The sock-puppet saga continues and now self styled eBook guru Joe Konrath has cleverly ensured that when his name is linked to fake reviews he can point to this article HERE.Under a heading, Konrath Posts Fake Reviews, Konrath went onto list several fake reviews he had recently posted on Amazon - the reviews are all intended to be comedic, but is there a far more calculating reason? Recently Konrath supported authors such as Stephen Leather, John Locke and R. J. Ellroy who were exposed for leaving fake reviews or for buying positive reviews as in John Locke's case. Konrath for the first time found himself at odds with his own readership by stating that sock puppetry does not hurt anyone,and that leaving fake reviews is an extension of freedom of speech.
Recently Konrath posted, as shown above and in close up-below that buying reviews and sock puppetry isn't wrong, but backtracked and changed the post after getting negative comments from his own readers.
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| THE ORIGINAL KONRATH POST |
Buying reviews isn't wrong and using sock puppets isn't wrong soon became:
However various blogs and twitter accounts are suggesting that Konrath has been using a fake Amazon identity to post his own sock puppet reviews. The suspected account is John C Nelson Jr and he, whoever he is, has left several glowing reports on Konrath's Books and has never given a Konrath title less than five stars. Twitter user, Mike Cane brought this account to the area in a recent tweet which asked if Konrath had a sock puppet. All this has led to speculation that the recent Konrath article, Konrath posts fake reviews was intended to cover up the author's tracks.
The sock puppet saga continues and it now looks as if Joe Konrath is to be added to a fast growing list of sock puppets.
4 comments:
I never had any doubts
Too predictable to be doubted. Thanks.
I think there is a much, much, much bigger thing going on here than a puppet or two (or 23 more).
But my problem with Konrath is that as soon as he started making money, he stopped helping anyone else. His whole blog is an act of self-promotion for himself and his small group of friends. He's never done anything to help other indie writers. He admits that 20k is not enough for him to live on, but almost all indie authors make less than that.
For instance he posted some "fake" joke reviews recently (to try to take the heat off of his other "real" fake reviews), but that was dumb. He could have spent time giving some 5 stars to struggling indie authors who had books of worth but who are still unknown. He could help boost sales of these writers. Instead, he's turning them off in droves with his self-centered attitudes.
I had a lot of respect for Konrath and what he achieved, but to be honest these days I think he is a dick!
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