Publishers Fake Reviews on Amazon

The Daily Mail had an article on Monday about how publishers are paying PR agencies to write favourable reviews and put them on Amazon. Nathan Barker of Reputation 24/7 offers a service starting at £5000. "We'd say we like this book but add a tiny bit of criticism and compare it to another book." Barker claims this is common practice in the publishing industry.

Well, I'm pretty sure none of my Amazon reviews have been paid for by the publisher. And I'm glad. If my publishers were to think the book so bad that they need to pay someone to write me good reviews then they can't have much confidence in the book!

I have the usual mix of reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and Librarything - some love it, some like it less. This is normal as the public has idiosyncratic reading tastes. The women in my book group don't all love the books I do, even if they are well-written, thoughtfully edited and brilliantly marketed.

I usually click on the reviewer to see what else they have reviewed if I am reading a review. Some reviewers review up to twenty books a month. Are they reading all these? Big Warning Bell.

However - I am grateful to the readers who have made the time and effort to review The Lady's Slipper with their genuine thoughts, particularly in the US where I know not a soul. I am grateful for anyone who raises its profile and opens debate about it, whether the review is good or bad, and don't take it too personally. We can't all like the same books!

More debate on a similar topic can be found at a post by writer Eliza Graham at  Macmillan New Writers

Researching Historical Fiction

My guest post about how I researched The Lady's Slipper is at Passages to the Past

There is also a giveaway running of the book.

Househunting -Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books: Author Interview

You can find an interview with me at Tanzanite's Castle. I enjoyed answering Daphne's questions in between house-hunting and working on my next book. I think house-hunting must be like being a publisher - lots of possibles, some sound fantastic from the agent's blurb, but there's nothing I actually love yet.

The virtual world of Tanzanite's castle full of books has much more appeal than the houses we have seen so far! Not that we're after turrets or dungeons, but some period features would be nice - oh, and good views, bit of a garden, room for a campervan somewhere outside. And a library, and a writer's studio........

Guess I'd better start buying those books on how to write a best seller. (Do they help, I wonder?)

You can find out which historical figure I'd like to have dinner with in our new house, when we find one, on the link below

Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books: Author Interview - Deborah Swift