The reason for setting up this award scheme came to fruition from reading excellent books which had been trashed at Amazon by malicious reviewers. In the meanwhile books lacking historical merit, lacking good characterisation, lacking literary merit, lacking believable plots, and let down by bad presentation, are shamelessly promoted as quality reading experience.
In the world of journalism and publishing we are aware that almost all Amazon reviews are *fan* or *fake* reviews. Even in-house Amazon Vine reviewers are no better, and a host are corrupt. The majority are fellow authors, publishing interns, you name it, they are there and they support their author pals. A list of authors several arms in length wouldn't stretch to the corruption evident to all who care to look deeply at Amazon. The modus operandi behind hate reviews is to belittle, defame authors, and discredit their writing skills with toxic rhetoric, bolstered with examples and spoilers as proof to vindicate extreme judgement of a book, while invariably it is obvious the author is the target, the book not at all and is the means to embittered emphasis.
In the world of journalism and publishing we are aware that almost all Amazon reviews are *fan* or *fake* reviews. Even in-house Amazon Vine reviewers are no better, and a host are corrupt. The majority are fellow authors, publishing interns, you name it, they are there and they support their author pals. A list of authors several arms in length wouldn't stretch to the corruption evident to all who care to look deeply at Amazon. The modus operandi behind hate reviews is to belittle, defame authors, and discredit their writing skills with toxic rhetoric, bolstered with examples and spoilers as proof to vindicate extreme judgement of a book, while invariably it is obvious the author is the target, the book not at all and is the means to embittered emphasis.
The dynamics of hate reviews was discussed with a friend who is a psychologist, and led to joint investigation and the conclusion authors who feel threatened are fearful their own work is inferior. And so they retaliate with disparaging reviews. In reality they need help in understanding they are not alone in those fears, and require help to assess what caused jealousy to well from within. Even NYT best selling authors will admit to jealousy at times in their life when a book they read caused severe envy, and almost all will say they learned to write better by looking at the detail of that book. Lashing out doesn’t resolve the issue at heart, the bug that causes the fear comes from within, not within another book.
Similarly, badly written books, or books not to a person's tastes deserve respect regardless of content. Kind words can resolve problems where harsh criticism exposes the reviewer as hopelessly inadequate in social graces and general intellect. It's easy to criticise, and it takes a great person to offer a kind word and hope to a beginner writer. Just think about that before you black another book. There's an old adage of *what goes around, comes around* and why would anybody tempt providence.
Online bullying is seemingly anonymous at first glance, and that is untrue. Every person has vocabulary traits. Every person reveals their identity with nuances of who and what they are, where they live, what they like and dislike, how and where they communicate on social media, who they are affiliated with, and who they target as victims. Effectively they lay a data pathway. In particular, those who are stalked and victimised time and again are within their rights to seek prosecution by way of the law. When the law enters play Amazon acts immediately, whereas complaints lodged at Amazon takes a while for Amazon to track and collate evidence of stalking and purposeful harassment. However, they do appreciate ready-made evidence and will act when the proof is there on their data base. While a victim may not know who is targeting them, Amazon can see who it is, literally by taking a glance at reviewer profiles, their IP address and all who use it. If author ID files crop up and match IPs of family who post disparaging reviews the end result for author bullies is fast and efficient. Have you wondered why some authors are banned and lose the right to publish at Amazon? Quite a lot were guilty of posting damaging reviews of authors whose novels were published in the same category or sub category.
Is it worth losing the ability to publish at Amazon to satisfy envy, hate, or what else triggered spite from within?
Online bullying is seemingly anonymous at first glance, and that is untrue. Every person has vocabulary traits. Every person reveals their identity with nuances of who and what they are, where they live, what they like and dislike, how and where they communicate on social media, who they are affiliated with, and who they target as victims. Effectively they lay a data pathway. In particular, those who are stalked and victimised time and again are within their rights to seek prosecution by way of the law. When the law enters play Amazon acts immediately, whereas complaints lodged at Amazon takes a while for Amazon to track and collate evidence of stalking and purposeful harassment. However, they do appreciate ready-made evidence and will act when the proof is there on their data base. While a victim may not know who is targeting them, Amazon can see who it is, literally by taking a glance at reviewer profiles, their IP address and all who use it. If author ID files crop up and match IPs of family who post disparaging reviews the end result for author bullies is fast and efficient. Have you wondered why some authors are banned and lose the right to publish at Amazon? Quite a lot were guilty of posting damaging reviews of authors whose novels were published in the same category or sub category.
Is it worth losing the ability to publish at Amazon to satisfy envy, hate, or what else triggered spite from within?
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