It’s widely accepted in the indie publishing world (and beyond) that reviewers on the social reading site Goodreads are more discerning / harsh than their counterparts on Amazon.com. Some people have suggested that Goodreads users are better read, and therefore choosier about their books. Others have pointed to unscrupulous review practices that hit Amazon harder than other sites. I’d like to point to a third contributor to Amazon’s optimistic reviews: User experience design. Specifically, the UX design at Amazon encourages better reviews from all of its users.
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