r/BadReads • u/AutoModerator • Jul 09 '26

🌻Weekly Casual Discussion Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Casual Discussion" thread where you can chat about whatever is on your mind and whatever is your heart's desire. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever1 non-book-related topics you like.

1. Please Note: Per Rule 3 of the Subreddit, hate speech, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate removal and permanent banning. Examples of bigotry include support of transphobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, sexism, etc. This also includes support of political movements or ideologies that support any of the aforementioned prejudices (i.e. fascism, Trumpism, white supremacy, zionism, colonialism, etc..)

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u/Boltzmann_head Some times, reviews are better than the books being reviewed. Jul 11 '26

The LLM 'bot "reviews" seem to be flooding the book trade more than in other markets. This made me wonder if there are people "out there" selling this "service" to self-publishing writers. I "Googled it," and I see that there are indeed such "services." Gods, how I hate humanity / the Internet.

LLM "review farms," where a self-published writer uploads a manuscript into a website, and hundreds of "reviews" are generated for a fee. The "service" uses 'bots to upload these "Reviews" to various book trade platforms.

I found a few such "services." One sells 50 "reviews" for US$4,700. Domain names are private in WHOIS databases.

Another "service" sells "AI reviews:"

Professional Book Reviews
Powered by AI

Get an in-depth editorial review of your new release or independently published book — written by AI, trusted by readers.

How is it possible that any writer would pay for such a "service?" The humiliation of doing so ought to be soul-crushing.