Fake Online Book Reviews and How to Avoid Them

Print publications continue to discontinue running book reviews and are even going out of business as more and more readers turn to the Internet to get their information. In the past, advertising in print publications covered the cost of curso de milagros but today, authors generally have to pay for publicity packages to receive book reviews, or give a nominal fee to compensate the reviewer for his or her time.
 
The result is that people can make money off writing book reviews, and some so-called reviewers are doing so without actually reading the books. Why would anyone write a fake book review? Because it takes many hours to read a book, and the more book reviews you can write, the more money you can make, so why not just save time by not reading the books and instead just write the reviews and collect the payments so you can make more money. Trust me; this situation happens all the time.
 
Other reviewers do not charge for reviews but they request multiple copies of books. Why do they need multiple copies when they don’t read those books? So they can resell them online and make more money while writing fake reviews.
 
But won’t people catch on to these fake reviews? Yes, most people should, but not everyone does. Most of these fake reviewers consist of the so-called reviewer copying and paraphrasing what’s on the back cover and then adding some flowery caveat like “This book is a must-read for its thrilling action” or “An enjoyable and moving love story you won’t want to miss” to make it look like the reviewer actually read the book. Of course, whether the book is thrilling or enjoyable or not, the reviewer has no idea-he may not even have cracked open the book.
 
So how can you as an author, who wants legitimate reviews, or as a reader wanting a good book to read, actually tell if a review is legitimate? Here are five simple guidelines for spotting fake book reviews: