like to discuss books on my blog but don't need the hassle of issues on Amazon. Having seen some of the horror stories. I would like to though so it would help authors more...

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    1. I usually cross post to Goodreads a few days after my blog. Since I put the Goodreads link in my review it's easy - otherwise I probably wouldn't' do it either lol

      Delete
  20. I do cross post to Goodreads and Amazon... and I've had some issues on Amazon as well. Oddly I had someone steal some of my reviews and post them on the Amazon UK site as their own review. I don't even know what the purpose of that was. Then I have had some snotty comments as well. I find that most people that take time to comment on Amazon are all negative. And it ticks me off that they can vote a review "unhelpful" anonymously.

    Stopping by for #getsocial2017 from Bambi Unbridled.

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    1. ???? I'll never understand the stealing of reviews for any reason but what's the purpose of stealing and putting them on the UK site or for spam??

      I turned off notifications at first thinking what I don't know won't hurt me but then I saw some real ugly things going on there and just stopped all together.

      Delete
  21. I don't unless asked by the author or publisher. I just don't trust the format at Amazon even though... as far as I know... I haven't had the stealing problems you have had.

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  22. I have not tried on Amazon since I can't post bc it says I didn't buy the book. I didn't know such commenters exist! How awful they are.

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  23. That's horrible. It's amazing what people do (although nothing should surprise me anymore).

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  24. Holy cow, I had no idea that any of that went on with the review stealing and pasting it into comments! That's totally bizarre and frustrating. Normally I don't cross-post on Amazon because...I usually can't be bothered? LOL. That's terrible, I know. If it's an indie author though, or if the author/publisher explicitly requests that I do so, then I will. Maybe I should get into it more regularly though since as you say, authors rely on those algorithms to sell books!

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  25. I do cross post on Amazon but I can't say I've had the same experience as you. That sucks. People have no life, I swear. Lol.

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  26. Never had those issues :/

    I am no longer allowed to post on Amazon though. They removed all of my reviews, I've ever done, and blocked me from posting new ones. They did not tell me they'd done this. I had to find out on my own. And when I contacted them about it, it took two months (instead of the promised communication within 24 hrs) for them to tell me I had been blocked, and basically to f**k off. Still didn't tell me *why* I had been blocked either. So now I post to B&N, Goodreads, and Librarything, along with my blog.

    #getsocial17. Sorry I'm late!

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    1. Oh my! That's even worse! And to not ever tell you WHY.

      Delete
  27. Oh that's crazy! I still post to Amazon and have thankfully only had a couple reviews. Someone who was taking my full reviews and posting them on Amazon as well. And then some dude who would post my reviews to pirate sites and not even bother to take out *girly squeals* and similar I'd have in the review. Authors or readers would recognize and message me. Amazon handled the issue but the pirate guy nothing could ever be done about that :/

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  28. That's horrible that you had to experience that Karen! When I first started blogging, I used to post my reviews on Amazon, but now I think I just forget or don't have the time, as I'm posting on my blog, Goodreads and then sending the reviews back to publishers on netgalley and edelweiss! And I've written over 400 reviews now, so trying to post all those again?! I may try again in the future, but who knows, thanks for sharing this post with us!

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  29. I've never posted book reviews on Amazon, but I have thought about it. Product reviews? ALL THE TIME. I'm sorry you went through something so terrible. I can't image how awful it must have been to see you words plagiarized for nefarious purposes.

    Would it work if you reviewed the book by leaving a link to the full review on your blog? Maybe write a few sentences like you said, but also link back to your blog?

    Do You Dog-ear?

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