# Placing a negative (1*) review on high priced books



## Capri142 (Sep 25, 2009)

I was looking through some Amazon books and came across the new Stephen King Novel. checking out the reviews on it,  there were only a few 4/5 star reviews and a whole bunch of 1 star reviews.....Whoa! I thought. SK cant be this bad!.....Reading the reviews, it turns out that all of the 1 star reviews are from kindle owners upset that book e-book is priced at the same as the hard cover (14.95) and with good cause I might add. So I added my own 1 star review to the rest. Just think if everyone did that....Maybe these publishers would finally get the hint. A lot of folks don't read the reviews, if there are a bunch of 1-2 star reviews they just pass on buying the book.


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## fairy_dreams (Jun 17, 2010)

I understand the sentiment, but I think that giving a negative 1 or 2 star review for a book based solely on the eBook pricing does not help the situation. An email to the publisher would be much more effective since I doubt that publishers check up on the Amazon ratings for each of their books!

Giving a bad review for the price will hurt the author far more than the publisher  

And personally, I'd hate to have skewed ratings on Amazon because they're usually so useful in decision making.

Anyways, I agree on the ridiculous pricing. Publishers should really learn that higher prices don't necessarily generate a higher revenue. But they generate higher outrage that's for sure


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

If the price drops when the paperback comes out, are you going to go back and change your review then?


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Capri142 said:


> Reading the reviews, it turns out that all of the 1 star reviews are from kindle owners upset that book e-book is priced at the same as the hard cover (14.95) and with good cause I might add. So I added my own 1 star review to the rest. Just think if everyone did that.


I'd rather people stuck to reviewing the book, not the price.

Mike


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## JenniferBecton (Oct 21, 2010)

Not sure how I feel about leaving one star reviews for price, but I couldn't help but notice that SK's book with those reviews is #1 in several subcategories and #11 in the paid Kindle store. It doesn't seem that the reviews are hurting sales. Apparently, some readers are willing to pay that price.

I'd rather just speak with my wallet and not buy the book until the price is where I want it. Eventually, publishers will learn the economic factors behind pricing. I hope.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Capri142 said:


> Just think if everyone did that....Maybe these publishers would finally get the hint. A lot of folks don't read the reviews, if there are a bunch of 1-2 star reviews they just pass on buying the book.


Why would you be proud of that? Reviewing a book you don't have? Being unfair to the author? Misleading the readers? Admitting that you're hoping some people will pass on the book based solely on the rigged star rating? Reviews are to tell readers something they don't know, to try to share what the reading experience was like. To quote Roy Roy, as played by Liam Neeson , honor is the gift a man gives himself. If a person doesn't have that, what do they have?



For the record, 24% in, so far this is the best King book I've read in several years.

For Your Consideration: http://lostbooksales.com/


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## RandomizeME (Oct 29, 2010)

Book reviews should be based on the quality of the book and not the price. At least, that was what I was taught how to write a book review in school...

If the price is so offensive, a tag saying overpriced or something like that should suffice to let other people know.


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

Many many MANY reviews talk about price as well.  Sure most of them are about laptops, electronics or gadgets, but it's time eBook reviews start reflecting price as well.  I realize authors might suffer, and it sucks for them, but maybe then, they'll be a little more vocal themselves.


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## r1chard (Oct 25, 2010)

for me, ratings = happiness.
if i bought an overpriced shirt, that i really really like (that's why i bought it)
and ask myself how happy am i with the purchase?
will i be happier if it cheaper, not overpriced.
will i be happier if it's a bargain, i.e., low price and high quality.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I agree there's nothing wrong with taking price into consideration when reviewing any product BUT most of the examples you guys are using like laptops or clothing are all things the reviewer has purchased. If these reviewers have bought the book, read the book and felt it wasn't worth the price, fair enough. But rating something you haven't even read is misleading to other readers.


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## ChrisGray (Oct 8, 2010)

r1chard said:


> for me, ratings = happiness.
> if i bought an overpriced shirt, that i really really like (that's why i bought it)
> and ask myself how happy am i with the purchase?
> will i be happier if it cheaper, not overpriced.
> will i be happier if it's a bargain, i.e., low price and high quality.


To be fair that's not the best analogy, unless of course you have the choice between your regular overpriced tshirt, or an identically priced *digital* tshirt. 

I agree with the 1 star voter's argument, but not their method.


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## ZankerH (Oct 8, 2010)

jmiked said:


> I'd rather people stuck to reviewing the book, not the price.
> 
> Mike


Nope, Amazon invited me to "review this item". That includes the price, customer experience and content as far as I'm concerned.


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

I ignore any review that mentions price.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

ZankerH said:


> Nope, Amazon invited me to "review this item". That includes the price, customer experience and content as far as I'm concerned.


Aren't you the guy who returns all the books after you've read them?

Why yes, yes, you are.



ZankerH said:


> It's convenient to be able to get your money back if you read it within 7 days. That option made me a lot more conscious about only buying books I know I'm interested in so I'm pretty sure I can finish them within the refund deadline. It isn't a "scam", it's how Amazon works. If you're publishing books for money, try a more restrictive publishing model like DTB.





ZankerH said:


> Nope, we're perfectly entitled to a refund within 7 days, no questions asked. If Amazon changes this I'm never borrowing a book from them again.


Also:



ZankerH said:


> Hello, you seem to be mistaking copyright violation for theft. They're both crimes, but let's not get sensational here. After all, according to the publishers' cartel, public libraries are tantamount to the biggest organised crime ring. Theft removes the original item, directly depriving its owner of it. Copyright violation only deprives the publishers of the potential profit, some of the time - if their flawed analyses are to be believed, in any case.


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## AnelaBelladonna (Apr 8, 2009)

MichelleR said:


> Aren't you the guy who returns all the books after you've read them?
> 
> Why yes, yes, you are.


That is disgusting! I had no idea that people would stoop so low. Eventually Amazon will make things more difficult for the rest of us who actually PAY for ebooks because of people like this.

On topic, a review should be about the content of the book. If you don't like the price, don't buy it.


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## macaroni (Sep 4, 2010)

I guess I just don't get this whole pricing outrage.
IMHO, if I'm buying a book ... I'm buying a book and it doesn't matter what format the book is in, the price is what it is. I don't mean to say I wouldn't pass on buying a book because it's too expensive, but if a book would cost me $25 dollars in hard copy why would I balk at a $25 dollar e-book ... granted once the book goes to paperback I think the e-book price should also decline to that level, but I don't get why people are upset at paying the going rate for their reading material.


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## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

I think it's fair to put the price in the review....IF YOU BOUGHT THE BOOK.  Just to go in and give a review because the price is too high does not help anything.  I don't think it's fair to the author or other readers.  Some times I'll read the summary of the book and then look at the overall stars and then skip.


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## dcmidnight (Nov 3, 2010)

monkeyluis said:


> I think it's fair to put the price in the review....IF YOU BOUGHT THE BOOK. Just to go in and give a review because the price is too high does not help anything. I don't think it's fair to the author or other readers. Some times I'll read the summary of the book and then look at the overall stars and then skip.


Agreed. The flip side is, if you buy the book why would you then complain its too expensive? Just dont buy the book. Same with the shirt analogy. If I see a really expensive shirt, I'm not going to buy it and then complain that it was too expensive. Sheesh.

I wish the reviews dealt with the actual book and not the pricing. Same goes for magazines. Tons of the 1* reviews are about how expensive the Kindle version is. Look at the Economist - almost all of the reviews are about how expensive it is. Well, I'm an adult, I can lookup the print version and decide if the Kindle version is worth the price or not. What I'd like to see is a review of the Kindle edition and how it compares - does it have all the same articles, letters, charts, graphics etc.


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

fairy_dreams said:


> I understand the sentiment, but I think that giving a negative 1 or 2 star review for a book based solely on the eBook pricing does not help the situation. An email to the publisher would be much more effective since I doubt that publishers check up on the Amazon ratings for each of their books!
> 
> Giving a bad review for the price will hurt the author far more than the publisher


Agreed. The rating should reflect the quality of the work. Protests about pricing should be forwarded to the publisher. If anyone chooses to boycott highly priced ebooks, that is certainly within their rights, but assigning a low rating to the story based purely on that or flooding the tags with protests or inappropriate designations seems misplaced.

Last month I had lunch with an author, who I'd met a conference last year. She spent 7 years writing her debut book and two more garnering rejections before an overseas publisher took her on. That book went on to win several literary awards. When the book was released in the States, the e-book was priced more than the paperback. Rather than the appropriate genre or subject-related tags, there are dozens of tags like 'outrageous kindle price' and then several other tags that refer to a completely different genre than what the book actually is.

This has been, of course, quite devastating to her. And yes, it has affected sales to some degree. I understand why people are doing it, but please consider all the implications. The author has absolutely no control over publisher pricing.


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## MINImum (Oct 15, 2009)

I think it's rude to post a negative review simply based on price, even more so if you haven't even read the book. It hurts the author and it hurts the potential readers. I can't think of any way for Amazon to disallow or prevent this, but I wish people would grow up and use the reviews for their intended purpose. We can SEE the friggin' price and make our own decision on whether it's too expensive, we don't need all those ridiculous one-star ratings mucking up the entire review system.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I see the one-star reviews as a form of civil disobedience. It's outrageous activity to draw attention to a situation that they feel needs to be addressed. 

As noted above, it hasn't really hurt sales for Stephen King's latest. And if it did, so what? He already has more money than God. But seeing their boy garnering a bunch of one-star reviews might be a slap upside the head to the publisher. 

Unfortunately, you can't poke the publisher without poking the author. But really, I doubt that this stuff is doing much (if any) harm to sales.

The real harm to sales is the outrageous price, and unfortunately there's no way to measure lost sales! High ebook prices just drive people to the darknet to download for free, and that's a shame when a reasonable price would put money in the author's pocket.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Although I don't personally do it, I don't see any issue with others doing it. As long as it is within Amazon guidelines and they don't have  a problem with it, then why not. People write reviews about all kinds of things. We aren't all the same and one can't judge others buy what yourself do in a situation. They aren't you, and you aren't them. 

It has gotten attention though, so its working. I have seen several articles written on this. And contacting the publishers instead of reviewing? It won't do a darn thing. They don't care. They aren't going to admit how many emails they got on the subject, they just delete them. They just don't care. 
So for now this is a venue for those feeling very strongly about this and want to use whatever means to get the word out. I would not do it, but again, thats me. 

Unless Amazon changes their policy it will continue.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

jmiked said:


> I'd rather people stuck to reviewing the book, not the price.
> 
> Mike


+1

If you are unhappy with the price, don't buy the book...don't pay a price you are unhappy with and then complain.


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

This argument was in another thread a couple days ago.
The only legitimate arguments I can come up for why eBooks should be cheaper are:
1.	Less overhead as far as printing, shipping and returns.
2.	No secondary market, I cannot trade or sell my eBooks to offset the cost of new books.
But if the publisher wants to see if we will pay more than we think an eBook is worth, I say let him. It does not make him evil or money grubbing. After all he is running a business with employees, writers, artists, marketing and other expenses.
It is up to the individual to decide the perceived value of each product, and if enough of us agree that the price is too high then the publisher will adjust. However, if most folks have no problem with the prices as they are then we are the minority and are wrong in our assessment.
As far as giving a rating based on price alone, without reading the book is just silly. If houses are too expensive should we go around breaking all the windows so that other folks won't buy them?
If you read the book, review it; mention that the price is a bit steep. If the book it too high for you, don't buy it and don't review it.
I use the Amazon rating system to help me decide on books and authors I have never heard of . . . I sample the low ratings and the medium ratings to find out if the book has something I know I don't usually like in books, I skip over the 5 star ratings as those are usually written by die-hard fans . . . 
All this complaining is reminding me of the proletariats in Anne Rand's "Atlas Shrugged . . . Don't act like a looter.

_"So you think that money is the root of all evil?... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or the looters who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? ... Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into bread you need to survive tomorrow. ... Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values... Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it becomes marked: 'Account Overdrawn.'"_


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

Kindle Gracie said:


> +1
> 
> If you are unhappy with the price, don't buy the book...don't pay a price you are unhappy with and then complain.


If everyone had that attitude, there'd be no change in the world. No one would stand up for anything.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

macaroni said:


> I guess I just don't get this whole pricing outrage.
> IMHO, if I'm buying a book ... I'm buying a book and it doesn't matter what format the book is in, the price is what it is. I don't mean to say I wouldn't pass on buying a book because it's too expensive, but if a book would cost me $25 dollars in hard copy why would I balk at a $25 dollar e-book ... granted once the book goes to paperback I think the e-book price should also decline to that level, but I don't get why people are upset at paying the going rate for their reading material.


You yourself point out that paperbacks are less expensive than hardbacks. Why? Because the production cost is less. Would you be annoyed if a paperback cost the same as it's hardback edition? Probably. Well, it's the same with ebooks - the production cost is less so the retail price should reflect that.


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

PharaohsVizier said:


> If everyone had that attitude, there'd be no change in the world. No one would stand up for anything.


Wrong, things change when we don't support people or products . . . we are consumers, we make change happen with our wallets.

Don't you remember that from high school? People forget that we have a power equal to the producers; it is up to us to keep the power balanced. It takes more than bitching about the unfairness of something to make a change.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

PharaohsVizier said:


> If everyone had that attitude, there'd be no change in the world. No one would stand up for anything.


Not true. I could choose another way of voicing my opinion. Why change the price of books if everyone _continues to pay the price_ and just complain about it? There are lots of different ways of standing up for something and I DO stand up for what I believe.

I would not go out and purchase an automobile I thought was too expensive and then give it a bad rating because I didn't want to pay the price I _chose_ to pay.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Kindle Gracie said:


> There are lots of different ways of standing up for something and I DO stand up for what I believe.


But that is exactly the point. Different people chose different ways to stand up. You might not chose this particular way, but someone else does. Again, we are all different.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

Atunah said:


> But that is exactly the point. Different people chose different ways to stand up. You might not chose this particular way, but someone else does. Again, we are all different.


That is true and I'm simply expressing _my_ opinion.


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

If the price changes to something more reasonable, the bad reviews will still be there.  Not fair to the author.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

SusanCassidy said:


> If the price changes to something more reasonable, the bad reviews will still be there. Not fair to the author.


This is my problem with it as well.


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## shalym (Sep 1, 2010)

auge_28 said:


> This argument was in another thread a couple days ago.
> The only legitimate arguments I can come up for why eBooks should be cheaper are:
> 1.	Less overhead as far as printing, shipping and returns.
> 2.	No secondary market, I cannot trade or sell my eBooks to offset the cost of new books.
> ...


I find it extremely ironic that someone would quote Atlas Shrugged in the same post that they write this:



> However, if most folks have no problem with the prices as they are then *we are the minority and are wrong in our assessment.*


Shari


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

shalym said:


> I find it extremely ironic that someone would quote Atlas Shrugged in the same post that they write this:
> 
> Shari


What's the irony?
More importantly are you disagreeing with my post or just pointing and laughing?


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## shalym (Sep 1, 2010)

auge_28 said:


> Whats the irony?


Your statement assumes that because someone is in the minority, he is "wrong in our assessment". Is that the message you got from reading Atlas Shrugged?

Shari


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## amafan (Aug 11, 2010)

Trashing a book review because of the price, is least likely to result in the lowering of ebook prices. Publishers (the evil ones) will just use it as a weapon against the author. "_See they just don't like your book. No advances for you." _ The only way to change it is with checkbook voting. Don't buy books you feel are too expensive. Even better buy another book by the author that is listed at a lower price.


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

shalym said:


> Your statement assumes that because someone is in the minority, he is "wrong in our assessment". Is that the message you got from reading Atlas Shrugged?
> 
> Shari


Oh, I see.
No, I was specifically trying to correlate the destructive means these people are using to get a point across and how a lot of folks seem to automatically assume that these publishers are money grubbing evil doers. 
Obviously the minority were the heroes in Atlas Shrugged.
Sorry if I was confusing.


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

amafan said:


> The only way to change it is with checkbook voting. Don't buy books you feel are too expensive. Even better buy another book by the author that is listed at a lower price.


The point is to lower the review score so that people gloss over the book, take a quick glance at the score and leave without buying. If we just wanted to voice opinions, we'd send out an email. This 1 star rating is obviously trying to affect sales.


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

PharaohsVizier said:


> The point is to lower the review score so that people gloss over the book, take a quick glance at the score and leave without buying. If we just wanted to voice opinions, we'd send out an email. This 1 star rating is obviously trying to affect sales.


The problem is the collateral damage.
This negatively effects more than just the publishers, not only does this affect the authors but also we the consumers. The review system is there to help us choose a book to read, not for a gorilla attack on the system.


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## AnelaBelladonna (Apr 8, 2009)

PharaohsVizier said:


> The point is to lower the review score so that people gloss over the book, take a quick glance at the score and leave without buying. If we just wanted to voice opinions, we'd send out an email. This 1 star rating is obviously trying to affect sales.


No, what this is doing is making people completely ignore the ratings. I used to look at the stars on a book before I decided to purchase it but since I became aware of the practice of rating because of price instead of content, I pretty much ignore the ratings now. They mean nothing anymore.


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

You'd be in the minority then.

That being said, I agree there is collateral damage, and it is a shame.    But anything that might lower the price of eBooks has my support.  Frankly I think this is one of the better ideas.


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

PharaohsVizier said:


> You'd be in the minority then.


Is this in reference to me?
Is it something you want me to reply to or are you just attacking me?



PharaohsVizier said:


> That being said, I agree there is collateral damage, and it is a shame.  But anything that might lower the price of eBooks has my support. Frankly I think this is one of the better ideas.


You want what you want and the hell with everybody else?


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

Nono, I meant no offense, I was referring to the other post about ignoring the reviews.  I don't think a lot of users will be paying attention to this issue and therefore will likely keep relying on reviews.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

The problem I see with reviewing the price, is that _I already know what the price is_. I don't need the review to tell me that: I can make up my own mind as to whether that price is too steep for me or not. What I want to know is how good (or bad) is the book itself, so that I can make my _own_ quality versus price decision as to whether I want to buy it.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

PharaohsVizier said:


> Many many MANY reviews talk about price as well. Sure most of them are about laptops, electronics or gadgets, but it's time eBook reviews start reflecting price as well. I realize authors might suffer, and it sucks for them, but maybe then, they'll be a little more vocal themselves.


I don't buy my electronics based on Amazon reviews. How do I know that that reviewer even knows what they are talking about? They may think everything is over priced. Shoot, I think iPods are overpriced, I can get other mp3 players for a lot less after all. Anyway...I go to industry sources, PC mag, etc. And if they say it is overpriced, then I'll hold off. Now if the Amazon price happens to be a steal, then we might be talking.

E-books are different. Especially if you haven't even read the book. Now rather that seeing a low star rating and thinking this book isn't worth my time, I have to waste MY time reading all the reviews to see if there are any of substance or just all "Overpriced" "one star" reviews for folks who never gave it a shot. And I too, am very cost conscience when it comes to buying my e-books. I won't pay more than the paperback.

You know, I have been noticing this this trend for a while. Are we just bad reviewers? Do we have this inate need to review everything? I've seen items get bad reviews because the _seller_ wasn't any good. (So find the item from someone else, don't blame the item and leave the seller bad feedback and report them to Amazon) I've seen reviews of model XPU under model XPP because we're just too lazy to post it under the right one but, hey my model is last years and they're not that different.

Back to the topic at hand, leaving one star reviews on a book you've never read based on price alone only hurts the author, if it hurts anyone at all. As noted, it doesn't seem to be hurting SK's sales. But do that to a self-published or independant publisher author... And really, unless they only published in e-book, they've got the paper format sales to save them and since we keep saying how cheap it is to publish digitally, how much have they lost if they don't sell alot of e-books?


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## macaroni (Sep 4, 2010)

history_lover said:


> You yourself point out that paperbacks are less expensive than hardbacks. Why? Because the production cost is less. Would you be annoyed if a paperback cost the same as it's hardback edition? Probably. Well, it's the same with ebooks - the production cost is less so the retail price should reflect that.


But my post wasn't intended to discuss the price difference between hard cover and paperback ... or really the price difference between paperback and e-book. My point was that the price of reading material is what it is. We either buy it and the market flurishes, or we don't and the market either adjusts or dies.

IMHO ... just about everything in the retail market place is somewhat overpriced as compared to it's intrinsic value and we consumers dictate what the seller can charge, not by awarding stars or the lack of stars, but by buying or not buying the book.

In my case I did not buy my Kindle to save money, I bought it to replace DTBs (mostly paperbacks) so price equality of e-books and paperbacks don't really bother me .... do I think they could/should sell e-books cheaper ..... I sure as heck do (because I'm pretty much a cheapskate at heart) ... but I also think they can sell gas, and furnature, and blue jeans, and automobiles cheaper too.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Just don't buy the books if you don't like the price.....if something doesn't sell at the price offered, manufacturers will drop the price.  If it sells well, all the one star reviews in the world won't affect the price.

It's really kind of silly, if you want my personal opinion...and it compares in no way to civil disobedience, which has been used to end discrimination around the world.  It seems more like a temper tantrum to me.

Betsy


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

macaroni said:


> But my post wasn't intended to discuss the price difference between hard cover and paperback ... or really the price difference between paperback and e-book. My point was that the price of reading material is what it is. We either buy it and the market flurishes, or we don't and the market either adjusts or dies.
> 
> IMHO ... just about everything in the retail market place is somewhat overpriced as compared to it's intrinsic value and we consumers dictate what the seller can charge, not by awarding stars or the lack of stars, but by buying or not buying the book.
> 
> In my case I did not buy my Kindle to save money, I bought it to replace DTBs (mostly paperbacks) so price equality of e-books and paperbacks don't really bother me .... do I think they could/should sell e-books cheaper ..... I sure as heck do (because I'm pretty much a cheapskate at heart) ... but I also think they can sell gas, and furnature, and blue jeans, and automobiles cheaper too.


I couldn't agree more.
We should also remember that books in general and eBooks even more so are luxury items.
The world over books are purchased by folks with disposable incomes. 
Publishers asking a couple dollars more than you or I think is necessary is not a human rights matter . . . have some perspective. _(This last sentence was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek please take it as it was meant)_


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## jeff1776 (Jan 22, 2009)

I have never did it myself, but I can understand why people are giving one-star reviews.  People are reviewing the whole product, just like everything else on Amazon, that includes the price, content, reliability, etc.  What if the book is edited really badly, can you justify giving it a bad review  That has nothing to do with the actual quality of their story.  

Also, I keep on hearing this argument that the authors have no control over the price, which is probably true.  But they do have control over who their publisher is.  They can leave their publishers just as easily as I can quit my job.  I am not being forced to work at my job.  

And we can argue all day about whether it is making a difference on the price or not.  But at least people are talking about it, so at least that is a start.  Unfortunately, the reviews are the only way we have to communicate our displeasure with a overpriced book, because leaving comments makes no difference.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

jeff1776 said:


> I have never did it myself, but I can understand why people are giving one-star reviews. People are reviewing the whole product, just like everything else on Amazon, that includes the price, content, reliability, etc. What if the book is edited really badly, can you justify giving it a bad review That has nothing to do with the actual quality of their story.


I'll agree somewhat only if it is _part_ of the review criteria, not the _entire_ criteria for a 1-star review.



> Also, I keep on hearing this argument that the authors have no control over the price, which is probably true. But they do have control over who their publisher is. They can leave their publishers just as easily as I can quit my job. I am not being forced to work at my job.


That may or may not be true, depending on the contract the author signed with the publisher (e.g. for X number of books). But I don't know what the ramifications are if an author opts out of such a contract, so you may or may not be right for all I know.


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

mom133d said:


> I don't buy my electronics based on Amazon reviews. How do I know that that reviewer even knows what they are talking about?


Sheesh, if you don't care about the reviews, then you shouldn't care about these one star ratings either.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

NogDog said:


> I'll agree somewhat only if it is _part_ of the review criteria, not the _entire_ criteria for a 1-star review.


Exactly.


PharaohsVizier said:


> Sheesh, if you don't care about the reviews, then you shouldn't care about these one star ratings either.


Did you read past the first paragraph? Didn't think so. I said electronics for a reason. Amazon began as a book seller so I want to know what readers think when considering a book. I never cared about the bestseller list. When I buy something else, I go to that horse's mouth for reviews and then shop around.


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

That's not really an argument at all.  Price can definitely be the entire criteria since people are outraged at the prices.  Reviews, especially short user reviews, tend to fixate on singular positive or negative aspects.  For example, I wrote a review for some blank DVD's I bought off Amazon and gave it 1 star entirely because NONE of them worked.  Now I could say, oh price-wise it is okay, they are the right shape, but I'm just going to dock 1 start for the usability aspect.  Let's face it, for user reviews, they limit the characters, you don't really have enough to give an accurate representation of a lot of products, you just have to focus on one or two key points.  If people are unhappy enough about the price, which it seems they are, I see no reason they can't fixate on that one point.

@mom - I apologize, I read your post earlier and replied some time later.  That being said, it doesn't change a thing except perhaps the wording of my original post.  If you are going to read the content, why do you care?  I realize that you are now obligated to read the reviews, but it seems you've already deemed a lot of other reviews useless (for good reason), and probably had to read the reviews anyways.

Personally I gloss over ratings rather than read reviews for books.  I go quite overboard reading reviews for electronics, but one always runs the risk of reading spoilers when reading user book reviews.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Jan Strnad said:


> I see the one-star reviews as a form of civil disobedience. It's outrageous activity to draw attention to a situation that they feel needs to be addressed.
> 
> As noted above, it hasn't really hurt sales for Stephen King's latest. And if it did, so what? He already has more money than God. But seeing their boy garnering a bunch of one-star reviews might be a slap upside the head to the publisher.
> 
> ...


Civil disobedience is about protesting unfair laws and not about punishing the innocent. Writers are, for the most part, innocent in this. Readers are innocent in this.

Yes, Stephen King has more money than God, but you have more money than most of the world's population. Therefore, it's perfectly valid by your reasoning for other people to decide you have enough and to shrug and say "so what?" if you or someone in your household is shorted on a paycheck. Or for someone to malign your work, not because you did a bad job, because they don't know that, when their grievance is with someone else.

It also ignores the fact that most traditionally pubbed writers are not Stephen King -- they're struggling, hard-working people, who are hoping they can make enough to squeak by and not be dropped by their pub. And this attitude can only bite self-pubbed authors in the behind. Maybe I think a new author shouldn't charge more than 1.99 and so any book that's say 2.99, I bless with a 1 star review. (Ahem, Risen.)

There are avenues, honest ones, to protest "outrageous" prices. The way for them to measure lost sales is to tell them that. There are sites where you can report it, there are a bazillion message boards, there's "social media," there's publicly available contact information for pubs. The 1 star method counts on people not reading the reviews and passing based on star ratings...

it counts on people being misled.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Kindle Gracie said:


> +1
> 
> If you are unhappy with the price, don't buy the book...don't pay a price you are unhappy with and then complain.


Well, the issue here are people who haven't bought the book and still rate it.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

SusanCassidy said:


> If the price changes to something more reasonable, the bad reviews will still be there. Not fair to the author.


Yep. The 1 star method is usually a form of hit and run. People vent their spleen and then move on with no accountability. Another example is that the Kindle 1 stars consist largely of a lot of people complaining about shipping and how they're still waiting, months after they now have the device. Or people who received a defective one and who never stopped back after they got a replacement. How many people marking these books down will eventually read them through their libraries or when the price is reduced and never come back to give a real review?

Personally responsibility and common sense says you'll do better, if you think 1 star is a brilliant idea, if you correct the record when the situation changes.

I'm also seeing some real anti-kindle sentiment because people are associating it with unreasonable readers who are lower the rating of a book because they have an issue with the price in one format.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

macaroni said:


> But my post wasn't intended to discuss the price difference between hard cover and paperback ... or really the price difference between paperback and e-book.


Well, that's what this topic is about.



> My point was that the price of reading material is what it is. We either buy it and the market flurishes, or we don't and the market either adjusts or dies.


Yes, it is what it is... and people are entitled to not be happy about it.



> In my case I did not buy my Kindle to save money


Neither did I but that doesn't mean the principle of the matter is acceptable.


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## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

Reviews certainly don't matter when I decide whether or not to purchase a book.

I never bothered to read them when I was purchasing hardcovers or paperbacks either.

My tastes are mine and the reviewer's can easily be different.

Yes the price and demand should eventually bring the price back down.

However, as far as I am concerned, when for both hardcovers and paperbacks the publisher sells the book to the retailer and lets the retailer decide what price to sell them for, the publisher demanding that amazon sell ebooks for an exact price is treating ebooks different than all the other forms.

It sure looks like price fixing to me. AFIK, price fixing is still illegal.

After further review, forcing retailers to charge one and only one price for an item is a violation of the Sherman Act. See http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Price+Fixing


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## dcmidnight (Nov 3, 2010)

There are a bunch of things on Amazon I consider overpriced. Electronics, clothes, video games - a lot of stuff. But I dont run around giving 1* reviews and calling things crap that I dont own merely because I think they are overpriced. I think thats ridiculous.


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## katsim (Apr 19, 2009)

I thiink this is a crappy way to use the review system. What I do is tag the book with '9.99 boycott' or 'overpriced kindle version' or 'publisher price ripoff' -- depending on the situation - an t hen I stick it on my wishlist and wait for the price to go down. At that point I can always add a 'glad the kindle price went down' tag, and review the book fairly based on its content and quality.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I use the reviews to determine if the book is worth reading. Let me decide if I want to pay the money, not you. This is a complete perversion of what the review process is for. I may want to pay $14 for a good book. If you think its too much, that's your personal decision. Don't impose your personal decison on me.


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## unknown2cherubim (Sep 10, 2010)

Apropos of one of the ebooks cited in this discussion.

I just checked and I paid .09 cents less for my brand new hard back of _Full Dark, No Star__s_, than the Kindle version. Where is the sense in that?

In the other thread, I already defended the right of someone to give a review based on any criteria they want. I just don't think it is a good strategy myself.

_ETA. Right now Full Dark, No Stars is $14.51 for the hard back and $14.99 for the Kindle version. I reported a lower price to Amazon._


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## auge_28 (Oct 3, 2010)

I also purchased the “Full Dark, No Stars” eBook. 

For me it does not matter what the paper versions costs, as I pretty much only read digital books now. I know that if I wait it will get cheaper but $15 is not outside my budget for a book. Of course $9.99 is better for me but I made the decision that I want to read it now, not later. 

It also helps that I have two friends on my Kindle account and they read books on their iPhones and also purchase books so in essence I am only paying $5.00 for my share of this book.


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## unknown2cherubim (Sep 10, 2010)

auge_28 said:


> I also purchased the "Full Dark, No Stars" eBook.
> 
> For me it does not matter what the paper versions costs, as I pretty much only read digital books now. I know that if I wait it will get cheaper but $15 is not outside my budget for a book. Of course $9.99 is better for me but I made the decision that I want to read it now, not later.
> 
> It also helps that I have two friends on my Kindle account and they read books on their iPhones and also purchase books so in essence I am only paying $5.00 for my share of this book.


@auge_28, that's the way to do it. There might be people I trust enough to do that with. I will donate my copy to the library where it will circulate like hotcakes. Which means I'd better drop the rest of my reading and get through it this weekend.


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

PharaohsVizier said:


> That's not really an argument at all. Price can definitely be the entire criteria since people are outraged at the prices. Reviews, especially short user reviews, tend to fixate on singular positive or negative aspects. For example, I wrote a review for some blank DVD's I bought off Amazon and gave it 1 star entirely because NONE of them worked. Now I could say, oh price-wise it is okay, they are the right shape, but I'm just going to dock 1 start for the usability aspect. Let's face it, for user reviews, they limit the characters, you don't really have enough to give an accurate representation of a lot of products, you just have to focus on one or two key points. If people are unhappy enough about the price, which it seems they are, I see no reason they can't fixate on that one point.


The price is readily available to every perspective purchaser and every single person will have their own opinion of the price. What you're saying is that it is perfectly okay for every single one of them to review the product based on their opinion of the price without ever even having touched the product, how the blue blazes does that even approach being a review?

In your blank DVD example, the information about them not working would be information that wouldn't have been available to perspective purchasers otherwise, and would clearly demonstrate that at least one batch of them was so bad that they'd be worthless even if they were given away for free. That information would be very helpful to perspective purchasers.

If you actually wanted to help people out regarding price then you should point out how ebooks with prices set by the publisher are much more likely to carry a tax, and that you don't see the tax until *after* you purchase the book. That information would actually be helpful 'cause even people that know about it might forget it until after they made the purchase.

These price reviews are not about helping anybody, it's about artificially lowering the score in order to scare off people by deliberately misrepresenting the quality of the product. The people that do this are, in effect, doing the same thing that the agency publishers are. They're taking their opinion of pricing and are forcing them on others.


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

I only review books on content.  I think it's pointless to put a bad review on a product because of price.  I agree, it hurts the author more than the publisher.

Vicki


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

katsim said:


> I thiink this is a crappy way to use the review system. What I do is tag the book with '9.99 boycott' or 'overpriced kindle version' or 'publisher price ripoff' -- depending on the situation - an t hen I stick it on my wishlist and wait for the price to go down. At that point I can always add a 'glad the kindle price went down' tag, and review the book fairly based on its content and quality.


I think that's a good idea. Then, if other customers find the book overpriced, they can click the tags rather than leaving negative reviews. I too believe books should only be reviewed for content.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

PharaohsVizier said:


> That's not really an argument at all. Price can definitely be the entire criteria since people are outraged at the prices. Reviews, especially short user reviews, tend to fixate on singular positive or negative aspects. For example, I wrote a review for some blank DVD's I bought off Amazon and gave it 1 star entirely because NONE of them worked. Now I could say, oh price-wise it is okay, they are the right shape, but I'm just going to dock 1 start for the usability aspect. Let's face it, for user reviews, they limit the characters, you don't really have enough to give an accurate representation of a lot of products, you just have to focus on one or two key points. If people are unhappy enough about the price, which it seems they are, I see no reason they can't fixate on that one point.


While that's perfectly valid, there is one point in your example that another forum member also pointed out: you reviewed DVDs that *you purchased*. If you read a book and thought it was way overpriced, then fine, that sucks for you, so yes write your review and tell others what you thought. Go ahead and put it on your blacklist or blog about it, etc.; you're well within your rights.

If you did not in fact purchase / own the item in question, however, that basically invalidates your review. When I see the one-star "This costs too much!" reviews with no explanation involving the quality of the product, I generally think, "Oh, another whiner. Poor baby, cry me a river" and roll my eyes. Then I move on to read what more well-written reviews have to say on the subject.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Add me to the list of those who think reviews should NOT be based on the price of the book.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Alice Y. Yeh said:


> While that's perfectly valid, there is one point in your example that another forum member also pointed out: you reviewed DVDs that *you purchased*. If you read a book and thought it was way overpriced, then fine, that sucks for you, so yes write your review and tell others what you thought. Go ahead and put it on your blacklist or blog about it, etc.; you're well within your rights.
> 
> If you did not in fact purchase / own the item in question, however, that basically invalidates your review. When I see the one-star "This costs too much!" reviews with no explanation involving the quality of the product, I generally think, "Oh, another whiner. Poor baby, cry me a river" and roll my eyes. Then I move on to read what more well-written reviews have to say on the subject.


I am just the opposite, the over emotional posts about "fairness" and "punishing" leave me cold. But the thought of peeping rolling their eyes gives me a smile. Especially when they whine about whiners.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

KindleChickie said:


> I am just the opposite, the over emotional posts about "fairness" and "punishing" leave me cold. But the thought of peeping rolling their eyes gives me a smile. Especially when they whine about whiners.


?

Didn't say I agree with them/feel like reading them, but people are entitled to their opinions. If they respect my right to write about what I think of a product I bought/own, then it's only fair that I do the same. You can wax poetic about the greatness of well-done steak, and order accordingly, but I'm still going to get mine medium-rare


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## kindlequeen (Sep 3, 2010)

I enjoy reading reviews and it irks me when 1/2 the reviews are regarding price and written by people who haven't bought or read the book (Fall of Giants comes to mind).  Does it affect whether or not I'll buy the book?  NO!  I IGNORE THE PRICE RELATED REVIEWS!  Your efforts are pointless and make me want to buy the book more.... just to show you that your opinion on price should not dictate whether I want to read a book or not.  

I honestly think that Amazon should program their site so that only people who have purchased the item on the account they're logged into can submit a review.  That would solve this whole problem.  I understand that many people are on a budget and want to feel that they're getting a good deal on a book but it's been pointed out that there are more appropriate ways of making Amazon aware of your opinion of the pricing beyond leaving a bad review.  I'm sure all the publishers ignore the bunk reviews too and pay more attention to what the actual sales are when setting prices.  

We're all readers here.... shouldn't we be encouraging each other to take the plunge and enjoy the literary adventures out there instead of boycotting good books over prices that probably wont change anyways?


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## dcmidnight (Nov 3, 2010)

The other thing that makes me chuckle about this "issue" is that people will pay $200 for a Kindle and $40 for a case and $30 for a light - and then quibble about an extra 50 cents or buck or two bucks on the price of a book. Sheesh. Reminds me of people who play golf with $1,500 worth of clubs and complain about the price of a golf ball or people who pay $2,000 for their ski setup and complain that a lift ticket is too expensive.

Personally I think its ridiculous that some books cost more for the Kindle version than the hardcover. But for me thats fine. Theres a reason - when I travel for a week or two at a time I dont feel like bringing 3-4 hardcover books with me - no thanks! So the Kindle cost is providing me a service that in this case I think is more than worth the price.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

dcmidnight said:


> The other thing that makes me chuckle about this "issue" is that people will pay $200 for a Kindle and $40 for a case and $30 for a light - and then quibble about an extra 50 cents or buck or two bucks on the price of a book. Sheesh. Reminds me of people who play golf with $1,500 worth of clubs and complain about the price of a golf ball or people who pay $2,000 for their ski setup and complain that a lift ticket is too expensive.
> 
> Personally I think its ridiculous that some books cost more for the Kindle version than the hardcover. But for me thats fine. Theres a reason - when I travel for a week or two at a time I dont feel like bringing 3-4 hardcover books with me - no thanks! So the Kindle cost is providing me a service that in this case I think is more than worth the price.


Well said. There are many times that I would buy a book in hardback, as soon as it comes out, and still spend more than the e-book price (even after using a Borders 33% discount or Amazon's pre-order pricing). The nice thing about the e-book format (and Kindle) is that my daughters and I can all read the same brand new book at the same time, which we wouldn't be able to do had I bought the hardback version. That said, my daughters give me a really hard time if I buy a book that costs more than $9.99 because they say that the publishers won't get the message that the price is more than it should be. I make an effort not to pay more than $9.99, but will, on occasion, buy a book that I've eagerly been awaiting, even if the price is higher than $9.99. (Your golf clubs/ball observation deals with my pet peeve about golfing. Even better is when those with extremely expensive equipment waste a lot of time looking for a golf ball that, if found, would still be out of bounds or unplayable.)


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## dcmidnight (Nov 3, 2010)

Cindy416 said:


> Well said. There are many times that I would buy a book in hardback, as soon as it comes out, and still spend more than the e-book price (even after using a Borders 33% discount or Amazon's pre-order pricing). The nice thing about the e-book format (and Kindle) is that my daughters and I can all read the same brand new book at the same time, which we wouldn't be able to do had I bought the hardback version. That said, my daughters give me a really hard time if I buy a book that costs more than $9.99 because they say that the publishers won't get the message that the price is more than it should be. I make an effort not to pay more than $9.99, but will, on occasion, buy a book that I've eagerly been awaiting, even if the price is higher than $9.99. (Your golf clubs/ball observation deals with my pet peeve about golfing. Even better is when those with extremely expensive equipment waste a lot of time looking for a golf ball that, if found, would still be out of bounds or unplayable.)


I will say I wish there was a way to offer a discount off the Kindle version if you buy a physical copy of the book. There are few books that come out that I want an actual copy of - but it does happen. And in those cases it would be nice to say grab the Kindle version as a $5 add-on or something like that.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

dcmidnight said:


> I will say I wish there was a way to offer a discount off the Kindle version if you buy a physical copy of the book. There are few books that come out that I want an actual copy of - but it does happen. And in those cases it would be nice to say grab the Kindle version as a $5 add-on or something like that.


That would actually be pretty brilliant on their part in terms of marketing. Most people will only buy one or the other, but the add-on option would make them more likely to buy both.

Maybe you should send them an e-mail


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## unknown2cherubim (Sep 10, 2010)

Alice Y. Yeh said:


> That would actually be pretty brilliant on their part in terms of marketing. Most people will only buy one or the other, but the add-on option would make them more likely to buy both.
> 
> Maybe you should send them an e-mail


+1

I'd so buy like that. Buy a hardback as a gift and get a ebook for me.


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## PharaohsVizier (May 6, 2010)

You guys need to understand that I'm not arguing that this is the perfect plan with no downsides. There is obviously damage to the writers and even consumers. But this is about doing something that might bring some attention to the horribly bloated prices of eBooks.



Selcien said:


> The price is readily available to every perspective purchaser and every single person will have their own opinion of the price. What you're saying is that it is perfectly okay for every single one of them to review the product based on their opinion of the price without ever even having touched the product, how the blue blazes does that even approach being a review?


While price is available to everyone, price comparisons and perspective isn't. I often write proper reviews for electronics, and telling people the price tag is $200 doesn't really say anything. What is important is to compare it with competitors, similar products, what the costs is for one series higher or lower, etc. To write a review stating that price is too high is perfectly pertinent for it implies that the paperback versions costs less (or even the hardcover).

As you have already mentioned, just about anyone can see the price already. There is no real need to own the product (though I do agree it is best if they own the book). They can see the price, it is obviously too high, they can see the price of the paperback edition as well, again they can draw the conclusion that the price is inflated without ever touching the book. That being said, you are assuming they don't own the book. They may have bought it from somewhere else, read it at a library or borrowed from a friend. Who knows?



Selcien said:


> These price reviews are not about helping anybody, it's about artificially lowering the score in order to scare off people by deliberately misrepresenting the quality of the product. The people that do this are, in effect, doing the same thing that the agency publishers are. They're taking their opinion of pricing and are forcing them on others.


Is that a problem? That's the entire point of the plan, you lower the score, affect sales, and hopefully bring this to the attention of publishers. Did you think it was to make many more accurate reviews?



kindlequeen said:


> Does it affect whether or not I'll buy the book? NO! I IGNORE THE PRICE RELATED REVIEWS! Your efforts are pointless and make me want to buy the book more.... just to show you that your opinion on price should not dictate whether I want to read a book or not.


The amount of people who skim through ratings greatly outweigh those who read through each detailed review. You have to keep in mind that I doubt even you read through all the reviews, people generally only bother reading reviews for books they intend to buy already. We skim to find some hidden gems.


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## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

dcmidnight said:


> I will say I wish there was a way to offer a discount off the Kindle version if you buy a physical copy of the book. There are few books that come out that I want an actual copy of - but it does happen. And in those cases it would be nice to say grab the Kindle version as a $5 add-on or something like that.


Yeah I've said this before. Do it like the DVDs and BluRays. Get a digital copy with it. I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept.


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

PharaohsVizier said:


> What is important is to compare it with competitors, similar products, what the costs is for one series higher or lower, etc. To write a review stating that price is too high is perfectly pertinent for it implies that the paperback versions costs less (or even the hardcover).


If the review consisted of price comparisons not readily available you'd have a point, however, for books from major publishers Amazon includes a very handy price comparison between the different formats of a book. People do not need other people pointing out the obvious price discrepancies at Amazon between the formats as they can see it with their own eyes, except, as I've already mentioned, the additional tax that might come with the books being sold by the Agency publishers.



PharaohsVizier said:


> That being said, you are assuming they don't own the book. They may have bought it from somewhere else, read it at a library or borrowed from a friend. Who knows?


It's pretty obvious who actually has read the book and who hasn't because the people that have have this strange tendency to mention the content of the book that they have read in their review of the book that they were supposed to have read prior to making a review about the book. Yeah, I know, some people have the strangest ideas about what the review section was meant for.



PharaohsVizier said:


> Is that a problem? That's the entire point of the plan, you lower the score, affect sales, and hopefully bring this to the attention of publishers. Did you think it was to make many more accurate reviews?


Exactly, which begs the question, why are you bothering giving a pretense about it serving any other purpose? You know, the talk about reviewing something based on one aspect like blank DVD's, the talk about price comparisons. It has nothing to do with anything.

And yes, I do consider it a problem. You've got the people one starring the books, you've got the people making reviews to vent about the people one starring the books, and you've got the people five starring the books in an attempt to counter the people that are one starring the books. Quite a mess for me to have to deal with when I do not have a problem with the pricing. (EDIT: The problem that I have, if you haven't figured it out yet, is with the gosh darn tax, and I *really* wish that Amazon showed the actual price that you're going to pay *before* you one click it rather than after they send you the email confirming the purchase.)

EDIT 2

I should like to add that the people writing false five star reviews bother me more than those writing false one star reviews. I could deal with the one stars if that's where it ended and with the false overall rating as people only have themselves to blame for not checking why something was rated the way it was, but it doesn't end there, and that is what bothers me. Also, it wouldn't hurt if the people one starring the books took the time to complain about the lack of TTS in the books that do not have that feature available, that way those that have a problem with the pricing, and those that would like to have TTS in all of the books could be represented in the complaints.


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## meeko350 (Aug 25, 2010)

Giving one star based on price when you haven't bought the book is ridiculous.  Do you really think people read reviews to find out what "you" think of the price?  No!  We read reviews to find out what we can't see for ourselves (the content of the book).  If people keep giving irrelevant reviews, it makes the review process pointless.  If there is a book I'm interested in, I now also go to other sites to read the reviews, which I shouldn't have to do.  One advantage of buying my Kindle from Amazon was so that I could read the Amazon reviews on my Kindle and not have to read reviews elsewhere.  You are causing more havoc on the READERS than you are the publishers.  Please stop the insanity.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Selcien said:


> (EDIT: The problem that I have, if you haven't figured it out yet, is with the gosh darn tax, and I *really* wish that Amazon showed the actual price that you're going to pay *before* you one click it rather than after they send you the email confirming the purchase.)


Not everyone pays a tax and every state has a different tax rate. That'd be some massive coding to show you the charge on the page before you could add it to your cart.


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## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

Putting a 1star because of the price absolutely does not have an impact on the publishers.  They don't listen.  I've seen this same tactic with DVDs, guess what, nothing done.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I would argue that even a majority of 1 star reviews would have no effect.  In the recent dust up about a book that MANY people found objectionable. . .there were hundreds of 1 star reviews.  The average rating was only 1 star.  But nothing happened until word of it went out to the media.  Only then did Amazon/the author act.

So a bunch of 1 star ratings may cause the loss of a few sales. . ..but I'm pretty sure that the publisher never looks at that and doesn't care as long as the sales are still 'good enough'.  And Amazon certainly doesn't care about the rating.


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

Making a review based on something other than the book is childish. It would be like giving a one-star review to a Barack Obama or George Bush book based on their politics. Or, a one-star to a Ed Schultz or Rush Limbaugh book based on their radio show. Or a Sarah Palin or Nancy Pelosi book based on their looks.

But I'm sure the Children's Crusade will continue.


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

mom133d said:


> Not everyone pays a tax and every state has a different tax rate. That'd be some massive coding to show you the charge on the page before you could add it to your cart.


Amazon has everything they already need to calculate the final price 'cause that's exactly what they do the moment you purchase an ebook with tax on it. All they need to do is add a way for consumers to see the price they're paying before they buy it, a "Calculate price with tax" button should do the trick.

As it is now there's absolutely nothing to indicate that tax could be added onto the price you're being shown unless you already knew about it. I knew about it before ever buying my first book under the Agency model and I was still taken by complete surprise at the tax. Hell, I've bought several now with the tax and it still took me about five visits to Amazon's page for _Full Dark, No Stars_ before I realized that the price they showed for it would not be the price I'd pay, which would be $16.04.

I like seeing the final price, with all the variables taken into account, before clicking the button that triggers the purchase, which is why I never ever use the one click shopping option at Amazon when I'm given the choice. So the "Oh, by the way, here's the price that you actually paid for that ebook you just bought...", which is the first time they showed me the price, in an email after making the purchase, is obviously not going to make me very happy with how Amazon has it set up. Although, with any luck, maybe my venting about it will help keep me from forgetting about it, 'cause I have to say that basing a purchase on a price that is lower than what you're paying does make for some unpleasant surprises.


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## NightReader (Apr 25, 2010)

meeko350 said:


> Giving one star based on price when you haven't bought the book is ridiculous. Do you really think people read reviews to find out what "you" think of the price? No! *We read reviews to find out what we can't see for ourselves (the content of the book).* If people keep giving irrelevant reviews, it makes the review process pointless. If there is a book I'm interested in, I now also go to other sites to read the reviews, which I shouldn't have to do. One advantage of buying my Kindle from Amazon was so that I could read the Amazon reviews on my Kindle and not have to read reviews elsewhere. * You are causing more havoc on the READERS than you are the publishers. Please stop the insanity.*


My thoughts exactly! (emphasis added.)


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## wm ollie (Aug 9, 2010)

[Giving one star based on price when you haven't bought the book is ridiculous. Do you really think people read reviews to find out what "you" think of the price? No! We read reviews to find out what we can't see for ourselves (the content of the book). If people keep giving irrelevant reviews, it makes the review process pointless. If there is a book I'm interested in, I now also go to other sites to read the reviews, which I shouldn't have to do. One advantage of buying my Kindle from Amazon was so that I could read the Amazon reviews on my Kindle and not have to read reviews elsewhere. You are causing more havoc on the READERS than you are the publishers. Please stop the insanity.]



NightReader said:


> My thoughts exactly! (emphasis added.)


I agree, it's ridiculous... and not one post defending this made a bit of sense.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

I was posting a review for a book last night, and when I went to add tags, I saw that the ones that were available were ALL related to price: "outrageously overpriced," "overpriced," "pricey," etc.. This book was $8 when I purchased it on Friday, and it was a good read of decent length. I make it a point not to look at ratings for books I'm reviewing, but I have the sneaking suspicion that this one garnered a lot of "drop the price" one-star "reviews".

I'm finding that all of the hullabaloo is actually starting to make me _more_ interested in the books that spark such malevolence. The last time that this happened, it was with another novel that was really quite good.


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