2 Books, 2 Authors, 1 Put-Off Moment

Much as I love getting my daily dose of education from the ever-generous Internet, nothing beats the excitement of picking up books to take home and lap up over cups of tea. Amongst other reads, I try to get my hands on as many books on customer engagement and social media as possible. Recently I found authors of two such books on Twitter, so I excitedly hit @author1 and @author2, and mentioned how much I enjoyed reading the book.

Rohit Bhargava, the author of Personality Not Included (a brilliant read btw) sent me an amiable note:

The other author,who’s name I’d rather not disclose, on the other hand asked me for a 5-star review on Amazon!

That’s great to hear. Would always love to get more 5-star reviews on Amazon if have the time. Thanks again!

Eeow. Now, first of all, why would I do that if I didn’t buy the book from Amazon? (I picked it up from the local bookstore). Second of all, from what I understand, your book did well – it had an endorsement on the cover by Google’s CEO himself, 4.5 stars on Amazon. Why, I ask, did you have to lose that one touch-point with me asking for a review? Coming from someone who just wrote 220 pages on the importance of engagement (which listed examples on how to open meaningful interactions with potentials!) I was truly stumped.

I haven’t met either author. To me they both started out as faceless individuals. Each time they said something on social media (to me or someone else) I used that to construct an image of them. This is how perceptions are created. This is not an easy responsibility to shoulder. Because the one I will eventually give a 5-star rating to, might not be the one who asked…

So that’s my rant. I’m still unclear whether its reasonable or not though. What do you think?

No related posts.