PG received an email from a long-time visitor to TPV after he published a review of Tokyo Zango yesterday that appeared in Self-Publishing Review.
The visitor, A, was absolutely right.
The email questioned PG’s judgement in linking to a pay-for-play site that sells reviews, Amazon best-seller rankings, etc. Suffice to say, if Amazon finds out what’s going on, an author and his/her books will face some difficult experiences.
Self-Publishing Review claims that what it’s doing is permitted by Amazon’s T’s & C’s, but PG would like to hear that directly from Amazon.
PG pleads guilty to moving fast, breaking things and making an unconsidered post. He’s pulled the post down.
He always appreciates suggestions from visitors to TPV. You can email him directly with the Contact PG link in the menu bar at the top of the blog.
It was a very nice review, PG.
I did go to Amazon to read the first pages – didn’t buy the book, but it wasn’t bad, necessarily. Not great and immediately compelling, either, but I don’t read a lot of thrillers/mysteries any more.
For all novels, before buying I check a number of things: the publisher, the sample, the reviews – and have my own list of ‘credibility’ markers. I make my own decision about the writing quality from reading enough of the sample.
As an indie writer, I’m looking for ways to market my own work, so I investigate more deeply than most readers would, learning from my colleagues.
I’m thinking that, in the future, SPR is not a good place to have a review from.