So normally this is not something I would do but I feel this is extremely wrong. I review books for onlinebookclub.org somewhat frequently. After I submitted my review to onlinebookclub they asked me to put a short review on amazon as well, so I did. However, I gave the book a 2-star review.
The author, using her real name Tal Boldo, sent an email to Scott, the owner of onlinebookclub asking to reach out to me for me to take the review down because of it being a 2-star review. I naturally refused. To do so would not only be morally wrong but also against Amazon's rules. I feel as a book reviewer it is my job to provide an honest review of the books I read and I will not change them or remove them just because the author doesn't like it.
Here is a copy of the email that was forwarded to me by Scott from Tal Boldo regarding my review:
Subject: Help with 2-star Amazon Review
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 21:52:21 +0000
From: Tal Boldo
To: Scott
Scott,
I believe that 2 club members have recently posted the first 2-star reviews on Amazon. As the book was a gift, I think the author's choice not to share the review on Amazon ought to be respected. Although I do not know the reviewer's names on Online Book Club, it seems likely that they originated from the club because I provide no free books elsewhere. Scott, perhaps you have a way of discovering whether the writers are club members. I would greatly appreciate your help and advice once again!
Amazon review by Melissa Espenschied
Amazon review by Amie M. Allen
Respectfully yours,
Tal Boldo
Here is my Amazon review of the book:
The Crystilleries of Echoland is a book series that seems to have gotten fairly popular very quickly. I had to read it to see what everyone was talking about. It appears to draw readers in with similarities to books like Harry Potter and is even geared towards the same age group.
Echoland is the home of Echos or our reflections and there is currently a law in place that if a Sound (someone from our world) dies then their Echo must die as well. Will is the Sound of the Prince of Echoland and must team up with him in an attempt to change this law of death. Of course, there are those who don't want them to succeed and have no problem traveling between our realm and Echoland, a land of ice, to stop Will and the Prince.
Normally I like fantasy and young adult books but there was something that felt off about this one. It could have been that the way Echoland was described made me picture a world that was nothing but an icy blue with no contrast to it. It also could have been the fact that the book ended up confusing at times and the writing was choppy.
Either way, I imagine a child, around middle school-aged, would still enjoy this book with very few complaints. Yet an adult might find it a bit dry.
My full review that I sent to onlinebookclub is here:
https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com/2019/10/review-crystilleries-of-echoland-by-dew.html
(It is a longer review so I just linked to it)
The amazon rules state:
"Can I give free or discounted copies of my books to readers?
You may provide free or discounted copies of your books to readers. However, you may not demand a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review. Offering anything other than a free or discounted copy of the book - including gift cards - will invalidate a review, and we'll have to remove it. To learn more, see our Community Guidelines."
If you wonder about the difference in the ratings its because onlinebookclub has their own 4-start system that I have to convert to a 5 star for Amazon and Goodreads. Any questions feel free to message me.
Normally I do not do things like this but I must speak out against what I feel is like the equivalent to "buying" a review.
Start Update
Response from Online Book Club to me refusing to change or remove my review.
OnlineBookClub.org Review Team Support
1:35 PM (37 minutes ago)
to me
Hi, Melissa,
Thank you for getting back to me.
I am sorry if I was not clear. I am absolutely not at all asking you to
change your review.
Rather, we gave you a book in exchange for you to write an honest review
of the book at OnlineBookClub.org.
You chose to not only review the book at OnlineBookClub.org, but also
post an additional review on Amazon.
So I am asking if you are willing to remove the review that you posted
on Amazon. I'm not asking to remove your OnlineBookClub.org review, or
asking you to change your review.
Let me know your thoughts.
Thank you,
Scott
OnlineBookClub.org
My reply
Scott,
As it happens that is not true.
After I put my review on Online Book Club I was prompted by the website to put a review on Amazon. In fact, if I wouldn't have the review on Online Book Club would not have been fully processed, as I am sure you know.
I do not put my reviews for Online Book Club on Amazon or anywhere else unless prompted to do so because of the plagiarism issue. I used to on my first two reviews but quickly leaned that's a bad idea.
Also don't you think asking for a review to be removed is "influencing the review" as stated as unallowed per Amazon's rules? I do.
The fact is I even have proof that I was requested to put a review on amazon as the below message shows:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: OnlineBookClub.org Review Team <noreply-rt@onlinebookclub.org>
Date: Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 4:03 AM
Subject: Amazon Review Request for The Crystilleries of Echoland
To: <fangedwolfgirl@gmail.com>
Hi,
The author of "The Crystilleries of Echoland" has requested that you also post an additional review of the book on Amazon.
This is not required, but we are passing on the favor request. If you do post a review on Amazon, it does not need to be nearly as long. Just a couple sentences will do. However, please do not copy and paste your review from OnlineBookClub.org to Amazon. Instead, please write a couple new sentences as your Amazon review.
IMPORTANT: Amazon uses a 5-star system, but OnlineBookClub uses a 4-star system. So please do NOT blindly copy your rating. For example, a 4/4 rating should be put in as a 5/5 on Amazon, not a 4/5.
For reference, following is the Bookshelves page for the book:
https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=326446
Once you have posted the additional review, please confirm on the History tab of the Review Team Page:
https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/review-team/history.php
Thank you,
OnlineBookClub.org
So as you can see it was not just my choice to post on Amazon, I was asked to do so. I am sorry the author doesn't like it but I will not take it down.
I hope you understand,
Melissa
As any of you reading this can see I am not going to back down. There is nothing wrong with the review I posted and I was even asked to put one on Amazon, which as you can see he is trying to deny, good thing I do not delete emails.
End Update
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