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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/
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Donna B. Comeaux
Writing Tips – Clear Writing
Rid Your Writing of Redundant Words
No. 1
Writing Tips will not be filled with a lot of fluff about writing. Instead, I will offer you precise ways to better your writing. These tips are taken from Style – Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams(1). In other words, these are not my ideas. I will be learning these tips with you. Matter of fact, writing this blog will help me remember them. With that said, here goes.
If you’re anything like me, you have a tendency to create too many long sentences that are filled with needless words and pairing of words that mean the same thing.
To write clearly, you must do the following:
1. Delete words that mean little or nothing(1);
2. Delete words that repeat the meaning of other words;
3. Delete words implied by other words;
4. Replace a phrase with a word;
5. Change negatives to affirmatives; and
6. Delete every that, of, for, and, but, and the that won’t change the meaning of the sentence.
Below are examples of redundant sentences and a better way of drafting them.
• Despite the fact that the data were checked, errors occurred.
Even though the data were checked, errors occurred.
• There is a need for more careful inspection of all welds.
You must inspect all welds more carefully.
To implement this method in your writing, choose a wordy sentence you have written. Cut and paste it on a blank sheet of paper so you are free to play around with it without the fear of ruining your manuscript. Look for words that mean the same thing; look for phrases that can be replaced with one word.
Writing clear and concise gets rid of all the fluff newbies are guilty of creating. It also makes for a faster read, and a less boring one.
I hope these tips work for you. I will post “my personal blunders” in a post with the same title, but numbered 1.1. Keep watch for it.
Happy Writing!
Donna B. Comeaux
Freelance Writer, Author, Poet
[1] Style – Lessons in Clarity and Grace – Ninth Edition by Joseph M. Williams, Pearson Education, Inc., 2007 (p.112).
