<p>yeah ok after looking through the posts, he’s definitely promoting his own book, the 2 accounts he’s using, bluebook3219 and hyeran, both joined on july 1st, and have 3 and 9 posts respectively. each post promotes james hong’s book shamelessly…</p>
<p>when authors publish, its common that they’ll ask family, friends, and in this case, past students to review the book for them. obviously they’re not going to post a bad review.</p>
<p>now about those two cc users? REALLL SKETCHHH</p>
<p>There’s a third account: zxcvwet. Between the three accounts, they have a total of 22 posts, most of which promote his book or at the very least mention it. I agree that this book may have some useful information but the way he’s promoting it seems sketchy.</p>
<p>@marvin100: So you’re saying you know his methods rather than read the book? How did you know that? <em>Sorry if it sounds rude, I REALLY don’t mean to. I’m just asking =P I don’t trust newly registered people’s praises of this book so I’m asking you =P</em> And you mean the methods are mostly useful for those who have low scores trying to get higher ones rather than for those who have already got pretty decent scores trying to get 800?</p>
<p>I’ve been a teacher in Seoul for ten years and have taught hundreds of kids who also took classes with James. And yes, I think his methods are more useful for people starting in the 400s or 500s than people with 600+. Just my opinion, though, so don’t take it as gospel.</p>
<p>Just ignore James and his book. His book was published through CreateSpace, which is a self-publishing resource. He’s just trying to stir up publicity for his book, which he couldn’t get published through one of the major publishers (e.g. Simon and Schuster). </p>
<p>Other authors to watch out for are Erica L. Meltzer who authored the The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and Mike McClenathan who authored PWN The SAT. </p>
<p>If you notice, most of the Amazon reviews for any of the aforementioned books are not by verified purchasers. That means the people either brought the book from another outlet besides Amazon (e.g. Barnes and Noble, but unlikely) or just plain made up the review (likely).</p>
<p>–Update–</p>
<p>I just checked the reviews on Amazon for PWN the SAT and NONE were authored by verified purchasers. Translation: most, if not all, were made up. </p>
<p>Now I just know that Mike is going to shoot me another vociferous, caustic, and vehement PM on CC asking me to redact my comment. Here we go again Mike :). Come at me.</p>
<p>Look, I don’t know Mr. Hong and I can’t speak to the quality of his book, so I’m loathe to chime in on this thread. However, since the talented Mr. IceQube has brought me (and Erica, who is not me) into this, I don’t have much of a choice. </p>
<p>Amazon Verified Purchase reviews are denoted by a little orange blurb right below a reviewer’s name. It says “Amazon Verified Purchase.” 4 out of the 12 reviews of my book are from verified purchasers (many of whom, incidentally, are other tutors). That’s not 100%, but it’s not “NONE.” I’d think someone who scored as high as you did, IceQube, would be able to count. But maybe you’re more interested in slinging mud from a position of perceived authority than you are in honesty or accuracy. If so, you’ve got a future in politics. </p>
<p>My book has some unverified reviews because I give a ton of books away, and because I had the book in “beta” release before its official release. I don’t fake reviews, and I never will.</p>
<p>As a fellow (and even competing!) author, I would like to make two additional points supporting Pwn and Erica:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>While you do see self-promotion here at CC , you do not see that kind of thing with these two authors. They do not come on to promote themselves and they don’t have any mysterious new-member friends (or alter-egos) who have joined or been created only to talk up some book or website. So in that way, referencing them in this thread is unfair. </p></li>
<li><p>Lots of books start out at Amazon with friendly reviews. But look deeper and look at what people say after the initial honeymoon has passed. You can tell when the reviews are all written by the same guy. Also, it is a particular compliment when other tutors like your material. They have more experience than a student who only has to get through this ordeal one time!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In any case, for these two athors, you don’t have to rely on reviews: they both have extensive (and FREE) blogs where you can browse around and decide for yourself whether they know what they are talking about. After visiting Erica’s blog, I bought her book for my kids. And while I like Pwn’s blog, I don’t spend time there because I’m giving my kids my own book instead. :)</p>
<p>It was my mistake that I did not scroll down far enough to see the first “verified” review. You’re right Mike; I didn’t count correctly, and I can’t either. But what’s up with the ad hominems? I understand that your primary goal is to move your books, but diplomatic entreaties filled with snide jeers such as the outburst two posts above does make one wonder whether your book is worthy of merit, able to stand robustly by itself, or anemic, requiring much protection from any slights, perceived or otherwise. </p>
<p>Anyway, my meta-analysis isn’t useful. I can’t even formulate the correct ratio of verified to unverified reviewers. I guess I should stop analyzing other peoples’ reviews and start reviewing your book myself, Mike - from my pedestal of authority ;).</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t think it’s helpful to drag other people into this–the thread in question is about astroturfing and shady sock puppet marketing, and I don’t think that has a ton to do with these other folks.</p>
<p>(that said, Mike, you should know the difference between “loathe” and “loath” )</p>
<p>Aww… This is surprising to hear from IceQube because I personally have much respect for the two authors that he has mentioned. I love both of their blogs as they provide valuable SAT resources. Anyways, I’m just leaving a comment for the two authors because I don’t want CC to be turned away from buying their books.</p>
<p>For the original poster, I agree that the book looks very shady. I’d advise that you take the positive review with a grain of salt. Negative reviews tend to be more accurate.</p>
)</p>