Bagged and Tagged
The biggest fake review scams we discovered in our research also are some of the first we came across. The impetus for this blog in fact was a book by self-published Carolyn Arnold called Ties That Bind. The book was by far the worst book one of our member bloggers had ever read but was being praised to the heavens by reviewers on Amazon. Not just in a few reviews either, but in so many reviews it boggled the mind. In fact, all of Carolyn Arnold’s books were being similarly praised, though upon reading they were all terrible.
What we were able to determine with extensive sleuthing is that reviews largely were written by author friends of Carolyn Arnold. Friends that Carolyn Arnold frequently talked to on social media. Carolyn Arnold was so brazen about her unethical tactics she openly discussed them on social media. She even gave pointers to authors who want to commit similar acts.
We tracked the activities of Carolyn Arnold for some time and it led us to a large group of authors who were each others fans and reviewers. Tracking Carolyn Arnold led us to closed groups on various sites where Arnold and others traded tactics and made plans, such as for writing reviews of each others books on Amazon, rating each other on Goodreads, becoming each others fans on Goodreads, voting up favorable reviews, voting down or reporting unfavorable reviews.
Members also would get their friends and family members to review other members books. It’s how many of the members got hundreds of reviews.
Authors who reviewed Carol Arnold’s books and were members of these groups
Collette Scott
Betty Dravis
Richard Hale
Joanna Lee Doster
D A Graystone
Ashley Fontainne
Sandy Wolters
Zach Fortier
Stacy Eaton
Carmen DeSousa
Jennifer Chase
Todd Bush
Kenneth Hoss
Ann Swann
J A Hunsinger
Karen DeLabar
Kirkus MacGowan
Linda Hawley
All these authors have dozens or hundreds of fake reviews too and will be discussed in future posts.
Based on social media posts we were able to identify friends that Carolyn Arnold engaged with frequently, who also wrote reviews and acted as her fan base
Richard Goodship
Sherry Buikema
Sheilagh Lee
Andrew Butters
D L Atkinson
April Plummer
Karen Vaughan
Brooke Frederick
Patricia Robinson
Glenda Bixler
Debbie Grimes
Tina Samuels
Robyn Ryan
Vicki Hancock
L Smith
Joe Wilcox
Katie Jennings
Michael Stedman
Darlene Langley
Based on our findings and tracking of Carolyn Arnold’s activities, we found the following on Amazon
124 of 143 reviews of Ties That Bind were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
61 of 68 reviews of Eleven were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
31 or 38 reviews of Justified were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
28 of 30 reviews of Sacrifice were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
29 of 32 reviews of Assassination of a Dignitary were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
5 of 5 reviews of Hart’s Choice were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
10 of 10 reviews of Rings of a Tree were fake, written by the authors friends, including the authors and friends listed above
We’ll have more on Carolyn Arnold, these authors, and fake reviews in upcoming articles.
Please don’t confuse the legitimate children’s author, Carolyn Arnold, with the self-published Carolyn Arnold. The children’s author Carolyn Arnold has written many successful books, over 100 in fact. The self-published Carolyn Arnold is the subject of this blog.