Authors hiring agencies to publish fake customer reviews

Posted on Tuesday, November 30 2010 @ 7:33 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
People often accuse reviewers of being dishonest but it appears users reviews aren't objective either. An article at Mail Online reveals there are agencies that charge £5,000 or more to publish fake book reviews on the pages of rival publishers on sites like Amazon:
Authors are turning on each other, agencies are charging up to £5,000 to place favourable fake reviews and Amazon has recruited a team of amateur critics to restore the balance.

Nathan Barker, of Reputation 24/7, offers a service starting at £5,000. He said: ‘First we set up accounts. For a romance novel we’d pick seven female profiles and three males.

‘We’d say we like this book but add a tiny bit of criticism and compare it to another book.’ Mr Barker claims this is common practice among publishers.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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