Amazon's "Personal Connection" Review Policies Are Nothing New (Writer Beware)
In the interests of fair disclosure, I am one of the 9k plus who has signed the petition. I think the policy is total garbage and is now being enforced in new ways. I know--in some way--hundreds of authors. Considering I have been reviewing since around 2000 it may be that I technically know over a thousand authors. Yet, outside of my local writing group which is made up of several authors way more successful than myself, I have only met in person a few more. Nearly all of those were at various meetings at the Hardboiled Heroes and Cozy Cats conferences here years ago. I would argue that those few I have met in person I don't truly know any more than those I have had contacts with online.
I would rather see Amazon focus on improving review quality than whether or not somebody knows somebody. Make the FTC disclosure requirement a part of all reviews and that would solve a lot of the issues. Bring back a minimum word count for the review. My suggestion would be 100 words minimum. That would end the one word reviews and hopefully end the "Best book ever!!" type reviews.
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