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

[RunicWords]

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!!

OP I can see your dilemma - bravely protect the buying public or risk how you are perceived by your friend 🤔

‘and’ risk

A self-pubbed book with 20 reviews is really not going to show up in anyone's Amazon search. How many self-pubbed booked have you recently bought?

Amazon reviews on books mean nothing anyway. It's all about hype. Many of the currently trendy romance books for example seem to have amazing reviews, but are terribly written with awful characters.

Personally I would still never give a bad review to a book because it is the author's soul in there. People's opinions are very different anyway. I read the first few pages to decide whether to buy it or not.

And if you buy a book and are slightly disappointed, so what?! Isn't this a risk with every book you buy?

You honestly probably are just jealous to make such a big deal out of something that means a great deal to a friend.

I think you are missing a crucial point to: this is a book aimed at KIDS anyway, not the next ''War and Peace''...

So as an adult you are not really expected to give it a proper content review because it is not aimed at you as a reader and the story is not written for and from an adult point of view.

If you have kids I would simply put something in the line '' I enjoyed reading it to my kids and the book also has really nice illustrations''.

If you don't have kids just write ''I got this as a gift for a niece/friend's child. Lovely illustrations and I thought they would enjoy the story''.

Kids are not going to care that it is not a literary masterpiece.

It really is not that complicated...

You sound like a shitty friend. Why make such a big thing out of absolutely nothing?

Can't you normally 'look inside' books on Amazon, though?

Reviews of art - books, music, films etc. - are always going to be subjective and personal, anyway. I find reviews much more useful when it's something like an electronic or mechanical device and I want to know if it actually works and is reliable or not!

I would happily spend 5-10 minutes doing something that will have a big positive impact on a friend. You need to ask yourself why you are so resentful of it

You need to ask yourself why you are so resentful of it

I'm not getting that OP is resentful - just conscious of the fact that many people will assume that being a good friend means never giving any fair criticism of the friend or their works, which I completely get.

OP suggests that the book is quite good, but nothing special; but what if it were an absolute stinker, littered with spelling mistakes and terrible illustrations?! Reviews go both ways and, although not always so easy to link, people will come to trust and respect the reviews of certain reviewers; if you give a glowing review to something meh, that can impact on you as well.

If Barry Norman had raved about Sex Lives Of The Potato Men being simply the best film ever made in the history of humanity, do you not think that might have compromised the value that people ascribed to all of his future reviews?!

This.

Is the OP a book critic? No she isn't. It is a poor comparison.

Would people calling OP a 'shitty friend' be saying the same thing if her friend had designed a device that was highly unreliable and of dubious quality - maybe like those rubbish 'indoor TV aerial boosters' they used to sell in the weekend papers decades ago, that didn't do a thing for you (apart from rob you of £19.99 plus p+p) - and was insistent on OP complicitly giving a 5-star review?

If anything, I don't see why across-the-board 5-star reviews even matter with something like a book, as long as you bother to say a few words as to why you feel that way. Somebody could write the finest-crafted sci-fi novel ever, with an outstanding storyline, but it still wouldn't be worth 5 stars to me, as I can't stand sci-fi - just personal preference.

Is the OP a book critic? No she isn't. It is a poor comparison.

She didn't say one way or the other, so we don't know if she is or if she isn't. Even if she isn't actually a critic by profession, plenty of people become online 'power reviewers' and will build a reputation based on that.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll why do you keep trying to compare the OP reviewing her "friends" kid's book with things that are not at all the same. Is the book defective? Can it cause an injury? No.

And I think the OP would have mentioned if she is a critic.

That’s the point though, it’s not a piece of kit or something that objectively you can say is good or bad/ fit for purpose etc and are being asked to misrepresent.

It’s a book and its merits are subjective. You may hate it and I may love it and that’s the attitude to take when considering book reviews. Surely everyone knows that.

So I just can’t understand why the OP is so fearful of duping the public. Perhaps time to consider what’s really underlying all of this angst.

They should have given you a copy if you're going to review it.

And actually ‘cute illustrations’ is not what she’s after, since she’s the writer, not the illustrator.

If she's self published, she's picked the illustrator herself and the illustrations in a kids book are a huge and vital part of the book - and I am not just saying that as an illustrator... a kids book for a certain age group without illustrations is pointless, not going to be bought by anyone!

So mentioning illustrations in the review is well worth it (also, us illustrators are people too and we take pride in our work, we'd like a mention in reviews where relevant!) and not a 'shit review' at all.

OP I understand where you are coming from. I work in publishing. What your friend should have done is just let her friends know that IF you like the book then reviews would be really appreciated. Anyone who specifically requested a review from me would not get one unless I absolutely loved the book.

I understand the POV that says encourage your friends. But isn’t this how MLMs are run? Guilt your friends into supporting your business? I have a couple of friends who have really burnt their friendship circles because of their constant pestering to crowdfund albums or buy/review poorly written books. It puts you in an uncomfortable position as a friend. And before anyone condemns me, two of the books I’ve been asked to review (happens a lot when people find out you’re an editor even though I work in non-fiction!!) were badly written crime fiction with an excessive amount of gratuitous sexual violence. So no, I didn’t feel obliged to reward that effort with a review, despite the friendship.

@Remaker - I don’t think your situation is comparable to the OP’s since you are into publishing professionally.

The OP’s professional integrity is not at stake here.

Some friend you are

It's an obnoxious request; just fob her off with an excuse about being busy.

I'm with @Remaker .

It's her friends hobby. I've done some writing myself and now know that creating a version is only about half the work. Editing and producing a final version that someone else is willing to print is a totally different matter.

A friend in our book group has just written a children's book and asked for feedback. I said how wonderful it was that she had achieved this and good on her, I see that as being a supportive friend.

Paying for a copy of it is a different matter and I'd only do that if I thought it was good enough to be a present for our niece or someone else.

I don't expect other people to subsidise my hobbies, so I don't expect to subsidise theirs.

The point is your priorities are wrong. As long as it isn't a crap book you should be ok with stretching your desired 4 star review to a 5 star one. Your friend is going to run out of friends to review the book eventually, this is just to give her a head start. Then the "real" reviews will come in. You're being ridiculous.

Irritated that your friend has asked you to support her business and it will take very little effort!

Do it! More so you should of offered

If you'd read the thread, you'd know your answer has no bearing on the debate here...
Haven't suggested anywhere that writing a review is an effort or a chore.

My mind is boggled by the vast majority of posts here.

I think I'm a good friend. I also know that none of my friends would ask me to post a fake review for them.

OP, I'd simply go with the old saying "if you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all". It's not like she's short of fake 5* reviewers already.