One bad review and the Money Diet plummets down the Bestsellers' list Blog Discussion 18 April 2006 at 7:36AM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 51 replies 6.7K views

Former_MSE_Andrea

This is a chat forum discussion on Martin's 'One bad review and the Money Diet plummets down the Bestsellers' list' blog which you can read here.

Tim_L

What on earth is a "central tenure"? A central tenet is something I know about, though possibly a bit pompous as a piece of language in a review. A "central tenure" possibly means everyone renting the flat in the middle of the building.

And anyway it may very well be that the book states the obvious in some respects. But without the obvious being stated, very many people will not notice it. There's a celebrated story about Columbus' egg which is relevant here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus

I'm a hardcore moneysaver, and was so years before I found the site. I still find the book useful and inspiring and very worthwhile. Won't be long before the poor review gets replaced I fancy.

divadee

aaww dont worry martin, I have just put in another review for you on it so hopefully his will be pushed down soon!!!


Also dont you love amazons prefect partners books with martins book this time its................ 'Does anything eat wasps'!!!!! lol

System

I am amazed that one bad review could seriously affect the ratings!! The other reviews are glorious too.

vandanfc

Another positive review submitted too. Hope we get you back up the rankings. Cheers for a brilliant book.

Andy_Davies

I'd have to question the ethics of this post.

Someone posts what's presumably a genuine review of your book and you're complaining and by implication soliciting others to post good reviews.

How do you know there's a link between the review and your ranking in the bestsellers list, perhaps people buy different books over Easter, perhaps the book's had the bulk of it's initial sales and is now starting to sell less?

MSE_Martin

Andy it wasn't a post it was my personal blog - which is my diary about how I feel about things. I haven't complained to Amazon about the review, or tried to get it taken down. I've simply explained my thoughts in my blog about my book - is that unethical?

I don't mind a negative review, what I didnt like about this one was that a. it was criticising the book for things it didn't say b. its the only negative review in a long list of positives, yet its position at the top makes it very much the most prominent.

As for the sales, yes of course you're right, some may be attributed to that, however i watch sales closely and on the very day that review came top the ranking plummeted and has never regained. I don't believe it a coincidence.

I find the idea that writing this in my personal blog as being unethical is someone a strange one. As for people writing reviews, of course I welcome it, yet I'm not suggesting people write one thing or the other - yet i'm confident in the quality of the book, and thus am happy for people to write as overall I think the reviews will be positive.

However you're entitled to your view!

martin

sneekymum

I shall submit a review.

I didn't think anyone could teach me anything about money saving.

I saved £463 in the first week of reading the book.

(Thank you)

Dumbledore55

Andy_Davies wrote:

I'd have to question the ethics of this post.

Someone posts what's presumably a genuine review of your book and you're complaining and by implication soliciting others to post good reviews.

How do you know there's a link between the review and your ranking in the bestsellers list, perhaps people buy different books over Easter, perhaps the book's had the bulk of it's initial sales and is now starting to sell less?

I think the point Martin is making is that the criticisms that have been posted on Amazon by this one reviewer are inaccurate because they don't reflect the content of his book. As long as those that have added new reviews to Amazon have read the book and are being truthful, then I've noproblem with them reviewing the book.

I bought both Martin's books, donated the first to my daughter in the hope a bit of it would rub off on her, I still find the book very useful but have been too lazy to go on Amazon to review it! A little nudge to remind us doesn't hurt.

point3

Don't worry. As a reviewer, morgan trading is ranked as 10325 :A

Lorian

I'd need a free copy of the book to review it