Why I no longer trust Vine Book Reviews at Amazon

Would you seriously trust this blank Vine Reviewer, even trust one with a profile pic if the reviewer has no authentic profile, no direct means of contact by email, no credibility elsewhere as a book reviewer?  The best means of checking out these VRs is to see who they follow which tells you who they associate with and usually they can be tracked on FB, The honest ones will include an FB or web site link. 

Why I no longer trust Vine Book Reviews at Amazon.

Once upon a time there was a website called Goodreads. It was a readers book review web site. It sort of came into being as a new ground-breaking platform for readers. It had glorious book images, star rating facility and it shone better than previous reader book forums where text reigned and lots of live chat forums were all the gig. As the saying goes, flashy does it and wins punters, and Goodreads caused a great decline in reader forums. Like all new shopping malls Goodreads had it all. You could sit back with a cup coffee and enjoy reading other readers outlook on a book, any genre you cared to delve into. Authors were feeding the frenzy for new reads, collecting followers and all was rosy in the Goodreads garden of joy. 

   Like all wicked fairy stories, trolls turned up, some in witch garb, some  in bitch wagons. Wars broke out with authors in their turrets defending their written words, and the trolls just kept coming, scaling the defences and rampaging over well written, beautifully worded books, trashing all before them. 

   The Goodreads Castle after a great siege was left a burning shell of its previous self.  In the wake of defeat the authors who had so valiantly fought to retain their hold with support from good honest readers finally migrated from Goodreads Castle to the realm of the mighty Amazon. All was lost in a world where peace had once reigned at Goodreads.

    All was sunshine and flowers in the Amazon realm until the mighty Giant Amazon warrior scaled the Goodreads castle walls and acquired the Goodreads castle. Like all greedy Giants Amazon banded together with the Goodreads trolls who it saw as its newly acquired popular warriors. With their new Ally, the Trolls moved into Amazon lands. With renewed vigour and vicious intent the Trolls set to work with devious practices to infiltrate the genteel upper realm of Vine Readers at Amazon. The thing with giants they only hear those who shout loudest, those who mass together a following in order to keep their vicious rallying forces ever present, ever threatening. 
        The Giant is too mighty to care who presses what like button or favours a particular reviewer. All the Giant sees is "Popularity" and if that person is popular then it stands to reason they are the tops for reviewing books. Hence Goodreads Trolls were popular leaders of their regiments and so impressed was the Giant Amazon it promoted them to the Elite Vine Regiment at Amazon. 

           Vine Reviewers get to review every thing from an electric tooth brush, to clothes, to books, all handed to them as free goods or they grab it for free when on offer for nothing. A tooth brush reviewer is no book reviewer and Vine Reviewers on the whole are Freebie Junkies. Trolls won't pay if they can help it. If they want they take and will then reclaim their cash by any means open to them. When authors say they've suffered a spate of paybacks on books, usually a short while later the cry for help goes out on the basis they've had a spate of crippling * reviews. That's why Vine Reviewers are untrustworthy freeloaders!  

      And as fairy stories go, the former Vine Regiment was an honourable force for good, now it is a force for evil. Vine Reviews are unstrustworthy reliant on popularity of the reviewer, and the worst part in the shady underworld of trolls is they will always seek and find a way to review as many books as they can. The oldest trick in the Troll Review kit bag is to skim read, read a few  existing negative reviews and cobble stink reviews, or trash a book regardless to help their best friend authors shine with dozens of

*****   

     

       There are more Author Vine Reviewers than ever before trading under their BH, mother's, sister's, brother's or granny's Amazon ID, and the Amazon Giant doesn't care about honesty, Popularity is key and Goodreads Trolls are Back in Force and in power play at Amazon as they did at Goodreads!  

   

   In the meanwhile there are still a few independent quality Vine Reviewers who work with integrity, though more and more are quitting Amazon. As in all good fairy tales the literate Vine Reviewers are well read, their reviews on average are positive, enlightening for the right reasons, and best of all, they write literate and fascinating reviews.      

I no longer post reviews at Amazon and removed all that I had there on a joint account with hubby. I do not want to be associated with Amazon's review system. It stinks of corruption. All hail Kobo.      

Why I quit Facebook.

I thought Facebook was a friendly social medium where authors and readers could get together and discuss books and learn more about each other. What a wake up call when I discovered it was a seething mire of authors who feign love and affection for fellow authors and a good many who knifed their so-called friends  in the back through private messaging. 

 

I hated being piggy-in-the-middle and some of the open hostility in comments made me stop and think (I don't like you, nor you, you bitchy mouthpiece, and I don't want to help you in your writing career). There were a good many unpleasant readers I met on the Georgette Heyer group as well. One or two were haughty controlling freaks who dominated threads and nasty little cliques who high-jacked threads. I got so that I hated that group, and really liked the Jane Austen Bath Society group where much nicer people were chatting.   

 

There were good points about Facebook and I did meet some lovely authors though few in number I would want to meet for a chat over a cup of coffee except the Austen group.  While I'm a fan of historical romance in general I do like Regency novels and I thought by joining up with several Regency themed groups, I would be in good company. I was wrong because that is where I met some unpleasant self-seeking authors who keep ramming their novels in your face. The constant begging for reviews of books really annoyed me, and I kept thinking can they be more rude and unprofessional in the way they conduct themselves on social media. Yes is the answer when authors rapidly friend you and straight way ask you have you read my books. Beggars with begging bowls accosting people leapt to mind and while I am most happy to review a book if asked nicely I didn't much like the attitude of authors who sent me details of where to get their books at my expense and then tell me precisely where they wanted the reviews posted. It never crossed their self-centred minds that I might not like the book, or that I might think it badly written or so bloody awful I wouldn't get past the blurb let alone a free excerpt or Amazon sample.           

 

I belong to a review blog and it's always open for submissions as you dear reader can see for yourself. The link is on the side of the page.  When I pointed that out to authors I could almost here the sigh of despair because they wanted the money as much as they wanted a review. Well tough. I only pay for books I myself want to read though will review books for the review blog.

 

Charlotte.  

Should you Trust Other's Book Reviews?

See the play on book lips in this image. Clever.

How appropriate is the above statement?  Quite relevant I think now that Amazon has come under attack from readers and authors alike for its draconian policy in retention of scathing book reviews. If goods are downgraded, and books are trade goods aren't they? And if Amazon is there to profit from sale of goods why does it allow people to walk through its virtual doors and post virtual DON'T PURCHASE THIS ITEM reviews? If I were a bookstore owner and random people walked into my bookstore to place memo-stickers with claims this book is garbage I would be sorely pissed off. My bookstore would be there to sell books and for me to make a profit. So when I stop and think about that equation it makes me ponder the sanity of a bookstore where the owner allows stick-it memos to prevent sales. Amazon is littered with damaging memos in the form of book reviews and comments and it's utter insanity for any store to adopt this type of ludicrous policy.  Can you imagine Cornflake fanatics going to the local store to post anti stickers to a rival product and what other customers would think in seeing those stickers? Yes. They'd think a lunatic was on the loose.  Say no more. I've given up posting book reviews at Amazon on the basis my opinion is my opinion and someone else must judge the book on their own reading ability. It seems as though one heck of a lot of readers are illiterate in their choice of books read. Why else are there hyped books with hundreds of top rate reviews and the actual books are of low grade literary standard. Amazon resembles a second hand book shop with bundled bargains and publisher knock-down deals. Bit of a jumble in reality.  Dead choosy on what I read from now on. Trusted too  much in others opinions of a good read. Not any more. 



Dear Blog,

Where to begin the begin?

Talking romance novels would be good a start because I do so love a charming romance. Charming without it being too sweet and sickly of course. There cannot be much worse than a weak hero and sweety pie heroine. Neither one recognising love for what it is. I mean what can two of these sorts of characters make of love beyond a chaste kiss here and there, and oh my goodness, on the wedding night the hero barely knows what to do beyond a kiss or two and impaling his poor blushing bride on his rampant manhood. Well that's what that thingy between his legs is for, isn't it?

Hmmm.

And this is where I want to write, Dear Author,

Might I kindly suggest you read a sex manual in How to Extend your Partners Pleasure. Your hero needs educating in how to pleasure a woman. It's all very well to let him have his end away. Though it is somewhat unfair if his pleasure is attained at the expense of his wife's losing out on an orgasm. Several orgasms would better place him as a lover rather than instrument of insertion techniques. Please amend and extend the wife's pleasure time. Thank you in advance.

Romance IsMe.