Lewis's publisher W. W. Norton & Company chose not to sell the book on the Kindle in order to boost hardcover sales. As a result, a slew of steamed up Kindle owners are lowballing the book's rating:
Should Lewis be penalized for the putative sins of his publisher? No, says blogger Barry Ritholtz:
As an author, you have precisely ZERO control over these dates.
Considering the 1 star ratings/complaints about the Kindle edition were posted BEFORE THE BOOK was even released, they are utterly absurd. Amazon needs to step up and delete these non-reviews of books. At the very least, they should not count in the book’s star ratings. (And as commentors have suggested, they should require a purchase prior to any reviews).
That’s the equivalent of giving a movie a bad review because the popcorn concession in the lobby was out of butter.
These pro-kindle, anti-author reviews are completely unfair to the writer. A review is supposed to be about the book, not the publishers format release schedule.
If Amazon wants to be a fair vendor of books, they need to delete these idiotic, pro-kindle, fan boy reviews.
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John Hudson
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