Book publishers create phony best-seller lists
By Dong Zhen |
March 20, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AMAZON China said yesterday that it has taken measures to curb the practice of publishing houses that manipulate results of bestseller lists.
The top-selling lists are supposed to offer useful tips to readers. But industry insiders said the credibility of such rankings are now in question due to manipulations. And the trend is spreading.
A common practice is for publishing houses to purchase a massive number of their own books so they quickly shoot up the popularity list. Some also hire teams to create positive reviews by pretending to be ordinary readers.
"Manipulating the bestseller lists by buying off their own books is an open secret practice," an insider from a major Chinese state-owned publishing house said yesterday. "Many private publishing houses seem willing to throw major investments into manipulating the bestseller lists and see it as a routine promotion method."
Amazon China officials said they had already launched technical measures to stop such practice, including suspending the account of any customer caught buying a massive number of copies of the same book.
"The bestseller lists on Amazon China are all automatically generated by simultaneous sales figures," an Amazon China official told Shanghai Daily yesterday. "Countermeasures to curb promotional book purchases are already in function as we endeavor to protect the credibility of our top-seller lists."
Already, some determined publishers are responding by asking their staff to create thousands of accounts to avoid the systematic supervision.
The top-selling lists are supposed to offer useful tips to readers. But industry insiders said the credibility of such rankings are now in question due to manipulations. And the trend is spreading.
A common practice is for publishing houses to purchase a massive number of their own books so they quickly shoot up the popularity list. Some also hire teams to create positive reviews by pretending to be ordinary readers.
"Manipulating the bestseller lists by buying off their own books is an open secret practice," an insider from a major Chinese state-owned publishing house said yesterday. "Many private publishing houses seem willing to throw major investments into manipulating the bestseller lists and see it as a routine promotion method."
Amazon China officials said they had already launched technical measures to stop such practice, including suspending the account of any customer caught buying a massive number of copies of the same book.
"The bestseller lists on Amazon China are all automatically generated by simultaneous sales figures," an Amazon China official told Shanghai Daily yesterday. "Countermeasures to curb promotional book purchases are already in function as we endeavor to protect the credibility of our top-seller lists."
Already, some determined publishers are responding by asking their staff to create thousands of accounts to avoid the systematic supervision.
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