Anyone who has ever published a book and been dismayed by an anonymous review online will have cheered inwardly at the story of David Wilson. Professor Wilson is a criminologist and historian who has published several books. Each of his books has received a scathing one-star review on Amazon from a pseudonymous critic calling himself ‘Junius’. The latest was posted, he says, within a few hours of his new book being published: ‘abysmal… avoid… low quality… poor research… would disgrace an undergraduate dissertation’.
Such reviews aren’t just words: they can cause material harm to books in Amazon’s ranking system. Most authors will have experienced something like this (I’ve got off pretty lightly so far, though I cherish the anonymous critic who gave me one star with the comment: ‘Overpowering new car smell. Book probably ok.’), rolled their eyes and got on with it. But Prof Wilson had had enough. Combing through Junius’s other reviews, he deduced that this was likely someone who had himself published in certain historical areas of interest: Dick Turpin, Jacobinism and true crime or murder stories.
Anonymity in book reviewing poisons the well
Finding such an author – who was, like Junius, Middlesex-based – Prof Wilson took a flyer and cold-called him.
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