Dear Angela,

For some inexplicable reason, my novel has been attacked in an Amazon review by a first-class idiot who hasn’t even taken the trouble to read it. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to damage my book’s credibility, but I suppose there are some people who are capable of such nastiness.

I’ve contacted Amazon. but they won’t remove it, saying it doesn’t violate their guidelines. Hard to believe that they would keep a review that falsifies a book’s major premise. I’m hoping anyone with half a brain will understand that this is a vicious, mindless, unfair, and irresponsible smear, and not a legitimate review.

Man thanks,
Anthony

I have written in the past about false reviews posted on Amazon. They are usually posted by either competitors or disgruntled friends/family/acquaintances.

One author I know received a scathing review by a former neighbor. It was clearly a personal attack (not a book review) but Amazon didn’t remove it.

And, yes, Amazon not only doesn’t remove false reviews, but they allow anybody and everybody to post reviews to their site, whether that person has purchased the product they are reviewing or not.

If the review doesn’t violate Amazon’s guidelines (i.e. contain profanity, etc.), the only thing you can do is post a comment under that individual review, stating the review is clearly false, and explaining why.

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