Amazon deletes author reviews

Writers including Steve Weddle and Joe Konrath have had their reviews of other authors' books removed by the online retailer

Last week crime writer Steve Weddle blogged about trying to post a review of Karma Backlash, an ebook by his friend Chad Rohrbacher. His review was received, but not posted. In response to his enquiry to Amazon about what was happening, he received an email stating:

'We have removed your review from Karma Backlash. We do not allow reviews on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product. This includes authors, artists, publishers, manufacturers, or third-party merchants selling the product. As a result, we've removed your reviews for this title.'

Joe Konrath also blogged about this topic, noting that more than 20 authors had contacted him about disappearing Amazon reviews. Konrath noted that more than 50 reviews of works by his peers that he had written had vanished. Joe contacted Amazon, and was sent a link to the updated Review Creation Guidelines. Joe wrote on his blog that believed Amazon are reacting to public opinion following the recent furorre over sock-puppet reviews:

'Congratulations, NSPHP [No Sock Puppets Here Please] signatories,' he wrote. 'Because of your concerns about Amazon's review policy and your ridiculous little petition, and the resulting media witch hunt, thousands of legitimate reviews have now been deleted.

'Good thing you brought it to Amazon's attention. You should be very proud.'

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