Romance Readers and Writers

Like a lot of romance readers, I browse Amazon looking for new books to read.  I stumble on a lot of new writers that way.  One of the main ways to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, is to read the reviews.  If a book has a lot of five star ratings and glowing reviews, it must be pretty good- right?  Not so fast.  Amazon makes it easy for writers to have negative reviews deleted, thus artificially inflating the star rating.  Apparently this practice is fairly common.  Some (but by no means most) writers have a “posse” that posts wonderful reviews and downrates any reviewer that gives anything less than a four star review.  Deborah Anne MacGillivray, who wrote “In Her Bed” exhibited truly scary behavior after one reviewer gave the book three stars.  Three stars isn’t a terrible review, folks.  It means that the book is average.  As a writer, I know I would like to think that my stories are above average, but I know that there are a lot of people that don’t agree with me.  That’s fine.  We all have different tastes.  I love Clay Aiken for crying out loud- but I know I’m in the minority.  It doesn’t mean that I’m going to trash people that don’t agree with me.

If you want more info on the Amazon review controversy, try Googling Deborah Anne MacGillivray.  And check out Clay Aiken’s new CD “On My Way Here.”  It’s available on May 6.  Just don’t buy it from Amazon.

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