Goodreads reviews feel honest until they don’t…Weeding through the weekly Top Reviewers, many profiles appear ordinary. The astonishing number of books read and reviewed per week by the Top Reviewers makes it clear that these profiles are not average, albeit avid, readers. To read 400 books per week, every week, is simply not possible, by human standards…

What happens is that a company or individual will pay for hundreds of positive reviews of their product, so that when a potential buyer sees the reviews, all they see are positive reviews and 5-star ratings. In the case of Goodreads, the product is books. These reviews can be written by a bot or a person with multiple fake accounts.

Positive reviews aren’t the only scam being pulled on Goodreads either. Scammers will write hundreds of negative reviews of a book, claiming the book contains incorrect, inflammatory information. Then, using a different profile, the scammer will contact the author of the book and offer to “fix” the bad reviews for a steep fee. After all, better reviews equals better sales, right?

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