Posting negative review in Amazon

[Evangeline Han]

I recently accepted an eBook from a PR company to review. After accepting the eBook, I was requested not to post my review on Amazon if the book receives a rating of less than 4 stars from me as it will not "benefit the author". I have not yet written my review, but it will definitely be a mainly negative review. I can't believe how incoherent the story was in the beginning...

I checked the Amazon page for the book, and all I see are 4-star ratings. It's unbelievable since this is one of the worst books I've had to review. I have not yet replied to the email from the publicist. But what should I do? The reviews on Amazon are giving a false impression of the book. Personally, I don't know why, but I don't feel right not posting my review in Amazon... What should I do? If this were you, how would you reply the publicist?

[Dee Ernst]

If the publicist gave you the ARC with the understanding beforehand about not posting a negative review, then I'd say back down.  As it is, you are being harassed, and I'd mention to the publicist how that kind of behavior can spread very quickly across the web, to other potential reviewers, and that the publicist may find herself lacking reviews in the future.

[Evangeline Han]

It isn't an ARC. It is the PDF copy of a book (I told the publicist I prefer a print copy but she said that mailing costs is too high for the author) published this year. I wasn't told not to post the negative review until after I accepted the PDF. So I feel like I am unfairly being pushed into this tight corner. I wouldn't have agreed to review the book if I had known she did not want a negative review posted in Amazon and Goodreads.

[Dee Ernst]

Post your review.  What's the worst that can happen?  You'll piss-off a publicist.I have requested reviews from sites that have said they won't post a negative review, but  I've also done the same for sites that warned about honest - meaning possibly negative - reviews.   If an author is afraid of negative press, then he/she shouldn't request reviews in the first place.

[Grace]

Exactly.

[Evangeline Han]

I have rescheduled my review and will be posting it on November (I don't want to trash it since I took quite a long time to write the review and it'll be a waste if it is binned). The publicist seems to think that I'm having issues with the typos in the book. No matter how many times I tell her that isn't the problem, she doesn't get it. Oh well. From what I understand, they don't want negative reviews in Amazon and Goodreads since that won't help in the book sales and "benefit the author".

[Grace]

This is why I state explicitly in my review policy that all of my reviews will be completely honest.  Go with your gut.  Your obligation as a book reviewer is to provide an accurate review, not to act as free marketing.  If the book is terrible, you can't in good conscience give it a good review.

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Books Without Any Pictures

[Evangeline Han]

I have that line in my review policy too (in fact, I listed it twice in the policy). I guess there will always be the "bad apples" in the basket. Thankfully, most publicists aren't like that.

[Darryl Erentzen]

You're behaving rather kindly.

I'd send the publicist a copy of my review policy, tell her it was in place long before she came along, and that if she doesn't stop harassing me I'll start an all-out "this book is awful" campaign.

Then I'd start tweeting like mad about the b...

[Simon Haynes]

To demand a review of 4 stars or above is incredible. I'm shocked any company or PR person would think that was acceptable. No major publisher would do this.

Reviews aren't there to benefit the author, they exist to guide the buyer!

I'd google the PR company and see what else they're pushing. If it's just this book ... well, you can draw your own conclusions.

I'd definitely say sorry - it's a genuine review or nothing.

[Evangeline Han]

The publicist wasn't explicitly demanding a 4 or 5-star review. She made that clear when I wrote to her saying that I am withdrawing from the tour. But she is sending me conflicting messages by offering a guest post spot instead of the review spot when she heard my review would be mainly negative. Hm...

[Saviour Pirotta]

I would post an honest review, otherwise what would be the point of it?  You are a reviewer not a promoter.  To be honest, no publisher worth their salt would dare ask you to lie online. As a children's author, I have had some sniffy reviews onl amazon, which I thought were unfair but I have never complained as I feel honest reviewing is part of the game.  My publishers just made sure that other, more favourable and balanced reviews were posted as well. Try to find something good about the book too, no matter how insignificant that part of the contribution to the overall work, and mention it.  But be honest in your review, and I would post otherwise you'd have wasted your time.

[Evangeline Han]

I did list out the positive factors in the book. I tried to be as balance as possible since I don't want to nastily tear down this author's work and I can see a glimpse of potential in her writing. But there were some problems that concern me and I honestly think she needs to know about them so that she can avoid making the same mistakes in her future novels.