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BOOK REVIEWS – Amazon
UPDATE INFORMATION ON AMAZON BOOK REVIEWS
Updated March 15, 2024
For the last 48 hour, I have carefully combed through a list of book reviewers listed in Reedsy.com. And somewhere along the lines, I can’t remember where, I ran across a video presented by Kindlepreneur.com. Though this video is rather short, it gives a thorough explanation about what Amazon will and won’t accept for Book Reviews.
We have been led to think, and I have posted as such, that we cannot pay for book reviews. As explained in the video, this is “not” the case.
If you want to pay companies like Kirkus and IndieReader or other professional book reviewers for a book review, you may do so. Though these reviews “cannot” be a part of Amazon’s book reviews, you can go to the Editoral Review Section of your Sales Page on Amazon and place them there. Tweak the wording, of course. Listen for more details about this in the video.
This information is helpful, especially for those who can afford to pay for reviews.
I can’t tell you how many professional book reviewers I passed up because I didn’t think I was allowed to pay for them.
Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/RD_ZvwBGYAo?si=wtZFsPiXex68-xto
Share your thoughts.
Donna
Below is my previous post on this subject.
Book Reviews are gold nuggets to writers, and we will crawl through as many rabbit holes as it takes to get ahold of one. We need hundreds of them, but will settle for thirty, twenty, ten … just three if that’s all we can get.
So, you can imagine how disconcerting it would be to find out how hard it is to receive a review and it doesn’t get posted on Amazon.
Why, you might ask?
Let me share what I experienced a few weeks ago.
Like most writers, I crawled through several rabbit holes to convince six people to become ARC readers for my new novel, “Breathe for Me.” As you can imagine, I was disappointed when two of them dropped out, but I clearly understood that’s to be expected. People have things come up and realize they can’t devote the time needed to read.
The four remaining ARC readers stuck with me and read the book to the end—which were great reviews, by the way. After they emailed me that they were finished reading, I reminded them to go on Amazon and leave a review.
This is where the problem began.
Three of my ARC readers tried to input their reviews on Amazon, but were unsuccessful.
First, after much digging and researching, I found out (1) readers can’t review a book that’s on pre-order; (2) after my book launched on December 1st, I discovered my ARC readers who resided outside of the U.S. couldn’t leave reviews, no matter how hard they tried; (3) one ARC reader who lives in Nebraska wrote her review and saved it on Amazon, but the review didn’t show up; (4) in addition, unless you have spent $50 or more, or done recent shopping on Amazon, reviews aren’t accepted.
Why is that?
Because Amazon’s process for validating reviews involves them matching your reviewer’s name and email to a recent purchase. No purchase. No review.
Another possible reason my reviews didn’t show up is because the ARC readers did “not” purchase my book on Amazon. I gave my book to them as a “gift” through Bookfunnel in exchange for their review.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I was angry. Beyond angry. Amazon doesn’t have a clue how hard it is to convince people to read the book, then take the time to leave a review. They don’t know how much blood, sweat, and tears went into writing and finishing my book and keep it balanced with mystery and danger so my readers would have a good reading experience.
None of that matters.
I’m now sitting on three reviews I can’t get into the Amazon system because my readers have not spent money in … say, the past 30-45 days. In other words, because Amazon couldn’t trace the purchase of my book on Amazon to the person inputting the review, the review was deleted or not accepted.
This makes an exchange of a “free” book for a review not worth the headache. It’s best you have your ARC readers pay for the book, which, in truth, makes your job of convincing them to read it that much harder.
Read two of Amazon’s many rules below:
Purchase Verification —
“Amazon often requires reviewers to have a verified purchase of the product. If the system fails to recognize the purchase, the review might not appear. This measure is in place to ensure that reviews come from genuine buyers with firsthand experience of the product.”
https://www.advertisemint.com/amazon-review-not-showing-up/
Account / IP Issues
“If Amazon detects unusual activity or multiple reviews from a single IP address, it might withhold those reviews until the source’s legitimacy is confirmed. This is to prevent review manipulation and maintain the integrity of the platform.”
https://www.advertisemint.com/amazon-review-not-showing-up/
What should I do?
I don’t have a clue.
Lesson learned, I guess.
My advice to you is this: Try very hard to recruit ARC readers who are current and active customers on Amazon. If you don’t, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Amazon has a lot of rules concerning Reviews. Get acquainted with them or you could be in for a surprise.
https://emplicit.co/amazon-not-showing-customer-reviews-here-are-5-fixes-2022/
https://landingcube.com/amazon-deleting-reviews/
https://www.advertisemint.com/amazon-review-not-showing-up/
It’s information like this that will appear in my Newsletter.
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Donna B. Comeaux
THE TIME HAS ARRIVED
It’s 10:45 p.m. CST, November 30, 2023.
In exactly an hour and forty-five minutes, my new book will go on sale in almost every ebook store across the country. That’s in exactly 105 minutes. Count down. And I probably won’t sleep a wink tonight. Too excited. Too nervous. Bouncing off the walls. Worried if anyone will bother to read my book. More worried if they’ll think it’s any good. Twitches in my stomach don’t help, and I really hope there won’t be a need to spend time in the bathroom retching up my nerves.
Many of you might ask, “Why are you doing this? Why are you getting yourself so worked up?” Yeah, I know. I should be confident … should hold my head up high and walk with an arrogant swagger.
Guess you would need to know more of my story to appreciate my excitement … need to know how many days and nights I cried in sheer agony over this one important question—Should I be doing this? Am I qualified? Who do I think I am?
It took years to embrace that question, to cuddle next to it and rub noses with it, to snuggle it tight and not feel a strong urge to run. Believing in yourself takes guts. Place anyone else in front of me and I’d give them a slap on the back of the head and tell them to “Snap out of it! You can do this.” But for me and my dreams, “Keep dreaming kid. You can’t afford this. Writing is expensive. This isn’t for you. You won’t last a year in this business.”
Now, look at me.
Somewhere along the way I jumped over hurdles that got higher and higher, and if you’ve ever met me, you know I’m not very tall. So, literally crossing a hurdle is quite a feat for me. There were nights I panicked, couldn’t sleep, walked the floors, engaged in fits of rage—all because I wanted to write so bad I couldn’t stand it.
Now, look at me.
I don’t have the foggiest idea if anyone will buy my book. And I sure don’t know if they will like it or not. I can better tell you how I feel about that in a day or so.
For now, I’m rejoicing over that steep mountain I climbed—finishing the book, toughing it out to the end. My hands are scarred, my knees scraped … even my computer is dented at the corner because I almost tossed it out the window once. That’s how much I agonized. I’ve paced the floor long before the birds chirped.
There’s been days I didn’t sleep at all. The search engine on my computer has a deeply carved trail to Merriam’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, and it knows how to tap dance to Wikipedia. I’ve worn the edges of Sol Stein’s book Stein on Writing completely out. I’ve tried to memorize lines of Shakespeare; read novels by Sandra Brown, C. J. Box, and William Kent Krueger twice, just to capture the nuances of how they created their works of art. I’ve scanned Facebook, studying one user’s question after another in hopes I’d find an answer to my own questions about writing. That’s darn strategic and sounds weird to study a question for an answer, but it’s the truth about what I did.
I’ve lived off caffeine, morsels of food, dehydrated myself (not on purpose), and gone days without a bath.
Why?
My heart craved so badly to write that I gave up the necessities, even for a fraction of a moment, just so I could get one more word onto paper.
Driven.
That’s my problem.
Passionate.
That’s how much I care.
Insane.
That’s how determined I became.
Why?
Because life is short, and it’s not every day you get to live out your dream. I woke up one day and realized nothing was holding me back but me. There was absolutely nothing between me and the keyboard. No one with a pistol in their hand. No phones ringing. No children running through the house. No job to rush off to. No doorbells to answer. No class to teach. And I could have my groceries delivered anytime I wanted.
So, I became a hermit, as I’ve always been. And I stayed in the chair and wrote until my fingers ached.
I learned the rules of writing, and I’m still learning, then I broke the rules, sparingly. I used almost every software known to man to proof my work, to rid myself of as many passive voices as possible. I smoothed out every line I could find. I restructured more sentences than I can count. Then reviewed my manuscript two dozen times for the sole purpose of changing the wording to make it as purple as ever, whether the naysayers liked it or not. I paid good money for an editor, cringing because I wasn’t sure I could afford to pay her for another pass through my work.
Why do all this?
Because I enjoy writing. I love it!
Because I wanted you, my dear reader, to enjoy the read, hoping that when you’re done with my book that you would slowly exhale as that tiny grin of yours parted your lips and revealed a great big smile of satisfaction.
Thank you! All of you!
For following me on my website and putting up with my rambling … for spending time with me to listen to anything I had to say.
Thank you! All of you!
For allowing me to bore you with my joy and happiness.
It’s been quite a journey, one that I wouldn’t trade for all of Elon Musk’s money and gold. Believe me when I say this because it’s the honest truth. Money does not buy you happiness. Other than being in the body of Christ, living out your dream is the greatest achievement one can attain.
I’m happy.
Exquisitely happy.
Jumping up and down happy.
And I haven’t sold a copy of my book yet.
Isn’t that something!
Donna B. Comeaux
Author and Poet
November 30, 2023
New Novel – Breathe for Me – https://rb.gy/b7fwne
NEW NOVEL – Breathe for Me
Pre-Sale ALERT!!
Breathe for Me
Robert Jaeger and Lilly Radford are two grief-stricken individuals who are on a collision course and have no idea their divide will only get wider when an unknown killer seeks revenge. Amid the darkness, obsession, madness, cold and calculated murder, is a budding attraction that overwhelms Robert and Lilly’s sense of right and wrong. But will they have enough time to discover the unexpected beauty beyond their painful circumstances? DISCOUNT PRICE below, through Smashwords.
$6.99
Be the first to read my new novel “Breathe for Me.” You have three days, or until midnight November 30th to purchase my novel at a discounted price of $4.99, rather than $6.99.
Just click this link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/presale/1479356
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Enjoy!!
Donna B. Comeaux
My New Romantic Suspense Novel
On December 1st, I will release my new romantic suspense novel “Breathe for Me” in ebook format. The book will be downloadable onto almost any device, and it will cost $6.99. Click on the link to pre-order the book: https://rb.gy/b7fwne.
If you want to be added to my mailing list to receive the upcoming announcement, please send me your email.
I will update this page in a few weeks with additional information.
Donna