New: Amazon Review Rule Favors Regular Buyers

This is something I just read today via Pletcha PJ Webb on Facebook’s DARK FANTASY BOOKS, “Amazon Expects Readers To Pay If They Want To Leave Book Reviews,” by Neal F. Litherland on his THE LITERARY MERCENARY blog.  It’s not quite as outrageous as the title might imply — to try to prevent mass reviews by bots, etc., rather than genuine readers, the rule apparently is that for a book review to be posted, the reviewer must have spent at least $50 on Amazon within the last year.  This also may not be as hard as it sounds since it’s not confined to just book purchases, but anything that is sold through Amazon from automotive supplies to toys and games (or in my case, [image error]e.g., DVDs as well as books), so I’d probably have met that level and more without even thinking.  But it is a bother and one “remedy” Litherland suggests is to send reviews to Goodreads which doesn’t have that restriction.  To see the blog for yourself, press here or, for a possibly more comprehensive view including links to Amazon guidelines, see Derek Haines, “Policy Change On Amazon Book Reviews Updated With $50 Minimum,” on JUSTPUBLISHINGADVICE.COM by pressing here.

I might suggest, even better yet, to send reviews to both Amazon and Goodreads (the worst that Amazon could do is just not print it) and maybe throw in B and N or some other favorite seller as well as your own blog.  Rules or not, reviews help authors you follow a lot (even less than 5-star reviews which, at worst, still keep us honest), including me.