Authors are being hit by negative reviews on Goodreads before review copies are even circulated, with the review site allegedly failing to remove reviews.
Leonie Mack, who has received a mysterious rating for her latest novel Head Over Wheels (Bedford Square), said: “Just yesterday, I had a one-star rating on a book that’s not out yet, from a brand new account listed in the Russian Federation that has no other reviews than my one-star rating.
Goodreads reviews have long been associated with review bombing, for example in 2021 Time revealed how some authors were [allegedly victims of extortion], facing demands to pay scammers to avoid bad reviews on the website.
God dammit. Goodreads enshittification.