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Amazon’s At it Again
Publishing has always been a difficult way to make a living. Not just sitting down and actually getting the words on paper (which is a blog in and of itself), but the competition of getting your finished story to the reader.
The whole process has been made easier in the last few years as the world of self-publishing opens a new realm for authors hoping to see their work in print (or at least in digital pixels).
The competition no longer lies in trying to catch the ear of an agent and ultimately the attention of a publisher. The problem for an author is now trying to rise above the din of other books being released daily in HUGE batches. I feel like a woman standing in the middle of the stock market floor shouting “me me me … I’m over here” only to be drowned out by others who jump higher and yell louder.
Like many authors, I go out in the twitterverse and tell people about my books. I mention them now and again on Facebook. I’ve even done a couple of ad campaigns. But like other authors, I don’t want to scare readers away by being in their face every day shouting BUY MY BOOK … IT’S REALLY GOOD! Yeeeeah, that so isn’t going to work. No one likes the hard sell.
So what’s left? Well, Amazon used to have catagory tags for our books. We used to be able to have people agree with them and have our books show up on category searches done by readers. But Amazon found out some people were (in their words) abusing the system. Authors (like me) were having “tagging parties” to get high numbers of agreements so their books show up higher in a search. Some people were putting big name authors in their set of tags so their books showed up when a reader searched those author’s books. In some cases, this was done by some readers who wanted other readers to find an unknown author (which is awesome). In some cases it was done by the author (not cool).
Tags were being abused by some by adding erotic tags to books that didn’t fit that category. Some authors found tags like “spam” or “delete” or “trash” in their lists.
I think Amazon got tired of the sheer number of valid complaints they were getting and have now completely dropped the tags associated with books (Note: turns out this is only on the US site). I think the only way to search for a book now is through the categories authors/publishers add when putting a book up on Amazon. I haven’t heard any backlash from readers, but I’m wondering if many have discovered they’re not getting the results from their Amazon searches. And perhaps readers didn’t really use this feature.
I also think Amazon used the tags (and likes at the top of a book page) in their algorithms to determine a book’s ranking on lists. (Pure speculation as no one knows for sure how the algorithms work.) And Amazon doesn’t like to think the rankings are manipulated in any way. Getting rid of tags stopped the possibility that authors could do anything to “play the system”.
There are rumors that Amazon is going to get rid of the reviews as well. I don’t know if that will happen, but I do know similar things are happening with reviews being used to bring down (or up) an author’s number of stars. Unfortunately not all reviews are legitimate. Again, I’m not sure how many readers use reviews to find a new author. But I wonder if readers are going to miss the reviews if they’re no longer found on books.
What about you? Do you use either tags or reviews in determining whether you’re going to make a book purchase? Because you know … I’m curious about this kind of stuff!
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Hi Nina! Your topic was just on my mind. I don’t use tags to find books, but I always look at reviews. I’m sharing an experience of mine as a disgruntled author who wants to throw up her hands and say, f*#k. My first attempt at erotic romance *blush* wasn’t the greatest nor the worst. I had reviews on it on GR and Amazon ranging from 3-5. Suddenly on Amazon, I get a “1″ and the review/reader retells the plot, bashes the relationship and screams about it being trash. I think, okay, one opinion is one opinion. Amazon does its magic erase reviews (several months ago) and guess what? Every positive review is wiped leaving ONE review–the “1″ review. Long story shortened. My sales on that book dropped to nothing. Zip. Point of long story: Reviews have a lot of power and Amazon is capricious.
Gem – Well crap, that stinks. Unfortunately you’re not the only author who’s screamed about this craziness. Amazon is weilding power and effecting the sales of books … which is weird since you’d think they’d be happier if all authors were successful and readers happy.
I’m sorry that’s happened. Hopefully Amazon will figure this whole thing out so it benefits authors AND readers!
I am no longer able to agree with tags on Amazon and I couldn’t add any to my new release so my friends did it for me. I contacted Amazon on this issue and as always they came back with some totally incomprehensible explanation something about them running a test and it’s impacting my ability to tag. But they didn’t specify how long this “test” is supposed to last. Seems it still going.
Before my friend tagged my new release some other tags appeared there. Amazon put them up. Ant the tags were totally wrong. They listed my book as erotic, lesbian, Nevada, Ohio, and among them historical. Of all tags they’ve assigned, only historical was accurate. And again, I contacted Amazon on this. They came back explaining that the book cannot be without tags and they assign these tags to my book because it fits, and that at this point they will not change them. I just about had a fit myself. Posted their email to Facebook and the next thing, those tags were removed. I really had it with Amazon. They removed my editorial reviews for my first novel and said there could be a number of reasons for that. Yet, Kindle format is available at other sites, like Goodreads (Mobi) and there you cannot post a review unless you buy the book. If Amazon wants to control the reviews why don’t they do the same and be done with? This cat and mouse game is getting tiresome.
Zrinka – Interesting. All tags are gone on the US site. I did check my UK books and they still have tags. But I don’t purchase books through that site so obviously can’t add (or change) tags.
I didn’t know Amazon added tags. Odd. Doesn’t seem fair at all … especially if they’re not accurate.
Yeah, it’s hard to know what Amazon is up to at this point. Sure seems like they’re fighting the very authors who are just looking to get their books out to readers.
It’ll be interesting to see how this all pans out.
Yeah, and they tagged it with a wrong publisher. I’ve contacted that publisher to let them know that Amazon tagged my book with their name and that book is published by Black Opal Books, but the tagged publisher never got back to me on this. Oh well.
It doesn’t hurt to have the wrong publisher on the tags, it’s to that publisher’s advantage.
You can remove a tag Zrinka by clicking on “agree with these tags” then scrolling over the number and a box appears “click no” and it will remove one of the tags. When you get the tag to zero it will eventually be taken off the list.
I have been an Amazon customer since they went online. I am a voracious reader and I use descriptions of the book if its an author I’m unfamiliar with and then reviews and tags if I’m on the fence about a novel. However, I have never understood why people bother to leave negative reviews especially since it usually is more to do with how long it took to get a book shipped or editing issues which can be slightly annoying but don’t really take away from the substance of the work.
Catherine – I do think there are legitimate 1- and 2-star reviews. Readers have a right to dislike a book. But like you, I’ve never understood leaving a bad review for something that is, in many cases, totally out of the author’s control, like book covers or editing. I haven’t seen any reader backlash about lack of tags on US site, but I wonder if there will be an outcry if reviews are no longer on the site. I do think a lot of readers use them if, like you, they’re sitting on the fence.
Great post. I also have been thinking about Amazon, the tags, and the lists.
I apply great thought to the keywords when I upload my books, but have never really used the tags. Although I was surprised to find that someone had tagged my books. This prompted me to do a little research. I think I found many readers use tags in conjunction with lists. Lists will probably be next on the agenda for scrutiny.
I’m also fascinated by the way the review system works. For some of my books the reviews in the UK don’t show up in the US but for others they do. So strange.
Bitten – What Amazon is choosing to do across the different country venues is interesting. It would be nice if it were consistent regardless of where we shop. Just not sure how this is going to effect our books and the readers. Guess we’ll all have to wait and see.
My son is a computer wiz. I keep trying to convince him to go to work for Amazon, so I can get the “inside” scoop on their thinking. So far he keeps saying NO, but I live in hope.
Despite all the headaches that come with self-publishing and the “games” Amazon plays I still think this is an exciting time to be an author. There are so many more opportunities to get our work out there for people to read and enjoy (or not.) As with everything else in life there’s the good and there’s the bad.
LOL! Elysa … oh, wouldn’t we authors all love to have an “insider” so we could at least understand some of what Amazon is doing!
And I have to agree with the exciting part of publishing. It’s worth the headaches to me so I can be self-published and have a more control on where and how my books reach readers.
Great post, Nina. I also noticed a few days ago that tags were completely gone from all of my books on Amazon (US). At this point, I’m just waiting to see how this might effect sales. So far, nothing seems to have changed as far as my books go.
When they did the mass purge of reviews, the only 2 that disappeared from my books were a 1 star and a 2 star that bashed me personally. That was a good thing. But, I was fortunate. I know many authors who are upset about the review situation.
As a customer, I never used tags to search for products. But, as an author I used tags to the best of my ability to attract readers. All with legit tags that related to the work of course.
Tracey – I don’t know how many readers actually used the tags in searching for books. As a consumer I never did, but I have so many friends who are authors that I’ll never get through my TBB list.
I’m also not seeing any difference in sales.
As far as reviews I didn’t have any removed from my books and none of the ones I’ve posted have been deleted as far as I know. Like you, I know many authors who lost some really good valid reviews.
It will be interesting to see if there will be an backlash from readers.
Thanks for this post. It’ll also impact discussion forums, because a lot of times tags are tied into a discussion forum (as in, that’s how you FIND the forum in the first place, because of their totally dysfunctional lack of easy ways to GET to the discussion forums in the first place).
Tymber – I’ve never used the discussion forums, but what you’re saying makes total sense. Wow, that is going to be a kerfuffle for readers who are looking for discussions based on certain genres. Hmmm, wonder how that will play out.
I’ve been burnt by reviews that give away the plot or black moment. I believe the reviews play an important part in the sale of our books. If I’m not sure about a book, I’ll skim the reviews. At times it’s enough to sway my decision.
On other products I check the reviews and it helps make my decision about which brand to purchase. I hope the reviews stay.
Nina, thanks for bringing up this discussion.
Diane
Diane – I haven’t had any of those reviews that give away the twist at the end *knock on wood* … because that just stinks. I wouldn’t want to read them either if I was checking out a book.
With all the online shopping I’ve been doing recently I really depend on those reviews to help me make a final decision. I know there are readers sitting on the fence who use the reviews to decide one way or the other. If Amazon continues to keep them on the product page they are going to have to stop deciding for themselves which ones are valid and which ones aren’t. They seem to be deleting indiscriminately at this point.
Thanks for stopping in and joining in the discussion.
I personally never used the tags. I would go to a category tab and skim through the pages there; usually starting on the last page (I’m strange like that). As for reviews, if I’m not sure about the author/story I’ll skim reviews left by others. I say skim because people sometimes give away plot twists and the ending, and well, there isn’t much of a reason to read the book for me. So I look for comments about the writing and whether the characters and story are well developed.
I hope they don’t get rid of reviews because they can (sometimes) sway my decision. Thanks for the interesting topic. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here.
Hannah – I have to agree with the tags … I never used them to find a book. But I’ve definitely been known to make a final decision based on well written reviews regardless of stars. Because sometimes I like the things other readers have marked as a negative.
Yeah, certainly will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the next few months and how it will effect readers’ buying habits.
Great post! I never used the tags as I shopped, and I’ve never been able to find out if they helped my sales. I guess I’ll see if there’s any real change in my sales now. As for reviews, I don’t read them when I go to purchase a book. I can tell by the preview Amazon offers and the blurb if I think the writing is good or the story is one I’m interested in.
However, I would say this: Amazon could solve a lot of its problems with reviews if it only allowed customers who’ve purchased the book or whatever item to review. Then I’d have more faith in them as a customer.
Gabrielle – You’re not the first to mention Amazon’s policy of letting anyone review every book. It would definitely be better if a purchase had to be made first. It would also be support for those authors whose book reviews have been removed from their bonified purchases (which hardly seems fair).
I think the whole review thing is going to shake things up at Amazon.
Gabrielle and Nina,
Food for thought…
If Amazon were to eliminate the ability to review without purchase, Indie authors who have provided reviewers with a copy of their books for the sole purpose of garnering a review would not be able to take advantage of the review feature on Amazon. Today if our books were purchased on B&N the reviewer could still post their review on Amazon, should they have the ability.
I believe Amazon’s requirement for reviewing is the reviewer has to have made one purchase from Amazon, though I don’t believe it needs to be from the book department to review on books.
You have a point. I hadn’t even thought of the reviewers with free copies (and that’s not just for indie books, but even those who receive ARC’s through publishers). And yes, a person only needs to have made a purchase on Amazon … any purchase and they can leave a review on any item on the site, including books.
Hmmm, doesn’t seem to be an easy answer does there?
I use the reviews, but I use them wisely. If I see a 1 or a 2 and it doesn’t have a good, solid justification for the rating, I go in and check the reviewer. I read their other reviews. It is amazing what you find sometimes.
A friend of mine recently got hit with a bad review as her first one on a new release. It was on a romance. I checked out the reviewer. She had a favorite author who always received a 5 and a glowing review. She also rated all BDSM with 4 or 5. She rated romance as 1 or 2 and there were several of them. It begs one to wonder, if she keeps rating romance so low, why does she continues to read them.
My point to this is, you sometimes have to dig a bit deeper when reading reviews for a book or a product. Sometimes the reviewer has a grudge against a genre or a manufacturer.
The saying that there are 2 sides to a story and the truth lies somewhere in the middle works for weeding out the reviews, too.
Donna – This. This is why I think Amazon is considering dropping the review feature on books. Authors with reviews like that have legitimate complaints. The review doesn’t really give any information to a potential reader. But it seems most people who have stopped by and commented do use the review feature if they’re on the fence about a book. It certainly will be interesting to see what’s coming down the pike.
She’s baaaaaccccckkkkkk….with another thought provoking post! I don’t personally use tags or reviews to determine if I’ll buy a book. Too many other reasons ride on that decision.
Yet, here we go again with a possible set back in helping push our books up the ranks.
Mine aren’t up there in any top anythings so it really won’t affect me..just pisses me off for the authors who it does hurt.
Amber – What’s really pissing me off is Amazon is claiming authors are “playing the system”. *eyeroll* Like that’s never happened before? I’ve heard rumors of big name authors buying large quantities of their books to drive them up the lists the week they are released … of course that could be sour grapes and not true. Still, the point is … as long as there are products and consumers, sellers (including authors and publishers) will continue to market in a way that puts their product (books) in front of potential customers (readers) and they will do this frequently and with great gusto.
However Amazon chooses to change the rules, someone will eventually figure out how to get their books to rise to the top and get the best visibility.
I agree. I wouldn’t even call that “playing the system.” It’s just good marketing. If it’s not dishonest (like buying tons of your own books), and it gets your work noticed, there shouldn’t be a problem. I do wonder where Amazon’s logic is sometimes.
Tracey – That’s my feeling as well. If we’re all making money aren’t they making money as well? Isn’t it in their best interest to help authors however they can? On the other hand, perhaps they’re doing so well they don’t need every author and can make their rules regardless of how it effects self-pubbed authors.
I never used the tags. I do use reviews. Interestingly I read more negative than positive ones. Here is my reasoning. Not everyone is bothered by the same things so I look at the negative reviews to see what people didn’t like. If its something that wouldn’t bother me, I can go ahead and get the book. (for example if someone complains because there was a menage scene they didn’t expect and that means they hated the book Well that wouldn’t bother me. If the complaint is the heroine is TSTL then I’ll skip the book.)
Nicole – I haven’t met anyone but authors who used the tags. (Besides Tymber who uses them to get forums.) And I like the way you use the reviews. I do think it’s important, when using reviews, to read the good and the bad. Like you said, what doesn’t work for one reader may be just the thing you enjoy in a book. Thanks so much for stopping by.