Bad Amazon Book Reviews – You Will Always Get A Few

Bad Amazon book reviews are infuriating, annoying, and often absurd. They are unfair, depressing, and disheartening.

But poor book reviews are one of the harsh realities of being a published author today.

If you’re a seasoned author, you know what I’m talking about.

But if you are a new author about to publish your first book, you will come to know soon enough.

Customer reviews

I hesitate now when I refer to online book reviews because, in fact, on book retailer sites, they are not called book reviews.

On Amazon, they are called Customer Reviews.

There’s no difference between a book review and a review of a three-person camping tent.

Apple Books and Audible call them Customer Ratings.

The word ratings immediately makes you think about people clicking stars.

So, what’s the difference between a book review and a customer review?

Someone with a deep interest in literature would be more likely to write book reviews and perhaps publish these reviews on a blog.

Often, the reviews are quite lengthy and comprehensive, similar to book reviews you read in major newspapers.

However, customer reviews are very often short, with little or no useful information, and usually accompanied by rating stars.

Because they are quick and easy to post, customer reviews are often spontaneous and lack much depth.

A book reviewer asks; does this book work for me?

A book review that you might find on a reputable book reviewer’s blog or perhaps a book club site will cover the basics.

When they review a book, they will give a balanced personal view of the strengths and weaknesses of the story.

Perhaps it will note one or two short passages from the book or provide a guide to the book’s intended audience.

The reviewer may not like the book.

Even if it is a negative book review, it will usually be clear as to the reasons why.

But it will often offset that with at least one or two positive aspects.

Even an excellent review might contain one or two, what I didn’t like, points.

There is often a conclusion and a reading recommendation, but rarely a star rating.

Occasionally, a good review might extend to 1,000 words and end with details such as publication date, publisher, and the number of pages.

You can, of course, find book reviews similar to this on Amazon and other online retailers.

When you receive a review like this, you should be very pleased.

Even if it is not a glowing review, you at least know that the reviewer read the book and is giving an open and honest opinion.

From that, potential readers can make a buying judgment.

But book reviews like these are a rarity on Amazon for self-published books.

A customer review is different

Customer reviews can be, and often are, genuine book reviews from passionate readers.

But not all readers react in this manner.

Sometimes there is an emotive or even a recognition factor involved because a one-star review can help attract attention.

The majority of silly and nasty reviews I got over the years all had the necessary ingredients for wanton attention-seeking.

The hallmarks of bad Amazon book reviews are personal attacks, derogatory language, and ridicule of positive reviews, to name a few.

Unfortunately, online retailers, and especially Amazon, are reluctant to remove these reviews.

I have tried to reason with Amazon. But it has consistently refused my requests to take down a review unless it contains blatantly vulgar or racist language.

The worst of the worst

Goodreads was one of the worst sites for atrocious, vile, and even threatening book reviewer behavior.

I used the past tense intentionally because I gave up on this site years ago due to the infamous Goodreads Trolls.

It earned a well-deserved reputation for spiteful negative reviewers and also for authors, hating authors.

Goodreads may have improved its site behavior since Amazon acquired it. But I am not sure because I still have an aversion to visiting the site.

But my author page is still on Goodreads. I leave it there for the decent people who use the site. But I don’t interact or even bother to check anymore.

Free ebooks can attract negative reviews

One simple way to dramatically reduce these ridiculous reviews and one-star ratings is to stop giving away free books.

It works on human psychology that when people buy a book, they usually read it because it costs them money.

Well, after I stopped using free Kindle ebook campaigns a couple of years ago, most of the one-star bad Amazon book reviews ceased appearing.

There is nothing much you can do about one-star reviews, especially those written in spite.

But if you are using free ebooks as part of your book promotion and start getting a run of them, perhaps consider stopping for a while to see if things improve.

Amazon has at least tried to curtail free ebook-hunting troll reviewers with its new condition that a customer must have spent at least $50.00 to post a customer review.

It has helped a little, I think.

Here we go again!

I’ve been around long enough to have a very thick skin.

But, unusually for me, one recent review got right up my nose.

To give you some background, I signed with an audiobook publisher a while back.

Two books have been published, and a third is in production.

I couldn’t be more pleased with my publisher and the narrators.

My books have been published on schedule, and the narration and production quality is top-class. On top of that, copies are selling.

But …

As part of the launch of a new title, my publisher has a sizable list of readers, well listeners in this case, who receive a free copy.

It is a good strategy and one that I now understand is commonly used with the release of new audiobooks on Audible.

However, these listeners need to add a disclaimer to their reviews stating they received a free copy.

I think this is an excellent idea and one I wish Amazon would consider for readers who get free ebooks.

Following the release of my first audiobook, the reviews were excellent.

Very balanced, with some great, some good, and some not-so-good reviews. But all with justification or expressions of personal taste.

Unhelpful reviews

But with my second audiobook, an attention seeker surfaced.

So the narrator gets it in the neck after weeks of hard work, as well as the story, which the reviewer didn’t bother to listen to.

The reviewer has obviously copied and pasted the disclaimer because of the correct grammar and spelling, which is not the case in the one-line attempt at a review.

Why bother posting a review like this?

Perhaps it was due to a misunderstanding that it was an obligation, or maybe it was attention-seeking. I don’t know.

Well, after I got annoyed, I calmed down, and I clicked the this was unhelpful button. It made me feel better.

I thought it was a dopey review, and anyone with an ounce of sense will probably feel the same.

So, in fact, no harm is done, really.

Except to reduce the overall review star rating for the book. Thanks for nothing.

It’s only a review

I didn’t write this article to deride those who post poor customer or book reviews.

The facility is there for them to use, and as an author, there is nothing I can do about it.

Retailers set the rules and standards, and I have accepted their terms and conditions by making my books available on their sites.

But there is often a disconnect in perception.

Authors love their books, so they naturally take umbrage at negative reviews, comments, and ratings.

But for many readers, a book is just a book, and there is no thought given to the author’s hard work or feelings.

It is simply a free or two or three-dollar consumable item.

As consumers, they are free to say or do as they please because they are allowed to do just that.

How does a book compare to a camping tent? Who cares. It’s only a customer review.

Conclusion

If you are an author and new to self-publishing, you need to understand how customer reviews work.

You need to accept the good with the bad and try not to take too much to heart.

It’s not easy, and I know some authors who could not handle the unjustified criticism removed their books from sale.

But I think it is better to take a pragmatic view and learn to accept that there will be a range of opinions about your book.

As I noted before, if you think a review is ridiculous, spiteful, or nasty, others will likely come to the same conclusion and ignore the review.

So it is not so bad, after all. It’s just one review.

In my experience, ninety-five percent of people who post customer reviews are sane, rational, and decent.

For the rest, well, there are always some who can’t help themselves.

Do you think you need a little help in accepting bad Amazon book reviews?

Then you might want to read an earlier article I wrote about Wonderfully Bad Book Reviews for some light-hearted encouragement.

Related reading: Mean Book Reviews Are A Fact Of Life For Authors