Sunday 6 January 2013

Let's Deal With IT and Move ON

    Just when most of us are closing the door on the year that has finished, it seems some of us aren't quite ready to do so. The old debate of authors reviewing the books of other authors has reared it's ugly head again.

    Now as we are all perfectly aware, this all came about because of a small number of authors who thought they would manipulate reviews, by asking those on their friends and family call list to write a false review of their book.

    Naively, I could never have dreamt that this sort of thing could have gone on. But I have since discovered that although I definitely wasn't born yesterday, that I was rather gullible. That was until I joined the social networking world.

    Within a matter of days of joining the online community, I was contacted by several authors who asked that I write a review of their book. Innocently, I replied that I couldn't comply because I didn't have the time to read it. Explaining, that I wouldn't be able to give an accurate evaluation of their work. I quickly realised by some of the replies I received, that I wasn't suppose to read their novel, I was just to write a review.

    I am a reader of books and yes, if I read a book I really enjoy I am inclined to write a review. As I would if I stayed in a great hotel. But, I won't be pushed into writing a an opinion on a book I have not read. This minority who thought they would give themselves a helping hand up the ratings ladder, have unfortunately wasted it for all the rest of us.

    Are Amazon right, or wrong to go ahead with the ban? Personally I think their damned if they do and damned if they don't. The company belongs to them, they call the shots and they make the final decisions. In this life there are lots of things that we don't agree with, but someone somewhere has to have the final say and it's impossible to please everyone. So, can we deal with it and move on now.

2 comments:

  1. Happy New Year Christina,
    I couldn't agree with you more.These requests are exactly why everyone is up in arms. The other day someone asked me to vote for their book. I haven't read it, nor did I know the author, even in passing on the social networking circuit. Crazy! Hopefully it will all sort out in the end. In the meantime we can just keep on writing and do our best.

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  2. Happy New Year Aron, yes we do have to just keep writing. Hopefully those guilty will see the error of their ways.

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