We hear that sometimes Amazon strikes a bunch of reviews from a novel, for whatever reason. It either doesn’t trust the reviewer or relationship of the author. So overnight, without warning, you can lose a lot of good reviews. That may or may not have happened to “The Widow Brigade”, depending on the link you use to look up the book.
“The Widow Brigade” was up to 12 perfect 5-star reviews on Amazon. I followed a link to it someone posted on Facebook, and went into shock as I saw only 7 reviews. I looked at it in disbelief wondering why 5 good reviews were yanked from me. I tried to find ways to confirm what had happened.
I only got more confused when I entered the Amazon listing from a different link and saw it as I expected to…12 reviews. So, with each of these pages on two concurrent tabs, I refreshed both. The 7-review version stayed 7, and the 12-review version stayed at 12. Really? The reviews on the “7” page were included on the “12” page, so it was the same book.
So why does one link show one thing and a different link to it shows another, but both are definitely on the same product? It’s left me confused and a little worried. Just a reminder that I’ve said in the past, EVERY good review is crucial to a book’s success, and an author’s ability to afford food from the sales. Even companies who will help you promote your work may demand a minimum of 20 reviews posted. So, it doesn’t matter if I have twelve 5-star reviews, because as good as that is, I would still need 8 more reviews of any kind to market my book through certain channels.
Like I mentioned, it’s left me confused and worried. Please feed the reviews folks. It’s where the general public goes to get an idea of what I sell, and there are always trolls looking to sink a person’s rating just for fun. And for all the ones I’ve earned, there seems to be a risk that Amazon can strip some away.