Amazon working hard to build bias into their review pages

[firecat]

One of my author friends tells me this has been going on for a long time, but it's the first time I've heard of it. Apparently Amazon won't let a person review a book if it deems, using some proprietary method, that the person "knows" the author.

http://imysantiago.com/2015/07/02/amazon-a-virtual-marketplace-or-big-brother/

I think it would be nice if they focused their attentions on getting rid of the bazillions of fake paid-for reviews of the other products instead of picking on authors, most of whom do get at least some of their sales through their personal networks and there's nothing wrong with that.

There is a change.org petition about this, FWIW.
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com-amazon-change-the-you-know-this-author-policy

Comments

[noelfigart]

I am a freelancer and early in my business I was paid to write reviews. (It doesn't pay well enough for me to even consider now)

Here's how it worked.

I was sent a copy of the book. I read the book. I wrote what I thought about the book. No part of my contract required me to write a specific sort of review.

Whether or not that is how it always works, I do not know.