A question for the pro authors

[neadods]

If you had the choice of getting a glowing review put on up amazon.com or on an official review site, which would you choose?

I ask because I'm currently reading The Ghost Finds a Body by Brad Strickland for pleasure, and finding it to be a pleasure indeed. Because it wasn't officially assigned by ReviewingtheEvidence, I'm not obligated to restrict my comments only to the site. On the other hand, RtE rules allow me to send 'em extra reviews on my whim, which will be published... eventually.

The benefit to putting it up on Amazon is giving the book a star rating; currently, nobody's reviewed it yet. On the other hand, if Mr. Strickland is looking for something quoteable, I don't think Amazon reviews are quite dustjacket material yet; a review that hits RtE has a certain vague authority.

And while you're debating, if you like cozy, wittily written mysteries about publishing, go get thee a copy of the book!

Comments

[gfjames.livejournal.com]

As much as dislike Amazon and many of the pissants who post reviews there, I'd still have to say Amazon gets my vote for the review. Odds are the more people will read the review and give the book a look. This is opposed to a website that you have to seek out to read a review and is limited by who goes there deliberately.

By sheer numbers, Amazon gets the nod for possible exposure.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the reviews on Amazon are nice but not taken very seriously. I'd rather see the review on a review web site.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought would be the case. Thing is, I can do only one or the other, re: my agreement with RtE; otherwise, I'd simply do both.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

Surprise, surprise. I agree with kradical here.

Personally, the reviews on Amazon are so often just so WTF? that it's impossible to take them seriously. Also, I happen to know that people can remain anonymous on their reviews, so it's really easy for someone to stack reviews (either positive or negative) against a book/CD/product. It's not exactly the best way (IMO, of course) to gauge.

Now, my first (and so far, only) print review, however, I have photocopied and up on my cubicle at the office. People have taken it far more seriously than I'd expect they take Amazon reviews.