Below, is an open letter to Amazon. I apologize in advance if it seems like "high drama", because it is. But I feel like I need to vent.
It seems, I have attracted a stalker. Or a "revenge reviewer". Apparently, while debating the Trayvon issue with some peers on a different web site (they obviously disagreed with my take), one of the writers set out to retaliate by attacking my work on Amazon. He may have mistakenly did so under his own name, or he was spoofed. The jury is still out on that. And of course, his community voraciously defended him.
When you publish your book, and the book is made available on Amazon, take into consideration, that Amazon will not delete fake or revenge reviews, no matter how obvious they are.
Here is my letter to Amazon. I am not sure that I will continue my relationship with this retailer, although, I haven't decided yet.
Dear Amazon,
I recently reported a revenge review on one of my books, Infatuation. Amazon declined to remove the review. Because the first review was not removed, the fake reviewer struck again, posting a fake review of my novel Business as Usual. Worse, is that the reviewer is spoofing the name of an author I know. (The author's book is here, and he is being spoofed as the reviewer, Jeff and I know each other). Jeff has told me that he did not write the reviews, and he told me yesterday that he contacted Amazon about his name being spoofed.
The two fake reviews are here:
The fake reviewer said that he remembers vividly purchasing Business as Usual in September of last year, and even referenced the end of the book. I published the book in OCTOBER. I only published a short teaser in August. So he could not have read the full book in September of last year. And the paperback was not available at that time. This is evidenced by the reviews I received on the book from readers who wanted to read the full novel. The reviewer even accuses me of plagiarising the movie Green Card - my story is NOTHING like Green Card. That would be like comparing Pride and Prejudice to Fifty Shades of Grey. And yet, I am being defamed as a plagariser. What will Amazon do about that?
I have been a huge supporter of Amazon. I even teach students in my publishing class at [removed] College here in Madison, Wisconsin a session on how to publish using Amazon's services. In other words, I have been been an advocate. So I feel a bit betrayed, and disappointed in a service I have relentless promoted, that Amazon is not doing more to curtail these false reviews.
If my family members were making fake reviews, Amazon would remove them. Why is it then, that when a fake review is posted, they are within the guidelines?
Sincerely,
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Long story short, be careful and use an alias when you can. It's a shame that people can be so spiteful.
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