I've been reading some interesting articles on how some authors are marketing their works by posting false reviews. Apparently, this isn't limited to a single author having a shill write the review. There have been accusations that publishing houses may have hired teams of people to post positive reviews of their client's work while writing disparaging reviews of the competition.
Some of the articles I read point to obvious fake positive reviews by self-published authors claiming that the book in question is "better than Tolkein" even though the cover art & prose on the sample pages is amateurish at best. Some of the trickier post are harder to spot but most often those posters have never posted a review for another work at all.
Personally, I have no issue with friends & family reviewing work as long as the review is given honestly. For that matter, I encourage things like I see on MS where authors review each other's work. As long as the work is actually read I have no qualms. Obvious fakes, however, meant to mislead the consumer are, in my opinion, immoral. Reviews like these are only bad for authors in general but they are especially damaging to honest, self-published authors.
Thoughts?
Some links:
http://www.bestfantasybooks.com/blog/tag/amazon-fake-reviews/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/technology/finding-fake-reviews-online.html?_r=1
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090802171258jude.nb/topstory.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...k-reviewing-vicious-free-readers-victims.html
Some of the articles I read point to obvious fake positive reviews by self-published authors claiming that the book in question is "better than Tolkein" even though the cover art & prose on the sample pages is amateurish at best. Some of the trickier post are harder to spot but most often those posters have never posted a review for another work at all.
Personally, I have no issue with friends & family reviewing work as long as the review is given honestly. For that matter, I encourage things like I see on MS where authors review each other's work. As long as the work is actually read I have no qualms. Obvious fakes, however, meant to mislead the consumer are, in my opinion, immoral. Reviews like these are only bad for authors in general but they are especially damaging to honest, self-published authors.
Thoughts?
Some links:
http://www.bestfantasybooks.com/blog/tag/amazon-fake-reviews/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/technology/finding-fake-reviews-online.html?_r=1
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090802171258jude.nb/topstory.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...k-reviewing-vicious-free-readers-victims.html
