Comments on: You Can’t Fight City Hall (or The ‘Zon). Or Can You?

By: Suzanne Vince

Suzanne Vince — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:18:32 +0000

In reply to Laryl.

Hi Laryl,

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my post. I agree that what Amazon doing is becoming readily transparent because of social media (and people like us who are daring to speak out and take a stand). I’ve gotten 15 reviews (that I know of!) from this post and I’m checking that number every day. Every one of them said they would contact Amazon if the reviews are removed (these are people I’ve never met), but from what you’ve said, that doesn’t seem to do much good. However, another public post wouldn’t hurt 😉

I wish you much success with your writing.

Best,
Suzanne

By: Laryl

Laryl — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 14:08:11 +0000

Hi there, Suzanne! I have had the same issues regarding reviews on Amazon. When you’re newly published and have only ten reviews, you certainly don’t want any removed. 🙂 I contacted Amazon, but as you likely know, you can’t speak to anyone in the “review department.” It’s all via email. They sent me the same email response they sent to you. It is ludicrous for Amazon to think that we will have no contact whatsoever with buyers of our books when we live in a world of constant contact through social media, even with people we have never meet, nor ever will. As authors, we’re going to market our books through social media, book signings, readings, etc. So again, to think we will never have contact one way or another with some of our readers makes absolutely no sense. Regardless, that is their stance. After a couple of back and forth emails with Amazon, their appeals board stated that if any of the people whose reviews were removed contacted them directly, they would tell them why they were removed. Just a couple of examples …Two people that I know of through book marketing were very excited to post a review of my book, as it really resonated with both of them. One had her review removed and the other’s review was never even posted, as if it never existed. You can imagine my anger and concern, as how many other reviews of my book have never been posted…ones that I may never know of? Both of these ladies did contact Amazon and asked why they were removed and they never heard back. One lady contacted Amazon twice. Neither is on Goodreads, so no connection there. Then, I got some random email just the other day, out of the blue, that if I don’t stop trying to solicit reviews, I may not be able to publish through Amazon or continue to sell my books through them. Really???!!!! WTF? (pardon my language) I was outraged, as it is clear that they play God while blocking/removing reviews, and staying contained in some vacuum where even other departments of Amazon cannot reach them unless by email. I decided to leave it all alone and hold my breath in hopes that no more reviews of my book would be removed. I’m at a big whopping six reviews now and am happy about even that, considering all that Amazon has done. I’m almost paranoid to do anything at this point. Amazon may be Goliath, but they aren’t allowed to mess with someone’s livelihood, and I am far from alone. I think more people speaking out could help remedy some of these issues. On a final note, I will say, that wall the review board hides behind is somewhat transparent. With social media and social networking, even some of Amazon’s employees, to include In-House Attorneys, are on LinkedIn, so they surely know “connecting” with the general public isn’t THAT hard. 🙂 Wishing you all the best!

By: Suzanne Vince

Suzanne Vince — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 23:42:38 +0000

In reply to Yvonne Kohano.

Hi Yvonne,

I haven’t done much with Goodreads in a long while, but I have done some giveaways in the past with fairly good luck. Those reviews seem to have stuck. So far, I’m at 64 reviews!! I’m thinking that perhaps they were removing the reviews because this book was permafree for until last week. Now that I’ve taken it off permafree, we’ll see how this goes.

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs,
Suzanne

By: Yvonne Kohano

Yvonne Kohano — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 20:53:01 +0000

Hi Suzanne – I have ‘heard’ that if you connect with your readers through Goodreads, Amazon (their parent company) can see the link. Amazon considers this a solicitation (???) for the review, which they consider against the rules. (Is this supposed to be like paying for reviews?) Then they take the review down. I’m not sure if this is accurate info, but thought I’d mention it. For exactly this reason, people are recommending authors avoid advertising to readers or mentioning reviews to readers on Goodreads. More to think about! Best of luck blowing by 50 and reaching the stars! Hugs – Yvonne