Robert Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) I have to wonder if the book reviews on certain sites are phony. I recently saw an ad soliciting book reviewers (see this ad below). The ad read that book reviewers are to review 50-100 books per day. They are instructed to give 3 to 5 stars for a review. One or two stars (poor or fair) is not allowed. The reviewer is given a list of sites to "research" the book. The reviewer quickly scans information ABOUT the book. The reviewer is never asked to actually READ the book. The reviewer works 8 hours per days. If you do the math, this would mean that an enitre review is researched and written in less than 9 minutes. I know that phony product reviewing is an industry, but this really takes the cake. The ad for reviewers appeared on a website. This is how it reads: "We are looking for multiple freelancers interested in writing short book reviews for us on a weekly basis. Reviews should between 80-150 words and you need to post them on our website at the corresponding bookpage, including clicking a 3-5 start ranking for the book. We will provide excel sheet with links to bookpages, you just have to research the book and write a short review. We need approx. 50-100 reviews per day per person which should take you approx. 8 hours per day." Edited February 9, 2012 by Michelle Whilst this could be an interesting discussion, I've removed the links to the actual sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 That is outrageous! Call me naive but it just wouldn't have occurred to me that that would go on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 That's why websites such as this one are so important. While we may not always agree with reviews, we always know that the person reviewing has actually read the book and is expressing an honest opinion of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Point taken Andrea (ha ha). I knew things like this went on, but what is surprising is that people who do this stuff really have no compunction about it. I might have guessed a lot of fudging, but this is really nonsense. Guess I'm the one who is naive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I think we're all naive. It's horrible to think that this is happening, and so many fake reviews must be flooding the internet every day! How can people do this? I guess it's all the more reason to read a good spread of reviews, ranging from 1-5 stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 That really is the pits. As someone who cares about books that has made me mad and sad ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 That really is the pits. As someone who cares about books that has made me mad and sad ! I agree with what everyone has said on the subject, but I'm quoting VF because he has used the appropriate emoticon that describes my reaction as well. I'm appalled and outraged. That's ... like... as bad as puppy milling in my opinion!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 That's just crazy! How can anyone review a book without reading it? I like reading the reviews here, because I know that (a) they're honest, and (b) the person reviewing has actually read the book! Sites that offer those kind of fake reviews just make me mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The number of times I've disagreed with a review so strongly that I've thought "Have they even READ this book?" Now we know the answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 The best research anyone should do is read the book. Research online woun't give much away I would of thought. Is that for a Newspaper or a Book Shop or just Online? It's an online book store. I read some of the reviews lately. Some are even entertaining, in their own way, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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