To feel really irritated by my friend asking me to review her book…

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So a friend of mine has self-published a book for kids. It seems nicely written with cute illustrations. But I don’t think it’s exceptional. She’s asked me to help her by reviewing it on Amazon.
Of course I’ve said I will… once I’ve purchased it of course, otherwise it won’t be a ‘verified purchase’.
I looked on Amazon and she already has multiple 5-star reviews (nothing less) … they must all be from friends as it’s only just come out and how would anyone know about it otherwise? Now it’s really bugging me as I often rely on reviews when I buy books and other stuff, and the thought of being hoodwinked by reviews like that enrages me.
On the other hand, fair play to her, she’s gone for it, she needs the support and encouragement, and it would be really mean not to help, right?
I can’t decide what to think, please help!!

I have read books before they were published and given honest opinions. Once it's out there, well I would just be nice. I am sure there are enough other people to put the boot in .

I write nice reviews for my friends, buy the book, write what I like about it, but my friends tend to write good books, I actually get excited about reading them. Not self published though.

I'd be questioning my friendship with someone who asks me to write a fake review about a book I haven''t read, frankly. But be hanging on to someone who had the decency not to
Do you really think you'd be happy with a friend who rubbished a book you might have spent over a year writing? Ffs, some people!

Read the book and review it, what's the problem with that.

@NoSquirrels but how did Peter even know polar bears existed in order to develop an ambition to tame them?

I like my children's books to have a modicum of logic. Still giving it one star.

Grinch!

Clearly he saw a picture of one in a magazine article that washed ashore one day from the polluted ocean…

Maybe this is the inspiration I’ve been looking for. I obviously need to write my own book… Inspired!!

I enjoyed this little exchange.

Well played @NoSquirrels 😂

Yes, you would be doing her more of a favour if you gave a more believable rating.

I run a (new) business and a bad review can genuinely tank us.
Anything less than a 4 out of 5 is seen as poor. Anything less than 3 is just bad and will be the first review that people go to to read.

Just don't be a dick. It's like people who leave bad reviews because their tea was too hot or their coffee too frothy. If you nitpick you're a dick

Self published author here. Perfectly standard industry practice. When you’re writing a book, it goes through several editorial drafts, and you have something called alpha and beta readers from your mailing list who give their feedback into the various iterations.

In return for getting to see it earlier than most, they are asked to provide honest reviews for release day because the ability to go into the ‘other books you may like’ ribbon, the personal recommendations and the Amazon email ‘because you bought this, see these suggestions’ is entirely dependent on rank. The vast majority of books fail on the Kindle store because of that single issue…most shoppers never see them. (A good knowledge of Amazon Ads, promotions like Bookbub and other authors mailing lists are also key but reviews when you first launch make or break you).

So, you are being asked, AS HER FRIEND, to help her get onto as many screens as possible by reviewing the book.

Are you her friend, or are you going to be butthurt because the curtain has been pulled aside and you’ve just realised that Amazon’s Kindle store is a business, not a bloody fairy tale? 🙄

I'm a copywriter and in my industry there are a TON of requests for people to write up a load of fake reviews. This might be for a website or a product, including books.

I can normally spot the fake reviews but I always treat reviews with a healthy dose of scepticism for this reason.

How would friend know what/whether you have written anything. Wouldn’t you review under a pseudonym?

No, no, no, no, no. The lower the number of stars, the more it drags her genre and bestseller ranking down, which means that she will be seen by vastly fewer people so will have vastly fewer sales (and reviews). I can not stress this enough. Until she has a few hundred reviews, as a first time author without a strong mailing list, she is dependent on the ranking to recoup her money spent and make a small profit so that she can write more books and build her fanbase.

nicely written with cute illustrations

These are your own words. So just put that.

You sound a bit jealous. Just write her a good review!

Majority of reviews on Amazon are from people being asked to buy products to review them (positively) then the seller pays the cost back to the purchaser.

Reason I know this is my SIL & BIL have an Amazon business and have 5* reviews and asked us to do this for them too. They also have the ability to remove negative reviews....

That's so depressing.
But 'majority'... are you sure about that?
If you look at book reviews, most read as if people have actually read them and thought about what they want to say.
On the other hand, I did recently buy some waterproof boots with great reviews and my feet got soaked through on the first walk... suspicious.

You are actually kidding right.

Buy the book and give her a gushing 5 star review immediately or you are a horrible horrible person. Geez some people... Sorry but you sound like a selfish petty knobhead

You're being a bitch 😂 just put 4 stars if you're that affected. She won't have that many friends giving her reviews it's just to give her a kick-start.

YANBU

Amazon and Google reviews are all BS as they’re written by friends and family or people who get vouchers/money off.

I wish there were honest reviews about products.

I now never read the 5* reviews and will go straight to the lower star reviews as they’re usually more honest.

Im sure you'd feel exactly the same if you'd put your blood and sweat into getting your first book published 🤣🤣🤣

Yup.

This is a book ffs that OP has said is nice so she can give an honest positive review!

Some real mean spiritedness on here.