Amazon Vine and Early Reviewers
Amazon has just announced Amazon Vine. Basically, it's our LibraryThing Early Reviewers idea—a way to get publishers' pre-release books to interested and vocal reviewers. As they put it:
So far the program is email invite only. They're apparently basing invitations on being among their top reviewers. By contrast, Early Reviewers program is based around similar libraries, although we favor "vocal" members too. Ultimately, we think LibraryThing is in a better position to give books to the best readers, but there's no denying Amazon's scale and, if they put their mind to it, they've done remarkable things with recommendations algorithms before.
Lastly, Amazon is to be congratulated for stating unequivocally that will not be editing negative reviews:
"Vine helps our vendors generate awareness for new and pre-release products by connecting them with the voice of the Amazon community: our reviewers. Vine members, called Voices, may request free copies of items enrolled in the program and have the ability to share their opinions before these products become generally available."Apparently Amazon had experimented with sending-out ARCs before. But we suspect they were not unaware of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program, which made Publishers Weekly, Pub Lunch and top publishing blogs. It makes a lot of sense for them to be doing.
So far the program is email invite only. They're apparently basing invitations on being among their top reviewers. By contrast, Early Reviewers program is based around similar libraries, although we favor "vocal" members too. Ultimately, we think LibraryThing is in a better position to give books to the best readers, but there's no denying Amazon's scale and, if they put their mind to it, they've done remarkable things with recommendations algorithms before.
Lastly, Amazon is to be congratulated for stating unequivocally that will not be editing negative reviews:
"As with all Amazon reviews, we want your honest opinion of the product. Amazon will not edit or modify any reviews beyond small tweaks to fit within existing guidelines..."This is in line with how Amazon has always worked. As James Marcus writes in Amazonia, their decision to show bad reviews was a gutsy decision at the time—a reminder of the "bad old days" of marketing! I hope they follow this up with what we promise: that negative reviews will not impact whether you continue to get Amazon Vine books.
Labels: amazon, ARCs, AREs, early reviewers
posted by Tim at 7:22 AM
38 Comments:
Off-topic, sort of:
Nice article here, in the South African Mail & Guardian Online.
When you say you favour "vocal" members, do you mean vocal in terms of number of reviews written?
I was wondering that same thing. I've been lucky to have received two early reviewer copies, and I'd say I'm fairly "vocal," but more as thread contributor than a reviewer.
This is the first I've heard anything about Amazon's program (someone mentioned it on the forums as well). I see that my speculations were right -- books going to their top reviewers. Is it just books? I'm kind of jealous if their vine program offers CDs, too.
Actually, we're giving books to anyone who posts to the blog.
Vines is for CDs too, I think, and DVDs. That's good news, I think.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I've always hesitated from posting reviews on Amazon because they said it becomes "their property." Correct me if I'm wrong, but LT doesn't make that claim. I wish Amazon success with their program, but I am sure I will like LT's better!
Not totally related but just found you have a Facebook app - nice! You should promote it - found no mention on the LT pages.
Keep up the excellent work -
Ken
(kburgin)
I received an invitation from amazon today to join the Vines program. I was asked to check off my interests in books, movie DVDs, and CDs. This seems like a win-win situation though I was surprised to be invited. I haven't posted that many reviews on amazon (about 30, maybe) but those I have posted tended to be quite "vocal", long, and unabashedly opinionated.
What sort of interest boxes were there? Genres?
I worked with James Marcus when I was at Amazon and attempted to read Amazonia. I am no apologist for the company, nor mean any disrespect to James. But his interpretation of events was filtered through his own notes and memory, and Amazonia is clearly the product of one person's experience where fact checking and research on his recollection wasn't a necessity. So I just wouldn't rely on Amazonia as guidance as to decisions made at Amazon during his time except those he made himself.
Robert Spector's earlier Get Big Fast, which I am quoted extensively in, but I don't view that as the determining factor in verity, is sketchy because of the lack of people who would speak to him on the record, but is substantially accurate based on my knowledge of events.
I know, I'm putting my recollection above James's, but I didn't write a book in which I had to form that experience, but I was also a generalist who worked with every department and all the early people, so had my ear in many conversations that people in the editorial department weren't involved with.
Amazon Vine is a SCAM - I emailed Amazon about the validity of the program and they assured me that they are trying to get to the bottom of this. IF YOU SUBSCRIBED TO AMAZON VINE YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD OR YOU MAY BE THE VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT!
I'm quite sure you're wrong. The trade press is all over this, and Amazon would have surely stepped into say this was a scam if it was.
But it's possible that someone is using the promise of the program to phish for passwords. Can you post a link to more info?
This is the email I received from Amazon. However, please email them DIRECTLY through customer service. I responded to this email stating that they need to issue some sort of warning about "Amazon Vine".
---Their Original Response---
Thank you for writing to us.
I apologize for any inconvenience you have had with the e-mail you
received.
The e-mail you received was not from Amazon.com. We are
investigating the situation, and we appreciate you letting us know
that you received this.
For your protection, we suggest that you never respond to requests
for personal information that may be contained in suspicious e-mail.
It is best to assume any e-mail that asks for personal financial
information (or web site linked to from such an e-mail) is not
authentic.
If you did not click on the link in the fraudulent e-mail, your
account at Amazon.com is fine--there's nothing more you need to do.
If you did click the link, but didn't enter any personal information
(such as your login or password), the phishers will not have your
Amazon.com account information.
However, please know that if you ever respond to a phishing e-mail
and do enter your Amazon.com login and password (or any other
personal information) on the forged web site, the phishers will have
collected that information and you should take appropriate action.
We recommend that you update your Amazon.com password immediately,
and, if you entered financial information, you may want to contact
your bank or credit card provider.
If you encounter any other uses of the Amazon.com name that you
think may be fraudulent, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.
*****
WHAT IS PHISHING?
Phishing e-mails have been around for years. The term phishing comes
from the use of increasingly sophisticated lures to "fish" for
users' personal or financial information. In phishing, the scam
artist usually sets up a spoofed a web page, which looks like the
real one, but is owned and operated by the phisher.
Go to www.amazon.com/phish to read more about ways to protect
yourself from phishing.
*****
WHAT IS SPOOFING?
Spoofing, in this context, refers to a counterfeit web page or e-
mail that is made to "look and feel" authentic but is actually owned
and operated by someone else. It is intended to fool someone into
thinking that they are connected to a trusted site, or that they
have received an e-mail from a trusted source.
*****
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SECURITY ON AMAZON.COM?
Visit the "Privacy & Security" section of our Help pages for safe
shopping tips, our privacy policy, and more:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?&nodeId=551434
*****
HOW CAN I UPDATE MY AMAZON.COM PASSWORD?
Go to our home page then click "Your Account" on the top right menu.
Choose the option "Change your name, e-mail address, or password"
found under Account Settings.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=fxtqydgu3438482168
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=fxtqydgu3438482168
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept
incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help
section of our web site.
Best regards,
P Srikanth
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account
> ---------------
> 08/07/07 06:14:17
> Your Name:Kevin
> Comments:I received an email for a promotion called "Amazon Vine" -
is it legitimate?
>
> Thanks,
>
> C. Kevin Evans
I have to say, I think they screwed up. It looks like a form letter they trigger, and wrongly triggered. But that is concerning!
Maybe so, but if you exolore the real Amazon site there is no mention of "Amazon Vine". Maybe they want to keep it super secret... but why the cloak and dagger routine? That is quite unlike the way they rolled out "Amazon Prime".
So adding it up - they do not mention it on their website and they "accidently" send me the wrong form letter... I hope that I am wrong, but I think that the likely scenario is that this is a scam.
Don't you think if this is really a scam, there would be word of it somewhere -- like in the news? I would think amazon would be all over this.
Who is this "Kevin"? The email I received has nothing in it that matches amazon's definition of a scam or a phishing attempt. Could someone verify this? Kevin's reply from amazon is their form letter about phishing.
That is just it - there has not been anything in the mass media about this new program. Amazon is a darling on Wall Street (See their recent stock price surge) yet there has not been a single story in the Wall Street Journal (or any other newspaper - to my knowledge) about "Amazon Vine"?
Why would the mass media be all over this? The people who set-up the scam are clever. They sent the email to a select few people who had posted their email address as the part of an Amazon review. By narrowing their target audience they help keep it off the mainstream radar. They may have also known that their had been some buzz about this type of program, so they simply created the scam before Amazon had a chance to create the legitimate program.
Believe what you want- but I would encourage everyone to contact Amazon (via www.amazon.com and not a link in an email) directly in regards to the promotion.
By the way - Here this is the second email I have received from Amazon - after this you all on your own.
Received From Amazon
-----------------------------------
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your comments about posting
some type of warning about Amazon Vine.
First, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support and
continual purchasing throughout the years. Your purchase history is
outstanding and I would personally like to keep your patronage. You
are certainly the type of customer that we would like to retain.
I will be sure to pass your message on to the appropriate department
in our company for consideration.
It's important for us to hear how customers feel about all aspects
of shopping at Amazon.com, so we can continue to improve our store
and the service we provide.
Customer feedback like yours is very important in helping us
continue to improve the selection and service we provide.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com. We hope to see you again soon.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=cbyqyahu3423933163
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=cbyqyahu3423933163
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept
incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help
section of our web site.
Best regards,
Nizar Gilani
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account
ref_id:=wwgvuahu1276455760
> Date: Tue Aug 07 15:59:58 UTC 2007
> Subject: Other Questions & Comments
> To: "int-primary__4r4t4y@amazon.com" int-
primary__4r4t4y@amazon.com
> From: kevine640@aol.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------
> 08/07/07 08:59:58
> Your Name:Kevin
> Comments:You really should post some type of warning about "Amazon
Vine" - there are blogs on the internet touting it as the real thing
(just type "Amazon Vine" in google and you will see only "Positive"
responses). I am pretty astute on identifying internet scams and
they almost had me....
> ---------------
>
>
>
>
>
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> ------=_Part_401990_21592829.1186502398237
By the way- I came to this website while trying to figure out if "Amazon Vine" was legitimate.
However, if you do a search on Amazon's people list (Under Kevin Evans) you will see that I rank somewhere around 4100.
I typed into a url:"vine.amazon.com/enrollment "(instead of linking through the invitation email) and came right to amazon's early reviewers program. Check out the Help section on amazon.com and you can find out how to tell a legitimate amazon email from a phishing one. The second email you posted here is also a form letter from amazon. I was also able to get on amazon and check my email preferences for the vines program. It all looks legitimate to me.
It's not based solely on being in the top X number of reviewers. I rank around 5,800 -- though the 50 reviews I have written over the years have been very in-depth. I think they are looking for QUALITY and not QUANTITY so just because you are #5 doesn't mean you are going to get an invite.
Well I must apologize to everyone. I CALLED Amazon, and they stated that "Amazon Vines" IS INDEED legitimate. I feel a bit silly, but it is still better to be safe than sorry. However, I did receive two replies stating that the program does not exist.
Kevin, thanks for going so far to find out the truth. Don't blame yourself -- some phishing emails are quite authentic looking and I wouldn't have believed the amazon vines one had I not read about it first here.
Hi, just popped in here for a minute.
I received a "Vine" invitation recently, contacted Amazon by phone, and was assured that the offer was legitimate (although to be honest, the invitation just wasn't the stuff of which phishing expeditions are made--it was written too well). Of course, I enrolled--free stuff (!), plus I can pick and choose (invitees sign an agreement stating that they'll review their choices and won't re-sell them).
Mind you, there's nothing yet being offered to review, but I noticed that the reviews I was requested to write for recent purchases now display a "VINE MEMBER" (complete with TM) badge below my name. So it IS legit, and I'm very flattered (and grateful) to have been invited.
I'm quite sure I'm not a top reviewer or even necessarily a prolific one, but my efforts are always opinionated and objective, whether positive or negative (they're also reasonably articulate--I'm a graduate student and a free-lance editor and proofreader). Serendipity is nice! I'm looking forward to perusing my selections. :)
...BTW, I suspect Amazon Vine isn't being broadcast due to its being invitation-only. I doubt they want to be barraged with requests and/or complaints about being snubbed by customers who feel they're qualified and were overlooked.
I was invited to join Amazon Vine.
I have written 66 reviews over the past 7 years for 719 helpful votes. So as you can see I am not anywhere near a Top Reviewer.
I am Amazon ranked at 4200.
The invitation came via eamil and promises that I will get advance access to book, cds, dvd and other items I advance review so long as I agree not to post the review elsewhere or sell the item.
Once I accepted the invitation I was directed to a page where I was asked my age, gender, income, frequency of reading books, type of books and that's about all I can recall. The rollout of Amazon Vines is set for 15AUG07.
While I am not a top reviewer (volume wise) my reviews do get alot more positive votes than negative votes. Of my 66 reviews the majority are positive reviews for items that I like, although I do have several negative product reviews.
I have reviewed books, movies, music, video games, clothing, workout equipment and jewlery...all things I have purchased on Amazon.
I give alot of feedback votes on other Amazonians reviews that I read.
I regularly buy new and used items on Amazon...leaning alot more towards buying used. I have been an Amazon customer since 1998.
I sell many used items on Amazon.
About a year ago Amazon sent me a DVD for free and asked me to review it. I did watch the DVD and i did post a four star review that got 8 out of ten helpful votes before it got buried to the back of the pile.
My guess is that Amazon has a program of some sort that takes ALL of that into account and determines who to invite to joing the program.
I am flattered I was invited to join. What a surprise.
Rick
I'm among the Vine members. I joined August 3. It is legit. See the Amazon reviewer discussion board for some official announcements and follow-up.
It is not a scam. Find my profile and you will see a small icon next to my name.
To clear up a few things, the Vine includes, now, books, CDs, DVDs. No word to us about other products. The response exceeded expectations, and they ran out of initial products. I expect the variety to expand as Amazon establishes interest and response correlations.
About my reviews, the one I best known for is one on Slim-Fast as a romantic drink, and a parody I wrote about the two top reviewers (based on Stairway to Heaven) has been quoted in several places, including at least one magazine. Most of my reviews are household items, and I have a dozen or so parodies about book reviewers, readers, book lovers, that sort of thing.
Reviewer Rank: 5,708
48 reviews
Read my full article on my involvement.
About reviewing on amazon in general... you own complete copyright, but, by posting the review, allow Amazon and its partners and affliates certain usage rights. You can delete the review, or edit it, at any time. I post my own on my website, editing them as I need to.
Brockeim
Brockeimia - The Absurd World of Brockeim
They DID run out of stuff, but to be honest, nothing there was of profound interest to me; one book looked like it might be fun. I attempted to read the product descriptions, but got "technical difficulty" prompts. By the time I tried again, everything was gone.
I wrote a mild complaint detailing my experience and reveived a nice reply that more stuff was on the way. I'm not one to accept things just because they're free--I'll only order stuff that I think I'll actually enjoy. But if I may reiterate: it's nice to have been invited. :)
I cant find the link for Amazon Vine as I too had an invite,asked Amazon.com to send me it,hope to hear from them real soon as I cant wait to get started,
Katie
Having stumbled across this thread and Glenn's comment below, I wanted to confirm that, yes, Amazonia is a very subjective chronicle of the company. I tried to be accurate, of course, confirming chronology and other specifics via outside sources. But I leaned heavily on my own memory of events--and memory can be notoriously spongy. So take it with a grain of salt, if you like, although I believe that I gave an accurate sense of that Late Nineties atmosphere.
tWow, thanks for the comment!
Tim
Amazon is also running a Breakthrough Novel Award competition.
I am a military spouse and mother of three in Ft Hood, Texas, and a novelist in my (haha) spare time. Recently, my novel "Someone Borrowed", was accepted as a Semi-Finalist in the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
This round is open to customer review. I would greatly appreciate your time and consideration in posting a favorable review for my novel. Awards are given to top reviewers/reviews. www.amazon.com/dp/B0012657WC
Thank you for your support!
clicked the wrong button for last post regarding "someone borrowed." :)
I just received an invite from them about a week or so ago. This is the first I have heard from them, and I took some time to check into the info, and come to find out, it is legit because I have so far received TWO books I asked for and about to receive a third item any day now. I have also posted two reviews to the items I've gotten because first of all, you get free stuff that you probably can't get right off and you can review them once finished. I'm quite honored. I have done reviews on their site now going on ten years, and look forward to more.
it is not just books that they are sending out. there are cds, exercise equipment, tools, even software. there are some pricey items that they are sending out. But I bet that they get sold out real quick.
It's not a scam. I've gotten 3 books through the program already to review.
Amazon says:
"Amazon does not influence the opinions of Amazon Vine™ members, nor do we modify or edit their reviews."
But several Vine members have complained that Amazon did edit their reviews on Vine products.
I'm inclined to take Amazon at their word, as there are big penalties for being caught in a lie....
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