Posted on 02/04/2006 7:21:41 PM PST by Mills7575
I'm very angry because I'm sick and tired of what I see as deception and dishonesty within the literary community. It's been going on for far to long and nobody seems to want to pay attention to it or to care about it.
I love my publisher which is Publishamerica and it's a first rate Publisher however I have seen firsthand with my own eyes individual authors that meet on discussion boards asking each other to do reviews of one anothers books that most always turn out to be four or five star reviews.
These people then go on every major bookseller website and post these reviews and in my opinion decieve customers into thinking these are independant and unbiased ratings of these books from customers when in fact they are really reviews from friends and fellow authors who claim to be unbiased but to me it's deception of the highest order and it stinks.
In my mind it should be put to a stop immediately and these authors should be made to apologize to these websites and to our publisher for doing what is known as logrolling. That's when friendly authors positively review one anothers work.
It's a scratch my back and I'll scratch yours method and I don't like it one bit. A friend is more likely to help a friend and say something good even though the work may be bad. Most of these reviews are four and five stars and it's always the same names so look into it on Amazon and sites like this and you'll see these authors scratching each others backs and careers that comes at the expense of the reader in my opinion.
I have never asked for a review from a fellow author because to me it's unethical to accept a review from a fellow writer that you're friendly or familiar with. My reviews you can be sure will come from honest and independant sources unlike those who support and take part in this logrolling that should be stopped and abhored.
It's time for people to wake up and see the widespread deception in my opinion and write to these people in order to put a stop to this unfair practice. It really takes away from and hinders the efforts of honest writers out there who don't seek to falsify anything or cheat the system like some in the business do.
Let's have a call for honesty and fairness and a call to stop these people from what I see as deceiving customers with friendly reviews put out all over the place from their fellow associates and cronies.
Let's show the honest writers out there in the world that we support them and their efforts to put things out to the public in an honest and forthright way and let's put a stop to this pathetic logrolling once and for all.
Jeffrey Michael Miller
I don't think anyone has paid attention to anything a critic has said since Sony got busted for inventing one out of thin air. Not only were the reviews false, but the actual critic didn't even exist.
Perhaps you should get some friends together, torch some publishing houses and behead a few authors.
It doesn't even matter if they're the authors who actually did the logrolling, they only need to write in the same genre.
Is there some reason this thread is on the "religion general discussion" forum?
Sounds like general/chat to me.
Pleased to meet you Mr. Angry,... or is that Mr. Sick and Tired? By the way, how is the weather these days in Deception and Dishonesty? Is that near Truth or Consequences?
"far to long"
too?
Thanks for the replies and this article was misplaced in the religion category at first so I apologize.
The point is plain and simple that unethical behavior is unethical behavior any way it's cut or sliced. If I wanted to sell my car to you would you rather believe a review from someone I'd never met that reported on it's quality or would you rather have my friend tell you how wonderful the car is?
Bull is bull in my book and it should be brought to light and changed not just accepted. I don't like to be duped but it seems some have gotten used to it and just accept it.
It's like asking Gerbles how he feels about the book My Struggle From Adolph. A friend nine times out of ten won't go against or say something hurtful to another friend therefore their reviews are invalid and deceitful and certainly far from credible in my book. They're puff reviews that should not be allowed.
Jeffrey Michael Miller
An incensed writer who can't spell "independent"? And has no grasp of "spellcheck?
Those irritate me...
Oh my yes how could you not be devastated over independent being accidently spelled wrong. That is a major problem that could cause the world to stop spinning. I see how much of a crisis that is lol. Forget the fraud of phoney reviewing and let's thank this person for seeing that independent was spelled incorrectly. Hip Hip Hooray..lol.
Well you got me and I must admit you're brilliant in a way no other can fathom so thank you. It was a quick message and sometimes one can overlook a word if they are not incredibly anal. We do have editors to catch things like that maybe you should apply.
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