Amazon have been deleting my reviews.

I’d reviewed Iain’s book, “A Gateway Made of Bone”.

Have you read it? It’s rather good.

I made a review that was a lot more helpful than that. It covered characters, style, world and plot. It gave small tidbits, with no big spoilers. I tried to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip (sound advice from Elmore Leonard)

The first time it disappeared, I assumed I’d wandered off without letting it commit so I added it again. Then it disappeared for a second time, so I wrote to Amazon support. They sent me a polite reply, pointing out the changes in their review policy which were recently implemented.

“When we perceive that a reviewer has a financial interest in a book, or a close personal relationship with the author, we remove the review to protect the authenticity of our customer reviews.”

OK Amazon, you’ve got me. Iain and I wrote a book together, so I obviously can’t be trusted to write an objective review of one of his solo novels.

But hang on…I’ve also written reviews for books by people I know from my writers’group. And a writer I met at a spoken word event. And a writer I admired for years and once spoke to. In fact I just finished a book by a writer I have never met or even googled, and I was thinking of writing a review for that. Should I bother if Amazon will just delete it?

I know that Amazon were reacting to a vociferous lobby from people objecting to the practice of “sock puppets”. This is when authors set up false accounts so that they can praise their own books and (more disturbingly) pour vitriol upon their rivals. Unpleasant and unethical to be sure, but maybe the reaction was a teeny weeny bit heavy handed. The type of devious heel who tries to game the system will already have worked around it, I’m sure.

The real reason I feel shaken by this is because right from the start, it’s been a mainstay for our collaborative writing endeavours. Mutual support. We’ve supported each other, and many of our writing buddies along the way. We’ve become quite evangelical about it because we’re readers too. Amazon reviews are just a small part of that, but I’ll miss being allowed to express my opinions at the point of sale, where it matters a lot.

Where next? Well I won’t stop having opinions and reviewing books. I’ll put my reviews onto Goodreads and maybe pester harder for other people to make Amazon reviews instead.

Oh yes, you. You there, reading this.
Did I mention A Gateway made of Bone? It’s really good. You might want to read it. If you read it and like it, then do consider writing a review on Amazon, won’t you..?

Please note that A Gateway Made of Bone is free on Amazon for 16th, 17th & 18th January 2013.