Being honest about what we think of romances (and movies, and covers, and man titty, and Jeremy Renner gifs) is our intent here. I want the comments to be a safe space for you to talk about personal and challenging subjects – subjects that romance deals with frequently, such as sexuality, emotions, assault, overcoming obstacles, vulnerability and happiness. I don’t take myself seriously at all, but I take the community at Smart Bitches very seriously.
So I’m half-caffeinated and fully angry about the comments decorating yesterday’s Books on Sale post that included a Dana Marton boxed set. More than thirty comments, all disturbingly similar, all praising Marton’s books and prompting Des Livres to ask, “What is this? A street team?”
Good question.
What makes me angry is that these are all well-meaning comments from people who may very well love every single letter in this boxed set, but on the whole, the comments amount to clutter and noise, signifying spam. Instead of making the book look praise-worthy, they make the book look suspect. Plus, the sheer number of them seems dishonest and disingenuous.
This is an example of why 5 star reviews are so often meaningless for readers.
I know authors love them. I like them, too! I’ve written three books. I totally get the thrill of, “Hot damn! Five stars!” And the similar thrill of someone commenting, “I really, really liked your book.”
But when the comments are all very similar and appear to be a coordinated effort to blanket the crap out of one page on a site with relentless squee-age, it does more harm than good.
Here’s my reaction:
- “35 comments? On a sale post? What the…?”
- Look at comments.
- Lip curling frustration.
(Please note: that reaction is not conducive to my buying a book.)
My perspective is that a flood of comments and reviews like these don’t help anyone: not the reader, and not the author. I’m more suspicious of a few of them because I wonder if they were purchased from a click farm or something, given some of the punctuation use and language patterns.
But most of all, because I value your honesty in the comments here, especially when you disagree with me or with another review, I’m bothered that it might interfere with the conversations we have.
Amanda, who posts the Books on Sale with me, agrees: I do think getting feedback in the comments about sale books is helpful. Since I help put them together, I see a lot of good discussions, especially when I’m unfamiliar with the book and I’m seeing the Bitchery’s opinion since I have none. That sort of interaction is conducive to buying books, I think, and not a deluge of comments which only serve to drown out other commenters.
“And it’s not that we don’t want to hear readers’ opinions. Of course not! I mean, Devil in Denim got panned in the comments, but I’m glad it sparked a discussion. However, 30+ comments on sale post has the effect of a bunch of people screaming into a megaphone. It’s just a lot of noise and not much substance. Those comments could very well all be genuine, but I doubt it.”
Like I said, there is a difference between broadcast promotion and a conversation between readers about we like and don’t like. I’m very confused how one might not see the difference between spam and genuine conversation, or the resulting damage of too much spam. The en masse demonstration of how much a group of readers enjoys an author’s books is more often a turn-off than a turn-on.
But I’m curious. I have a particular set of feelings about the site and the comments section — for obvious reasons. My bias, I has one! You can probably see it from space! (It’s huge.) And spam may be very much in the eye of the beholder, defined by the person reading it and not by the person writing it.
What is your reaction when you see a flood of positive comments or reviews about a book? As a reader, does this accomplish anything for you, positive or negative? Does it turn you off to buying that book or that author, or does it not bother you at all? Why is that? I’m curious about your reaction.
ETA: 12:13pm ET
I have been corresponding with Dana Marton, and she gave me permission to share this with you:
I saw the 20+ responses yesterday and almost fell off my chair. I did mention your feature on FB and that you asked if anyone read the book. Just didn’t want to be featured and have no comments. I figured maybe 1 person would say something. I don’t have a street team or a hugely active following. I asked the other day if anyone read my new release to please review it, and got 2 extra reviews.
FWIW, I really do think that all these people read the books and only meant to help. I recognize most of the names from FB as readers who keep in touch with me. I thought if readers who read the book said they read the book that would be okay, esp since you asked if anyone read the book. Now I just feel stupid. Sigh.
Dana also told me that earlier this year, she saw a different blogger writing that s/he was upset that a featured author didn’t tell her readers about a post on that blogger’s site. The lack of comments in that case was upsetting. Definitely mixed signals and different blogger goals there, and more evidence that it can be difficult to understand the nuances of different communities online.
Immediate reaction? Street Team. Like someone sent out a beacon: “You guys! Such and such book of this author is being featured on Smart Bitches!” *entire team races to the website to OMGSQUEE*. So I’m immediately skeptical, just like I am when I see a book on Amazon w/nothing but positive reviews. In the end, it makes me think that the book is a pass for me.
That being said, I can be and am a relentless pimp for books that I love. So maybe the fact that I’m relatively tapped into social media makes me extra skeptical.
I don’t mind seeing a flood of positive responses at SBTB, because I know from reading the site that the reviews are very honest, both positive and negative. There are some authors and books that seem to be universally beloved here, so they tend to get a stream of glowing comments. That doesn’t mean it’s spam or that the SBTB folks are getting kickbacks to praise those books; it just means the readership on the site likes them.
I think it definitely distracts from the book/does the book or author a disservice/causes suspicion. Sorry for the jumbled sentence, I’m still halfway through my first cup of coffee.
I don’t read the five star reviews when deciding whether to buy a book — I look at the 3-stars. Sometimes I’ll even browse through the 2- and 1-star reviews. I want to know what doesn’t work as well as what does, and I want to make my own balanced decision.
On a completely petty, personal, just-woke-up note, I’m annoyed that one of the comment-spammers shares my name, and now I’m thinking I need to come up with something more distinct to comment under. Sigh.
Some books do deserve only squee. I think that if there’s no people who dislike it or even just think it’s okay then it’s suss. It looks unbalanced and makes you distrust the comments themselves (however genuine they may be) and even the author sometimes.
I’m with Kati- it just feels like someone (I’m honestly not sure who) is trying too hard. I’m always super-into whoever my favorite author is at the moment, but I’m not 30 people all clamoring on one comment thread.
I’m not sure what the solution is, though, because I like reading through the various opinions, especially on sale threads.
Personal opinion-not author me, just me me, is that it’s going to depend on the author and the book…Nalini Singh, for example, is going to bring about a flood of positive feedback in general. Julie James, another.
But yeah, what basically amounts as a ‘throwaway’ post for sales? Eh, yeah. I think it’s probably a street team.
I have one myself, but I have fairly strict rules with it…I ask them to help promote my new books, etc, but I have a big policy about going and spamming blogs and facebook pages. It’s annoying.
And I’ve been in hiding for a while… you redid your site! I love!
What I noticed when I looked at those comments was that there was no specific information at all. Did the commenter even read the books? I have my authors who I absolutely love (Ilona Andrews, for one) but you would think you’d have some details when commenting. If something just says, “this author is the best, I love these books” It means absolutely nothing to me. However, if I can actually see what the book caused them to think or feel, I’m much more likely to buy. This comment was not intended to be instruction for the spammers on how to spam more effectively 🙂
@JamesLynch:
There are some authors and books that seem to be universally beloved here, so they tend to get a stream of glowing comments. That doesn’t mean it’s spam or that the SBTB folks are getting kickbacks to praise those books; it just means the readership on the site likes them.
You make a good point. We get out the squee flood on occasion and signal everyone to grab their squee mop. We – and any devoted reader, really – can be hopelessly squee-voted to squee about a book or author.
@Nettle:
I don’t think there’s a solution that has to be found. My concern is that I was reading the flood of positive comments with too much suspicion, and that my perspective is affected negatively!
@Shiloh:
This comment has no purpose except to say Hi! And Thank You!
Like Samantha, it’s the lack of specific information. When everyone squees, there’s usually some sort of “ZOMG, HERO IS THE HOTTTTTEST!” or “I love this series, especially [name specific title]” or with a romantic suspense “the end of this book has a major twist I never saw” or “I got so freaked out, I had to pull a Joey and put this in the freezer, but it’s so hot and steamy, it melted everything.” (Man, I hope that’s a line I get to use in a review some day!)
Additionally, there’s no sense that they even looked at the other comments. Usually with general squee, a lot of the comments will start with “I’ll second what everyone else is saying!” or something similar that shows they’re actually paying attention to the community or discussion.
The problem with a flood of comments like that is that they are not genuine. They are not genuine to a reader looking for comments or reviews trying to decide to purchase a book. Just this morning I received a review request and I went to Goodreads and this book had 75 ratings, almost all 5-star. Just 4-5 sentence reviews glowing about the book. Seriously?? My first thought is – these are street team/author friend reviews. It makes me NOT want to read/review.
These people aren’t fooling anyone – they do more harm than good IMO.
I also get suspicious of a book if I see a bunch of squee comments about it, like this. Unless it’s a well known beloved author like Patricia Briggs, Nalini Singh, etc.
So many squees like this that look like a concerted street team effort will make me NOT want to buy the book, AND ALSO NOT future books by the author. I want honest opinions, not ones solicited by the author
I think that anyone who has read this site for any amount of time can tell the difference between diverse readers from all over squeeing about a book and a coordinated effort by anything from 30 comments by 1 person or 30 people commenting from a pre-ordained script. This totally felt like a coordinated effort to me and there’s nothing that turns me off an author more than that. These books might very well be the next best thing, but I’m never going to read them. And the author is now one I’ll be wary of. And should anyone ask if I’ve heard of Dana Marton, I’ll be saying that I remember her as having a spamming street team. Might not be fair, but that’s what I’m taking away from it.
Interesting post. I agree as a reader if I see these types of comments, I discount them as a group effort without any value. Personally, I find it a turn off, and unless I am familiar with the author, I may skip over a book that has a “cult-like” following of commenters. Let’s face it, even our most beloved authors still get a negative comment or ten. So when it’s all squee, I find it fake. However, it doesn’t bother me, and others may like it. I don’t care as long as the squees stay positive and short. If they turn nasty or provoke negative comments from others, then I feel they are spam and junk and should be removed.
I’m just glad someone finally pointed this out! It’s so difficult to get anything done lately in the blogging world without running into street teams. Whether it’s comments, or when we ask a question on our Facebook page. You can usually tell when this is happening, and we tend to ignore it, but it can get annoying. And the worst part I feel is that the few good books that someone really wants to highlight and get noticed fall through the cracks and get lost among a sea of comments like these. We even had to stop any kind of contest where we would ask our readers to nominate either books, authors or characters. They were being totally driven by street teams.
I am very suspicious when I see a bunch of very short positive comments/reviews, like “great book, I could not put it down” etc. When I see those, I immediately read the lowest ratings to see what people who did not like the book (or did not like it as much) have to say.
I can’t articulate it, but there is a difference. I mean, we seem to be pretty squee over Courtney Milan books around here, but one of her books was on sale the other day and didn’t get the types of posts that the Marton book got. There was a disingenuous-ness to those reviews. They felt like there was a template that was being followed with nothing about the characters or the plot.
When we have something truly squee-worthy, we tend to go back and forth, responding to other commenters and you’ll see someone’s name a time or two. It’s a conversation between book-lovers.
Spam conversations are more like the preachers on street corners, pestering you to pay attention to them.
I’m glad you’re addressing this, Sarah, because the comments definitely tripped my “What the hell is happening here” button.
I got an e-mail once asking me to review a particular mobile game, and when I looked at its page on iTunes, it was FILLED with hilariously terrible plants masquerading as legit reviews. One in particular basically sounded like a bad undercover cop trying to see if he could buy drugs from teens. “Hey gang! First of all, the name is just pure awesome. Cool or what huh gang? It’s better to learn the game by actually trying it, sort of like science! Other than that the game is interesting and exciting like the world we live in. It’s so amazing that it makes you wonder until you go AHA! I thought it was great and you will too! Same-same huh gang? Why don’t you go on and give it a try?” The only thing I removed from that review was the identifying information. It’s SO BAD. I don’t mind “squee”, but it better be legit.
I don’t live in a cave, but I realize I wasn’t quite sure what a street team is or does, so I googled “street team” and read the Wikipedia page (mostly dealing with descriptions of how it works in the music industry). I understand that an author wants to get their name and their book out there for people to notice, but is the all publicity is good publicity sentiment really going to drive people to buy your book? I can understand, if in the case of music, your street team calls the radio station to request they play your song so people can hear it (do radio stations even take requests anymore), but what is a constant stream of similar, uninformative comments on a blog going to do other than annoy people? It makes me not want to buy their book. Similarly, with the DABWAHA starting, it reminds me of the author who tried to game the system to win, and that made me not want to buy her books either. Street teams seem kind of sleazy. I just want to buy good books, and while I realize all of the authors and publishers are doing what they can to make a living, the crass aspects of a street team turns me off. Are there ways that a street team can bring attention to a book without it being crass?
As a reader, I can sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to reviews and when I see a bunch of chaff it sends out a big DO NOT BUY sign for me – particularly if it’s in a post about the book being on sale. At the end of the day, I don’t really care if an author wants to encourage his/her friends to behave in this manner – it just means that there is one less book/author that I’m going to have on my radar (given the size of my TBR pile – this is a good thing :-)).
reader me, not writer me, typically looks at the squee comments to see if they say OMG I adore this book, I loved ______ or hero was amazing….
OR OMG you MUST READ this book/series, you will love this book, you have to buy this book
Second person call to actions feel insincere.
Unless it’s got a Dinosaur billionaire in it, then all bets are off
Being a cynic I rarely pay attention to positive comments and look for the negative . I’ve noticed a trend on supposedly reader based sites such as Goodreads with the phenomenon this article points out. Spam,paste and copied comments , posted by who? Marketing teams, publicist, publishers? I read that 17% of all books published are categorized as romance. Thats a lot of potential profit.Getting books sold by any means a motive for this practice.The only true test of a work is to read it, then decide if it was worth the time and money.
@Lexxi:
Unless it’s got a Dinosaur billionaire in it, then all bets are off
OBVIOUSLY.
Yesterday’s squee shower turned me off on the Dana Marton set, but then again I am not a big romantic suspense fan. I also suspect a street team at work. A lot of unfamiliar names, just saying.
I’ve seen street team posts by authors on their Facebook pages and with a few of the authors, it’s like a sports boosters group or a game show. Release day is required reading day. “Please post about my book and tell me.” I’ll give you prizes if tag your friends.” No thanks. If I like an author, I’ll write my 5 star reviews based on merit and when I get a chance to read the book.
I’ve added this to the post above, but wanted to add this here, too. I have been corresponding with Dana Marton, and she gave me permission to share this with you:
I saw the 20+ responses yesterday and almost fell off my chair. I did mention your feature on FB and that you asked if anyone read the book. Just didn’t want to be featured and have no comments. I figured maybe 1 person would say something. I don’t have a street team or a hugely active following. I asked the other day if anyone read my new release to please review it, and got 2 extra reviews.
FWIW, I really do think that all these people read the books and only meant to help. I recognize most of the names from FB as readers who keep in touch with me. I thought if readers who read the book said they read the book that would be okay, esp since you asked if anyone read the book. Now I just feel stupid. Sigh.
Dana also told me that earlier this year, she saw a different blogger writing that s/he was upset that a featured author didn’t tell her readers about a post on that blogger’s site. The lack of comments in that case was upsetting. Definitely mixed signals and different blogger goals there, and more evidence that it can be difficult to understand the nuances of different communities online.
I read the sale thread after reading about the spam on twitter, so I came in expecting something unusual but I still had that kind of sinking, wtf feeling in my gut reading the comments. It was like the pod people took over SBTB. As several others have said, I think the things that felt off were the lack of interaction with previous comments and lack of useful details, plus the sheer volume – 30 comments on a deals page seems like a lot.
In general, I tend to ignore non-specific, omg I loved it, you should buy it type reviews. They’re not useful. And if a book has almost all squee-filled, five star reviews, I assume it has some book-crack qualities – so if I don’t emotionally connect to the book I’ll probably be rolling my eyes and wondering how the hell this got published, let alone so popular.
The whole concept of an author’s street team is rather insulting. Do people really fall for a whole series of inarticulate gushes from people who don’t say anything to convince us they’ve actually read the books?
I skimmed through the publisher’s information about the Marton boxed set and that convinced me they weren’t the sort of thing I enjoy. The first comment confirmed that for me, and nothing in the succeeding load of squee did anything to change that opinion.
My book budget isn’t unlimited. I try to save it for things I’m fairly sure I will enjoy. I’ve occasionally taken a chance on sale books I wasn’t sure I was going to like. Sometimes that works out and sometimes they end up in the great DNF pile in the Cloud. I’ve never taken a flyer on something I was already pretty sure I wasn’t going to like just because other people gushed over it.
Oops – cross posted and missed the update.
I give Dana Marton a lot of credit for corresponding with you and letting you post that. I’m always glad when it’s an honest mistake or miscommunication, instead of deliberate spam.
And I’m not sure she or her fans did anything wrong individually, but somehow the net effect was off putting for regular readers of SBTB, me included.
I totally agree that having a deluge of trying-too-hard comments (bot or not) detracts from the conversation. One of the things I LOVE about this site is how many commenters have very well thought out opinions of both the good and bad aspects of the books they read. The Devil in Denim is a classic case study: although the review immediately made me go “BASEBALL-BETA-MUST-DEVOUR-NOW,” the comments pointed out that it contains one of my most rage-inducing factors (i.e., the You’ve Got Mail-like plot arc wherein obliterating a woman’s career is somehow forgivable when it most certainly would not be if the gender roles were swapped).
But is there a solution, when it turns out that it’s oblivious outsiders and not actual spambots at work? Dunno. Is it worth it moving to moderated comments? Again, dunno.
I picked up the Marton book from DA’s sale post the day before (which the street team seems to have missed). I don’t know if I would have been discouraged from buying the books if I had seen the spamming first, because I do like the genre, and the blurb caught my interest, but it doesn’t increase the likelihood that I will buy a book to see an excess of generic comments that essentially offer the same empty platitudes. The first comment, where the reader said that she didn’t read the rest of the series because the tone wasn’t to her taste piqued my interest far more than the flood of comments that followed.
I’m more motivated to complain about a bad book than praise a good one, so I seldom squee. But if I do give a book a five-star review over on Amazon, no one ever clicks “helpful” or comments on it. Why? I suspect because squee reviews are generally seen as less helpful and perhaps even less honest. My one- and two-star reviews are always commented on and when I evaluate a book for purchase, I’m always much more interested in what the haters have to say.
That said, so what if a bunch of people liked a certain book? If they’re paid squee’ers, that’s one thing, but to get mad and call them spammers just because their comments were positive is silly. Chill, bitch.
@Amelia:
I don’t moderate the comments, as in, each comment goes through without my personal approval unless it’s flagged by the spam software. But we do pay attention to the comments, and we respond. So I don’t moderate, but I am present, if that makes sense.
I get the sense that in this case, my initial impression that the comments were well-meaning but uninformed as to the cumulative effect of their sheer number might have been right. And I’m glad Dana Marton reached out to me, too. I don’t want author groups and reader groups to be at odds, especially when most of us are still figuring out how to navigate online interaction when it’s different every day.
I read all those eerily alike comments yesterday and got super annoyed and it totally got put in the spam category for me. They seemed random and unrelated to the community. The thing with squee (vs spam) is that it’s a conversation with back and forth squeeing. And people squeeing about differently things in the book and agreeing or disagreeing about what their favorite part was. And there is nearly always some Eeyore that says “Really? Am I the only person who didn’t like the book because I found X, Y and Z problematic?”. In other words, there is CONTEXT and conversation.
I always check the comments on sale posts to see if the community here has something to say about the books on sale, especially when it’s clear that the person (SB Sarah or Amanda) hasn’t read them herself. I’m much more likely to click if someone has posted something about what they felt about the book (and honestly sometimes the negatives are what make me decide to read it myself).
I was talking about this kind of thing on Twitter last week (Shiloh was part of that convo, too *waves*) and as an author, it’s kept me away from forming a street team. I know that some authors have awesome teams who make sure not to be spammy, but it seems like there are a lot of teams who step over the line into annoying land. And I’m sure those people are just trying to help and are doing what the author has asked for, but it can cross the line quickly.
Author Me gets tempted on occasion because I see these books on Amazon that have 100s of glowing reviews right out the gate–like week one. It makes the book look amazing and opens doors to things like Book Bub ads and such. But I *know* that unless the author is a big freaking deal or a book has gone particularly viral, that it’s not an organic review rate. Outside of ARCs being sent by the publisher and a blog tour, I don’t go out searching for reviews. One of my releases (which is from a major publisher with the marketing that goes along with that) usually ends up with 30-60 Amazon reviews over months of being out, Goodreads the rate is higher. But what I’m saying is that Reader Me has learned not to trust those piles and piles of glowing reviews about a book anymore because of it. Some squee-ful reviews may be perfectly legit, but I glaze over them when there are so many. Now I rely on buying books recommended by friends, fellow authors, and reviewers I trust who have similar tastes to mine. The rest becomes white noise.
Back in 2010, I found a book released by a notorious vanity press known for low sales, but the book had over 150 reviews. I started reading them, and quickly realized that, as someone else said here, they all seemed to follow a template.
1. Admit there are spelling and grammar errors, but assure readers this doesn’t interfere with enjoyment of the book. My favorite was “If readers get down off their high horses about grammar, they’ll love this.”
2. Use the author’s full name, e.g. “I’ve never heard of Jamie Louise Peterson before, but my friend insisted I try this book. Well, now I know Jamie Louise Peterson is a rising talent to watch!”
3. Have a theme of being badgered to read the book by a adoring fan, and, after being turned into such a devoted fan oneself, talking about the book day and night to everyone.
My favorite here was the story of how a blizzard knocked out the reviewer’s electricity, leaving her family cold and worried. But her son’s girlfriend had “forced” a copy of the book on him, so the family read it together, then sat in awed silence for a while before discussing it “for a few hours”. Of course books are capable of helping us through hard times, but on top of all the other praise, this was just too much to buy.
4. Adjectivitis. The book was riveting. Heartwarming. Unforgettable. Stellar. Enthralling. Phenomenal. Unfortunately, I still don’t know what it’s about. I’m pretty sure it’s a fantasy, but I like to have at least an idea of the worldbuilding. I don’t even know what the characters do, other than fall in love and thrill fans.
So yeah. This kind of squee doesn’t help authors at all. All I was curious about, after reading those 150+ reviews, was whether the author had made them all or whether a few well-meaning friends had contributed.
What most members of author street teams seem to have missed is that blogs tend to be communities–big or small. Readers get a feeling of who is a regular reader because we comment, and when someone is commenting for the first time, there is something to that effect in the comment itself.
Then there is the fact that most of us, when raving about a book on a book blog, will expound about what is it about the book we are raving about that makes us come rushing to give praise–characterization, plot, writing voice, setting, or even simply that the main trope is our catnip (even if we use a vastly different expression for catnip)
So having two dozen plus comments from strange screen names in such a short period of time, coupled with the universal praise and lack of detail…yeah, spam.
Whether the author sent them or not, most of us only remember that there was an unpleasant incident involving Dana Marten, and will avoid her books in the future. Which sucks for her, but it’s basically what happens.
I also give Dana Marton a lot of credit for corresponding with you, SarahB, and letting you post the conversation. I’ll also fess up, after I submitted my post earlier, I did wander over to Facebook to see if she had a street team.
As a reader, reviews have a big impact on what I pick up, but it’s the who of the review more than the amount of squee. Example: I follow a bunch of book blogs and I know which reviewers have similar taste as me. I’m more likely to get a book if that reviewer squees then if it’s someone else on the blog who likes a different kind of book crack from me. So the comments don’t usually have a big impact on my buying choices negative or positive.
As an author, I just want to say that there are good and bad street teams just like anything else in the world. I have a street team and they are pretty damn awesome. The biggest reason for that has to do with the fact that the readers on it just want to be book weirdoes in the same place with each other (book nerds unite!) and that my biggest rules for the team are that everyone is nice to each other, we have fun together and that they only share what they want, when they want and if they want. I’m not down with using a street team as a huge promo arm, goon squad or evil consortium. We talk about all sorts of books (not just mine) and chocolate and inappropriate candles and shoes and more books, etc. They do get first crack at ARCs in exchange for leaving an honest review (I stress honest and yes that means sometimes two or three star reviews), but there’s never any pressure to participate. Hell, reading is fun. Why hang out with fellow book people if it’s not fun?
I just wanted to say that I’m glad *someone* besides me has noticed all the new flavors of Spam.
A flood of 5 star reviews used to get me excited about a book… Time goes on and I am immediately suspicious and rather search out the 3 star and lower ratings. I’ve been burned by this one too many times before I caught on and I usually skip squee reviews if by the first sentence there is no specifics beyond the “Omg this is awesome sauce ” flavor. I read a lot and check reviews a lot so those kind of reviews are flagged in my head, I am skeptical, and I skip them and mentally tally them up and measure the number against other reviews.
The last book that this happened to me I took a chance on because there were only a few reviews. I read the book and for me there were so many things I didn’t like. I went back to the reviews to see if there were more reviews and if I was crazy. It had more, but they were all 5 stars that turned out to be fellow authors having the same publisher and they did this for each other.
The clincher for me was the 5 star from her grampa….