There were a few authortubers I used to really enjoy watching, that I ended up having to unsubscribe from when I found out about practices like this because it just sours all of their content. It's sad. 😞 You did a great job covering this topic gently. There must be cases where authors have bought fake reviews from a place of very understandable fear, and later regretted that choice.
I'm with you on this! I can easily spot fake reviews too, both positive and negative because they are usually very vague or generic. Lately I see them everywhere on debut novels from people I follow on Instagram and it's sad. It has kept me from buying a lot of books cause I wait until the real reviews pop up. I kinda get why they have become a thing. It's so hard to get noticed these days and reviews do help buyers take a chance on a new author, but at the same time, are they really helpful in the end? If enough buyers who are not happy with the book leave negative reviews then the lie positive reviews will stand out even more. It's a tricky situation but I think it's great you made a video about it. It may help readers who aren't aware of this become more careful so this sad practice goes away.
It's no wonder that there's so little trust in reviews and ratings when you hear about stuff like this. The scariest part is that you can never be sure if it's the the AuthorTuber themselves paying for them or if it's overzealous fans. That may seem ridiculous, but RUclips viewers really can be extreme in their devotion both of creators that they love and hate.
Oh for sure, I can definitely say as someone who has been on here for years, all it takes is one "fan" who thinks they're helping, to do it. That's why I wouldn't outright blame any of the Authors
I don't even read reviews anymore. And that's not only for books. I never read any online reviews for anything. Most are fake and even the "trustpilot" ones (and similar platforms) are getting sketchy. At this point the reviews are just another layer of marketing, like ads and creatives themselves.
I remember awhile back, one of the authortubers embroiled in this controversy was claiming the allegedly fake reviews weren't fake, but rather they were the result of being at a conference or something in which a lot of new people were exposed to the book on the same day and left reviews. But in that case, wouldn't those people still have needed time to read the book before posting reviews?
I publish on KDP but am continually frustrated be seeing fake reviews on my competitors books. I know the sorts of things that people typically write when reviewing books like mine, then I read reviews of my competitors books and they are saying things that I flat out know that no one would ever say after reading one of their books. I don’t think that people do it out of fear, I think they do it in order that their books are validated and so sell more.
Goodreads I would say is more for readers. Authors mostly rely on Amazon reviews. I agree! I’ve seen the same reviewers on all the TikTok famous romance authors leaving 5 ✨
In my experience, getting mislead about something hurts it more in the long run so I never judge a book by its general rating etc. Like, when something has been hyped to all hell and when I finally watch it, I might just under-rate it because my expectations had been high rather than normal. I guess I can sympathize with people's fear of obscurity but that's just how it is, and getting general good reviews will just make the more thoughtful bad ones in response stand out more.
Good advice, Cam! Plus, I'd rather work on the next book than waste time fabricating fake reviews. Five-star fakes are probably the author or their mother, and one-stars are trolls or exes. IDEA!!! Remove ALL rating systems from Amazon and (its subsidiary) Goodreads, and let the sales rank speak for itself.
My online pal has a book out with 100s of reviews. It was hanging out at 4.5 stars on Amz. Then a bunch of obviously fake reviews showed up, but they were one star reviews, so NOT bought. It dropped the book's rating to 3.9 stars. The author contacted Amz, and after a frustrating communication period, Amz removed about 50 of the reviews, but not all of them. So the author put the book on perma-free, hoping to gain readers and real reviews. That worked. It's back up to 4.3 stars. In effect, the author paid blackmail money to get the book's star rating back up. I've heard of blackmail stories on GR. I hope they aren't true. ("Pay me or my group will leave a bunch of one-star reviews.") But if they are true, maybe that happened to my online pal except he or she missed the threatening email, and the blackmailers carried out their threat. Gosh, it's like a crime drama novel!
I definitely know review buying happens but it's such a weird concept to me. I totally get what you're saying about wanting a book you put all that time and energy into doing well. But when (if?) I publish, if I receive a 2 star average I'll be the first person to be like "Welp, guess I wrote a 2 star book." Sometimes you've just got to accept that you're mediocre at things.
It's perfectly natural to feel rejected at times especially about what you've written. I for one crave recognition but, fake revs and fake 5 stars will haunt you for it will not feel fulfilling especially if you've written your book for many many years. For me, it doesn't feel right.
Firstly, that moustache is great. (Not a fake review) Secondly, does helping my mum leave a review when she can't even send an email on her own, count as a fake review? This feels like such a moral dilemma haha. Also, who got the money to buy fake reviews??? I'm just trying to afford an editor without selling my car. Might part ways with a kidney though. Remind me to check the market price on those.
Audible is FULL OF THIS! Especially in the business genre. Search up any book with the theme of «how to earn money». Locate a book with review figures around or at 50, 100, 150, 200 etc. So maybe you will see a book reviewed by 55 (then 50 are likely fake and 5 is real/author’s family or own fake accounts). You can see it by the dates. The people leaving the reviews do it on the same DATE! So maybe 20 reviews on the same day. Then the next bulk of 20 reviews on another day. Anytime I buy on Audible I check for fake reviews.. especially in how to genre! I wish it could be reported in a way!
I personally think reviews aren't worth the electrons used to power the screen they're seen on. They are personal opinions (or much less) and they are as unique as the person writing them. That is why I rely on a well written blurb
So many blurbs are misleading though! The good thing about reviews is finding people who have the same taste as you and then following their reviews. Also, when you hate a book finding people who hate it for the same reasons. 😂
Anytime I buy anything online, let alone a book, I always scroll through the comments and make sure they're real, checking profiles and seeing if I can access any low reviews. Honestly it's just a habit that's good to make sure you're not getting scammed. I can sympathize with the idea of being scared your book might not be well received, but it's just a really underhand thing to do. People are going to give you criticism in this industry, and some people are just not going to want to buy your book. Misleading people isn't going to silence your anxiety, you just have to have faith in yourself
@@brosreunited5188 not surprised at all to see those names lol Jenna's book Eve: the Awakening is the worst book i have ever read... i thought the 5 stars revirws were diehard fans xD and rumors say meg left youtube because of that
Great video. Although I agree wholeheartedly with 99.9% of your assessment I think we also need to acknowledge that some writers do NOT put 100% of their heart and soul into their writing -- they are just hacks. When money and social media accolades mean more than crafting a great story, how can you expect anything else but finding a way to cheat the system? Anyone that self-publishes should recognize the real win is in making it to the finish-line with their book, now in print and available, and then move on to the next.
Yeah for sure, I definitely can see that there are "writers" making cash grabs. Mostly in the non-fiction field, with self help or 'improve your craft' books
I'd have thought it'd be more likely that people would get their revenge on you by buying a bunch of negative fake reviews on your books. Fake reviews suck. It's actually more or less why I stopped accepting review copies from indie authors :/ On at least two occasions, people sent me books, didn't like it when I gave them a negative review (with constructive criticism and 2-stars, not 1-star), then posted 1-star reviews on my books in retaliation. In both of the occasions that come to mind, they'd used the same accounts to give glowing 5-star reviews to their own books. One of them even called the company I worked at to tell them to fire me, but luckily my bosses though it was funny o.O Oh, and then there's the ex-girlfriend who posted 1-star reviews on all of my books after we broke up. I reported that to Amazon and they said it didn't contravene terms of service, but they did helpfully then delete a bunch of the positive reviews I'd had where I'd sent copies of my book out to bloggers. So now I just don't read reviews of my books ;D
haha that is definitely something I've considered too, although luckily I think fake 1 star reviews would be easier to dispute... hopefully That's soooooo lame. I stopped accepting review copies, because I would never promise to actually review it "you can send me your book, but no promises" and if I ended up not reading it, they would start harassing me and disliking all my vids
I've had people message me on Instagram offering to review my books but I never say yes because I don't believe they'll give me a fair review if I pay them. This stresses me out because I worry they'll one-star bomb me for saying no. I have to be super polite to those people. Yikes.
There were a few authortubers I used to really enjoy watching, that I ended up having to unsubscribe from when I found out about practices like this because it just sours all of their content. It's sad. 😞
You did a great job covering this topic gently. There must be cases where authors have bought fake reviews from a place of very understandable fear, and later regretted that choice.
I know how you feel 😕 thanks for watching!
Wow... good topic! Some deep stuff. Now you have me looking a lot closer at reviews. I have already spotted a few.
I wish I remembered where I read this, but there was an article about consumer trust fading due to the prevalence of fake reviews.
That's definitely not surprising 😕
I clicked as fast as I was notified! This is a super interesting topic and I cannot wait to hear you discuss it!
Hahaha, good one.
I'm with you on this! I can easily spot fake reviews too, both positive and negative because they are usually very vague or generic. Lately I see them everywhere on debut novels from people I follow on Instagram and it's sad. It has kept me from buying a lot of books cause I wait until the real reviews pop up.
I kinda get why they have become a thing. It's so hard to get noticed these days and reviews do help buyers take a chance on a new author, but at the same time, are they really helpful in the end? If enough buyers who are not happy with the book leave negative reviews then the lie positive reviews will stand out even more.
It's a tricky situation but I think it's great you made a video about it. It may help readers who aren't aware of this become more careful so this sad practice goes away.
I had no idea review buying was so common! Great video, Cam - thanks for explaining this all so clearly.
It's no wonder that there's so little trust in reviews and ratings when you hear about stuff like this.
The scariest part is that you can never be sure if it's the the AuthorTuber themselves paying for them or if it's overzealous fans. That may seem ridiculous, but RUclips viewers really can be extreme in their devotion both of creators that they love and hate.
Oh for sure, I can definitely say as someone who has been on here for years, all it takes is one "fan" who thinks they're helping, to do it. That's why I wouldn't outright blame any of the Authors
I don't even read reviews anymore. And that's not only for books. I never read any online reviews for anything. Most are fake and even the "trustpilot" ones (and similar platforms) are getting sketchy. At this point the reviews are just another layer of marketing, like ads and creatives themselves.
I'm definitely feeling that too, even from big companies. I'm sure they're the worst culprits for fake reviews
I remember awhile back, one of the authortubers embroiled in this controversy was claiming the allegedly fake reviews weren't fake, but rather they were the result of being at a conference or something in which a lot of new people were exposed to the book on the same day and left reviews. But in that case, wouldn't those people still have needed time to read the book before posting reviews?
I publish on KDP but am continually frustrated be seeing fake reviews on my competitors books. I know the sorts of things that people typically write when reviewing books like mine, then I read reviews of my competitors books and they are saying things that I flat out know that no one would ever say after reading one of their books. I don’t think that people do it out of fear, I think they do it in order that their books are validated and so sell more.
Goodreads I would say is more for readers. Authors mostly rely on Amazon reviews. I agree! I’ve seen the same reviewers on all the TikTok famous romance authors leaving 5 ✨
In my experience, getting mislead about something hurts it more in the long run so I never judge a book by its general rating etc. Like, when something has been hyped to all hell and when I finally watch it, I might just under-rate it because my expectations had been high rather than normal. I guess I can sympathize with people's fear of obscurity but that's just how it is, and getting general good reviews will just make the more thoughtful bad ones in response stand out more.
Oh wow, I never even knew that you could buy fake reviews 🤔 I obviously haven't been paying attention to the author/authortuber tea
it's been a bit of a hot topic every now and then 😬
Good advice, Cam! Plus, I'd rather work on the next book than waste time fabricating fake reviews. Five-star fakes are probably the author or their mother, and one-stars are trolls or exes.
IDEA!!! Remove ALL rating systems from Amazon and (its subsidiary) Goodreads, and let the sales rank speak for itself.
My online pal has a book out with 100s of reviews. It was hanging out at 4.5 stars on Amz. Then a bunch of obviously fake reviews showed up, but they were one star reviews, so NOT bought. It dropped the book's rating to 3.9 stars. The author contacted Amz, and after a frustrating communication period, Amz removed about 50 of the reviews, but not all of them. So the author put the book on perma-free, hoping to gain readers and real reviews. That worked. It's back up to 4.3 stars. In effect, the author paid blackmail money to get the book's star rating back up.
I've heard of blackmail stories on GR. I hope they aren't true. ("Pay me or my group will leave a bunch of one-star reviews.") But if they are true, maybe that happened to my online pal except he or she missed the threatening email, and the blackmailers carried out their threat.
Gosh, it's like a crime drama novel!
That sounds so unfortunate. I hope I don’t run into this issue myself!
That's really horrible, you'd have to be a special kind of low life to hold someone's book hostage 😕
I definitely know review buying happens but it's such a weird concept to me. I totally get what you're saying about wanting a book you put all that time and energy into doing well. But when (if?) I publish, if I receive a 2 star average I'll be the first person to be like "Welp, guess I wrote a 2 star book." Sometimes you've just got to accept that you're mediocre at things.
For sure. I can't imagine I would even feel good having a 4-5 star book, if I know that most of the reviews aren't real
Wow! This seems like bad karma to me. I can’t even imagine! Great content Wolfman! Much love, brother! From USA2AUS ❤️
Thanks Angelia, hope you're doing well ❤️
@@CamWolfeAuthor yesterday was round three of four. My last round of chemo is 12/2. Counting it down, brother! Much love!
It's perfectly natural to feel rejected at times especially about what you've written. I for one crave recognition but, fake revs and fake 5 stars will haunt you for it will not feel fulfilling especially if you've written your book for many many years. For me, it doesn't feel right.
Firstly, that moustache is great. (Not a fake review)
Secondly, does helping my mum leave a review when she can't even send an email on her own, count as a fake review? This feels like such a moral dilemma haha. Also, who got the money to buy fake reviews??? I'm just trying to afford an editor without selling my car. Might part ways with a kidney though. Remind me to check the market price on those.
Haha, thanks Holly! And no, not at all, I say go ahead and help with typing out your mum's reviews 😃
Audible is FULL OF THIS! Especially in the business genre. Search up any book with the theme of «how to earn money».
Locate a book with review figures around or at 50, 100, 150, 200 etc.
So maybe you will see a book reviewed by 55 (then 50 are likely fake and 5 is real/author’s family or own fake accounts).
You can see it by the dates. The people leaving the reviews do it on the same DATE! So maybe 20 reviews on the same day. Then the next bulk of 20 reviews on another day.
Anytime I buy on Audible I check for fake reviews.. especially in how to genre! I wish it could be reported in a way!
I personally think reviews aren't worth the electrons used to power the screen they're seen on. They are personal opinions (or much less) and they are as unique as the person writing them. That is why I rely on a well written blurb
So many blurbs are misleading though! The good thing about reviews is finding people who have the same taste as you and then following their reviews. Also, when you hate a book finding people who hate it for the same reasons. 😂
I don't rely too much on reviews either 😕
Let's name them here!!!
Anytime I buy anything online, let alone a book, I always scroll through the comments and make sure they're real, checking profiles and seeing if I can access any low reviews. Honestly it's just a habit that's good to make sure you're not getting scammed. I can sympathize with the idea of being scared your book might not be well received, but it's just a really underhand thing to do. People are going to give you criticism in this industry, and some people are just not going to want to buy your book. Misleading people isn't going to silence your anxiety, you just have to have faith in yourself
yeah, I can definitely agree with that
damn, now i want to know the names now, even if the only booktuber i follow is cam lol
I know he wants this drama free but 2 for sure are Jenna Moreci and Meg Latore (probably spelt those names wrong)
@@brosreunited5188 not surprised at all to see those names lol
Jenna's book Eve: the Awakening is the worst book i have ever read... i thought the 5 stars revirws were diehard fans xD
and rumors say meg left youtube because of that
Great video. Although I agree wholeheartedly with 99.9% of your assessment I think we also need to acknowledge that some writers do NOT put 100% of their heart and soul into their writing -- they are just hacks. When money and social media accolades mean more than crafting a great story, how can you expect anything else but finding a way to cheat the system? Anyone that self-publishes should recognize the real win is in making it to the finish-line with their book, now in print and available, and then move on to the next.
Yeah for sure, I definitely can see that there are "writers" making cash grabs. Mostly in the non-fiction field, with self help or 'improve your craft' books
I'd have thought it'd be more likely that people would get their revenge on you by buying a bunch of negative fake reviews on your books.
Fake reviews suck. It's actually more or less why I stopped accepting review copies from indie authors :/ On at least two occasions, people sent me books, didn't like it when I gave them a negative review (with constructive criticism and 2-stars, not 1-star), then posted 1-star reviews on my books in retaliation. In both of the occasions that come to mind, they'd used the same accounts to give glowing 5-star reviews to their own books. One of them even called the company I worked at to tell them to fire me, but luckily my bosses though it was funny o.O
Oh, and then there's the ex-girlfriend who posted 1-star reviews on all of my books after we broke up. I reported that to Amazon and they said it didn't contravene terms of service, but they did helpfully then delete a bunch of the positive reviews I'd had where I'd sent copies of my book out to bloggers.
So now I just don't read reviews of my books ;D
haha that is definitely something I've considered too, although luckily I think fake 1 star reviews would be easier to dispute... hopefully
That's soooooo lame. I stopped accepting review copies, because I would never promise to actually review it "you can send me your book, but no promises" and if I ended up not reading it, they would start harassing me and disliking all my vids
@@CamWolfeAuthor There are some right nutters out there, I'm a bit embarassed to be part of the writing community sometimes!
With the thick mustache you're starting to really look like a cop from an 80s or 90s TV show. :)
Great vid man….(don’t worry I won’t buy you reviews I bought the books so I’ll just review it a bunch)
Haha, thanks!! 😃
I've had people message me on Instagram offering to review my books but I never say yes because I don't believe they'll give me a fair review if I pay them. This stresses me out because I worry they'll one-star bomb me for saying no. I have to be super polite to those people. Yikes.
I've heard of that happening too, it's really lame how petty some people can be
Plot twist, he made this video so he has an excuse to buy his own reviews and claim it was someone else
(not really, just funny)
haha, I would have to be pretty dopey to talk about how bad fake reviews are for your reputation, to then go do it myself 😂
@@CamWolfeAuthor That's what makes it such a great plot twist ;)