As guerrilla marketing picks up tempo, most likely we'll be seeing a repeat of the scandal that rocked Amazon a few years back when authors paid reviews to write positive feedback/reviews for their e-books; deliberately misleading customers. So, when you are shopping for an e-book, considering the fact that review you'd be reading could be written to someone affiliated to owner of the book in some way, would you bother reading a review before buying the book?
I don't really read reviews but I do pick up books faster if they are in the spotlight. I tend to read books that have become popular rather fast. I don't really care about reviews.
I always read reviews. Sometimes it's easy to pick out the fakes from the genuine, other times, you just have to know what to look for. Depending on the product, fake review or not, it can be helpful to get a feel for it regardless and make the choice yourself. I also make sure to look all over for interviews, not just one place. Either way, you won't know till you get home if you like it or not. What works for some, won't work for others.
I read reviews most of the time, just to have a bit of info and feel on what other people think about the book. I read reviews from reliable sources and sometimes these reviews actually help me decide on what book to read.
I'll usually read some reviews on "GoodReads" prior to purchasing the book. I like to get a good idea of what the book is about and what people similar to me think of it. Sometimes the summary and star rating is enough to make me purchase instantly on Kindle though.
I used to read the reviews but it would take all the fun away by shortlisting the pros and cons of the book and I would not remain as excited about the book. Since then I've stopped reading the reviews and just read the book to decide for myself.
Depends on the book type. If I'm shopping for literature I don't bother reading since I already have an idea of what I'm buying. On the other hand, if I'm buying learning books I always read the reviews since I need to know just how good the book will be at teaching. And let's not forget that these days we have review trolls or bad reviews made by the competition, another reason why I don't bother with the reviews.
I don't read reviews at all, if I am buying a book I do it regardless what others think, at least others that I don't know, I prefer to rely on the opinion of people that know and know what I like rather than people with other interests.
I usually read reviews, since I tend to buy non-fiction instructive manual type books, and it's good to know if other people have found it useful before spending $20-40 of hard earned cash. You do still have to be a bit careful though, as some people might learn in a different way than you, and what they might find worthless might be the best book for you. So just make sure you know what you're getting and reviews should generally be important, but not extremely important to your choice.
Yes, it is important for me that I get a good quality product. I don't want to risk 50-50. I want a support that I going right or wrong buying something. As much as possible, I do not want my money be put to waste. Who does?
Yes, I ALWAYS read reviews first! But I usually read them at a website called Goodreads. I'm on that website almost everyday reading reviews for books. I'm such a book worm, I love reading and try to find at least a new good book every single week. As I don't like to buy many and then see if I'll like them, I read the reviews thoroughly to check if it's something I will like. I always read excerpts as well when they are available.
Even if the good reviews are fake, if there are bad reviews, that's what I'm more interested in. You should always take reviews with a grain of salt, of course, but if you read them carefully, you'll find that real reviews tend to point out very specific details that they liked or didn't like and that makes it easier to determine how much you should listen to.
I try and avoid reviews of books in general. For me, that spoils the fun of actually reading the book! I'll look at the synopsis of the book and see if it piques my interest or not. I like saving my review reading for products I want to know are good or not.
I always read a few reviews, and I can mostly tell which ones are fabricated and which ones are genuine, no matter how much they try to disguise it. Especially when I am contemplating watching a new film in the cinema, I do a bit of research on it and then decide whether I will see it or not.
Depending on the product, you can really be sure to spot some fake reviews. In any fake review, you can be sure that there will be a lot of over promotion that what they actually felt when using the product. This is why I always read reviews from different sites not just one. It is better that way and you can be able to get a general overview of the product before buying it.
I usually don't bother to read reviews of books. Not because I'm afraid they are paid for. It's because everyone can have so many different varied opinions of the same book. If the plot seems appealing, I'd prefer to read it and base my own opinion. I don't want to start out a book with negative reviews running through my head. The only time I really pay attention to reviews of books is if its a cookbook. I don't want to bother reading through a cookbook if its recipes I don't think I'll ever make or are too hard to make.
I rarely read new books so reading the reviews for a new one that has come out doesn't really sway my interest in buying it BUT I do read reviews for alot of other things before I buy or go to a particular movie or something. I usually read the synopsis to decide whether I'm going to get the book at the library for free.
Yes, I always read reviews. I read reviews on books or really anything that I am going to spend extra money on for enjoyment. I know it can be tedious and time consuming, but I find that it has helped me out a lot. However, I am picky about the reviews that I trust and will take to heart. This is because there are paid critics and reviewers. However, if I read a review that is detailed and seems genuine I will use it to decided if I want to purchase the book or not. Though, I usually prefer something with a few reviews because at least a few of them will be real and I want to see how they differ. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But I hate buying something without an idea of what I am buying. But I also read the synopsis of the book and look for reviews off the main store it is bought. If you do this you'll find reviews usually differ more.
I still depend greatly on reviews but I am aware and vigilant in believing everything I read. Usually, I'd go to other sources or sites and see if the reviews have any similarities enough for me to believe in the product further, and also, I only mostly pay attention to the reviews of people who have actually bought the product. It's why I find it surprising that people are even allowed to put comments and reviews as non-purchasing users. I've seen this method being used not only to praise certain products falsely but also the opposite which is to give negative feedback without even having tried it just because they are fans of the competing brand or are just paid to do so.
It has always been a habit of mine to read a review before deciding to purchasing a book. I do not really have that much spare time to read and usually reader's reviews serve as a good filter to weed out the mediocre novels from the great ones. However, I am not aware of the scandal that the OP has described. Anyone kind enough to provide more information on this?
