Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

How do the daisy chains work?

You can sign up to a daisy chain review thread at any time by listing your book as per the instructions at the top of the thread.

By signing up, you agree to read and review the book immediately before your post (the last one in the thread). In VP review threads you must also purchase the book you are reviewing.

Your book becomes the last in the thread, so the next person who signs up will buy, read and review your book and so on.

What's up with Amazon reciprocal reviews?

Back in the prehistoric days of retail, before the web, you heard about good products and bad via word-of-mouth. Then came retail selling on the internet, and word-of-mouth from a friend you trusted got replaced by product reviews. It didn't take long for the manufacturers of the products to figure out that they sold more if they had loads of great reviews. Some of the more shady companies either gave away product in exchange for a review, or they flat out paid people who had never even seen the product to post favorable reviews.

Enter the US Government. It viewed those fake reviews as fraud, and it mandated that customers must have purchased the product to review it. If a customer received the product for free, then there had to be a disclaimer in the review stating this. Amazon was put on notice that it had to ensure fair reviews or pay stiff fines.

So what is Amazon's definition of a reciprocal review? It's any review where the author and the reviewer have a relationship. (Yes, if you are reciprocal friends with an author on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and you review their work, even if they don't review your work, you have a relationship and the review is verboten.)

What if the reviewer and the author aren't friends? Amazon collects massive amounts of data on customers. They do it to sell you more stuff, but they also do it to prevent fraud. For example, if you're from Podunk, Kansas, and suddenly Amazon gets an order from you from an IP address in Eastern Europe, the order is immediately suspended while Amazon investigates, just in case someone hacked your account. Be glad they are diligent.

Amazon links accounts that come from the same IP address, or that share a street address even if they are in different names. They also track the device you connect with and the browser you use. They have a map of which IP ranges are offered where in the world, and if your IP address suddenly changes but your street address hasn't, it sends up a flag. This is why you can't avoid reciprocal reviews by using the account registered to your child or to a live-in significant other. The data will tell Amazon that you and the other have some kind of relationship, even if they aren't sure exactly what it is. The reciprocal reviews will be pulled, and you run the risk of having additional scrutiny of all your reviews.

Remember that you already run the risk of getting the Zon's unwanted attention because your book is getting way too many reviews as a proportion of sales made. As long as you're not selling thousands of copies, Amazon looks the other way. Don't poke them by doing reciprocal reviews. To the best of my knowledge, other retailers don't have the kind of tracking or interest in reciprocal reviews that Amazon does. If you want to swap for BN, Apple, Kobo, or Google reviews, you probably won't have issues.

Hi, do you need any help with moderating? I'd like to help out if possible. PJ