Good morning from a cool sunny Caffe Nero in Station Square, Cambridge. 

Book promotion can be a dirty business.

Mark Dawson, a self-published author, bought 400 copies of his book, The Cleaner, to boost its position on the Sunday Times bestseller list. He was motivated to do this after seeing his book at number 13 in the midweek chart. His book briefly reached number 8, but he was subsequently removed from the list after admitting to the purchase and its intent to influence the chart's ranking. 

This is a well-known author who runs courses for independent authors!

I see books by independent authors on Amazon with 100s, even 1000s of reviews, and I wonder how the heck did they do that?

‘Beyond The Shining Portals’ has 31 reviews on amazon.com. It has 52 on Goodreads. 

So I asked my AI friend, ChatGPT, “How do authors or publishers get book reviews dishonestly?”

My pal, ChatGPT, threw up his/her/its hands in horror and said, “Short answer: I can’t help with tactics for faking or manipulating reviews. That’s deceptive and violates the rules on major platforms—and, in the UK and US, it can also breach consumer-protection law.”

I modified the question, and here’s what he/she/it came up with.

………………………………………………………………….

1. Buying Fake Reviews

• Paying individuals or companies (often overseas “review farms”) to leave 5-star reviews.
• These are usually generic, vague, or even copied and pasted across multiple books.
• Platforms like Amazon actively try to detect and remove them.

2. Review Swaps in Secret

• Authors agreeing privately: “I’ll give your book 5 stars if you give mine 5.”
• While mutual support sounds harmless, it becomes dishonest if the reviewers haven’t read the book.

3. Paying for Positive Reviews

• Some shady services claim to be “marketing” or “review platforms” but promise guaranteed 4- or 5-star reviews.
• This crosses the line because the payment is tied to the positivity of the review, not the honest opinion.

4. Sock Puppets (Fake Accounts)

• An author or publisher creates multiple fake Amazon/Goodreads accounts to review their own books.
• Sometimes also used to leave bad reviews on competitors’ books (a tactic nicknamed “review bombing”).

5. Pressuring Friends and Family

• Giving free copies to family and then “nudging” them to post glowing reviews.
• It’s not always flagged as fraudulent, but it’s misleading if the relationship isn’t disclosed.

6. Astroturfing Campaigns

• Coordinating groups on Facebook or Fiverr to flood a book’s page with 5-star ratings in a short time, giving the illusion of popularity.
• Sometimes this involves upvoting helpful/favourable reviews and downvoting critical ones.

7. "Borrowing" Praise

• Taking quotes from unrelated reviews (e.g. of another book, or even a movie) and presenting them as if they’re about the author’s own work.

Don’t worry. I won’t be doing any of these!