Currently Michael Lewis’s bestseller The Big Short has 81 one-star ratings on Amazon.com and 68 five-star ratings. Those figures highlight publishing’s dramatic debate this week–critics have overwhelmed the Amazon reviews section with negative reviews based on the book’s lack of a Kindle edition.
Our readers had some passionate opinions. Maggie Stiefvater wrote: “[S]aying that the publishing industry is hypocritical for saying they want to hear from their readers but not appreciating non-review reviews is ridiculous. If you spray painted ‘I want a Kindle version of Harry Potter’ across an editor’s car door, it would also be expressing your opinion — but it wouldn’t make it right.”
Kassia Krozser wrote: “The publishing industry has some legitimate disputes with Amazon; I am not convinced that insulting people who buy books is the best way to express displeasure with a retailer. I’ve noted a real hostility toward people are very likely publishing’s best customers, merely because they’ve made a format switch that works for their reading lives.”
Reader Christine Carey wrote: “[H]aving people post their irritation about format is one way of showing demand for that format. So maybe they shouldn’t be removed, but maybe there should be a separate section for them that doesn’t directly affect the star rating of the story.”
Finally, one reader had a different take: “What bothers me about the Amazon Reviews are the reviews posted from people who were gifted the book by publishers. It takes away to me from the perceived value of the book. It has become publishers plans to use the Amazon review section to seed the market. I wish Amazon would push those folks off…that is fine for the blogger world. But I want to read reviews from folks who BOUGHT the book!”
In addition, both MobyLives and Nathan Bransford have hosted online conversations about this tricky issue.
