At last count of reviews of “My Father’s House” I found five more “ratings” than there are reviews on amazon.com. Somehow I doubt that five people would have bothered to rate without writing a review. Knowing that the accepting/rejecting algorythms operate in mysterious ways, I suspect some of the lonely “ratings” went with reviews that never got published. I know of one person who tried three times to get hers posted. The third time was the magic. But she was never notified that her first two had not been accepted. Obviously I treasure any reviews, so here’s my question. Did any of you write one that you don’t see posted? If so, I’d be most happy if you would keep trying
Of course a review like this make me very happy, the newest one for “Figs & Pomegranates & Special Cheeses,”posted on amazon.com.
“I read Figs & Pomegranates & Special Cheeses a few days ago and I’d like to express my gratitude to Ms. Affinito for a wonderful read about Job and the trials of his wife Dara. I loved the idea of portraying the emotional and psychological growth of Dara. We see her grow up with Adah, her best friend, and following this is an emotional ride of engagement, marriage and tribulations.
“Never for a minute could I put down the book as I was so immensely engrossed in the vivid portrayal of the lives of Job and Dara and their daily existence as well as Dara’s journey from a tribe to wealth. She may not have aspired for wealth but it sure did come her way with a share of difficulties. The sheer imagination of this book is absolutely commendable. This book is a must read!”
I felt cheated. I mean, who wouldn’t like to see a review as nice as this one that appeared on my blog.
“I just finished reading Figs & Pomegranates & Special Cheeses, and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I particularly liked how you skillfully told the riveting story of how Dara evolved and grew over the years. The story is wonderfully grounded by Dara’s love for Job, and her bold words and actions. I enjoyed seeing how you handled the tensions that emerged as Dara sought to understand her role and her husband’s God.”
At my request the author agreed to post it on amazon.com and did everything right. Found “Figs & Pomegranates & Special Cheeses” and clicked on “write a review.” Completed the information to establish an account. Then was told one wasn’t allowed to post a review since there had been no purchase made with that account. No, it wasn’t necessary to have purchased that book, but just something.
I trusted my fellow blogger. Still, it didn’t seem right to me, so I called amazon. It’s true. If you haven’t purchased anything with your account you can’t use it to write a review. “It’s for your protection,” I was told.” Suppose someone wanted to ruin you, he could just establish 100 accounts and use them to write bad things about you.”
Huh? OK, does that mean this person who hated me so much could buy a $0.99 kindle book with each of those accounts. Less than $100. Not a bad investment if you’re really out to get me.
I suspect there might be a better way to protect me.
As it stands, I guess that means every time someone buys a book from me, I should ask whether or not he or she has ever bought anything from amazon. If the answer is “no,” then I should include a check for $0.99 with the book in case they want to write a review. That would give them the wherewithal to purchase something allowing for the review. OK. I confess I’m being snarky.
The words used when I first heard this are not acceptable to the nice people here in the Midwest. “Oh, my, now I have to work on forgiving them, I thought.” On second thought, though, it wasn’t a personal attack on me, though it felt that way. It’s a policy that ends up hurting me.
And amazon really does provide a number of helpful services.
So, forgiveness process ended at the first step. It wasn’t really an offense against me.
I want you to know I recognize there’s a lot of “I’ll recommend you if you’ll recommend me” going on in the blogosphere and elsewhere. For example, people are endorsing me on Linked In who don’t know my work from Adam. I get it. The deal is to endorse in return (which I do only for people who know me and whose work I know). Therefore, I end up generally ignoring endorsements, though I appreciate when I do receive such kindness from folks who are familiar with my work.
Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know I’m writing here about Weaver’s UPHILL BOTH WAYS because I really enjoyed it. As did my daughter when I loaned it to her on her Kindle. (Wow! Isn’t that an amazing option?)
Please go take a look at my review at amazon.com. His good work deserves the reward of attention if nothing else.
I should have pointed out that clicking on the title (in blue) will take you to the book’s page on amazon.com. When you get there, click on the stars which indicate reviews. You’ll find my review in there along with others.
monagustafsonaffinito 