Is It Just Me ...

... Or is Amazon.com being a dickweed?

I  honestly don't know if this is happening to just me, or if it is a widespread thing.

HOW in the fudge & chocolate does Amazon.com know who "your author friends" are?!

I mean, do they have a team of Special Amazon Forces investigating which author is friends with which?

How in the hell do they deduce that you are in cahoots with some other author?

Do they tap your computer somehow to track who you network with?

Come on, Amazon, what's really going on?!

So last week I posted some reviews on both Goodreads & Amazon that I was behind on posting.  These were books that I'd read some time back but was just behind on getting the reviews out.

All of the sudden, I get an email from Amazon saying that my reviews (PLURAL) could not be posted because "I knew" the authors.

How, in the name of cheesy grits, do YOU know that?

And then these sons' of a motherless goat REMOVE my reviews, not letting me post them again.

Now, this is really pissing me off because I work with The Review Board, a professional review team. Do you mean to tell me that the reviews I post on Amazon on behalf of The Review Board are going to be removed too? If that's the case then I'm in a world on shit because authors whom enlist The Review Board are looking to have their books reviewed and the thoughts posted on Amazon.

But that's besides the point.

The main point I'm trying to make is where in the hell does Amazon get their information from? Does that mean if I buy a pair of shoes on Amazon and want to leave a review, that my review will be removed because "I know the buyer"? Get the fuck outta here!

But, do you know what? Now that I really think about it, I've been on both ends of this fence. The books that I have readily available on Amazon don't have all of the reviews they should because the people whom have read them aren't able to post their thoughts.

I've honestly got more reviews on Goodreads than on Amazon. The problem is that most people look at the Amazon reviews and Goodreads is sometimes left as an afterthought.

Things that make you go "hmm".

I mean, honestly, there has to be another way!

Let's be real, though.

It seems like all of these updated policies that Amazon has been implementing are a sort of rally against Indie Authors.

Why do I say this? Well, because VERY RARELY, if EVER, do you see things like this happen to authors from The Big 5 or more notable Publishing Houses.

Is this Amazon's way of "wanting out" of the Indie Book Market?  I ask this because sooner or later indie authors are gonna choose to go a different route or with a different platform because what good would it be to use a merchant that won't allow people to review your book?

Granted, at the moment Amazon is the #1 Indie Book Marketplace, but hey even King Solomon fell from grace.