Readers Unable to Review My Book On Amazon

[Michele]

Help. I've had people tell me they love my book but can't leave a review, due to them not having spent enough on Amazon.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there an alternate way for them to leave a review?

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

I've heard mentions of some entry barrier being added in the form of some amount of money spent (I've heard $20 but no idea). The only "solution" I can think of now is to come back to write the review once they passed said barrier.

[Michele]

Tomas, thank you. I will suggest that idea. I think the minimum amount is $50. Shoot. I had no idea until I was told this today.

I appreciate the quick response. Again, thanks.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

If these people who are telling you they love your book are friends, you don't want them reviewing your book anyway.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

A.A. wrote: "Hi Michele,

Yes, the minimum is $50 and depending on how recently they became an Amazon client, they may need to buy the book on Amazon also.

Good luck with your book!"

Yep. Or if you're in KDPSelect and they have KindleUnlimited, they can read it and leave a review.

[Michele]

A.A. wrote: "Hi Michele,

Yes, the minimum is $50 and depending on how recently they became an Amazon client, they may need to buy the book on Amazon also.

Good luck with your book!"

Thank you.

[Michele]

Dwayne wrote: "If these people who are telling you they love your book are friends, you don't want them reviewing your book anyway."

I'm not asking these people. They're writing to me to tell me how much they love it and quoting passages. Many of these people I do not know. They discovered me online.

[Martin]

There was a time when the $50 in spending requirement was not there. Authors were buying 5 Star reviews by the hundreds from Chinese review factories. Now they are making sure all reviewers are real people by this min spending requirement.

[Michele]

That makes sense. Thanks.

[Michele]

One more question, please. I have only had my print book on Amazon for a week and a half and Amazon discounted my book from $14.99 to $14.24.

Does anyone know what that's about? I guess I missed some small print in my excitement. I'm not doing KDP Unlimited at the moment.

Thank you all for your previous help.

[Bruno]

Not TOO sure but I read somewhere that Amazon can discount our books ad lib. You should still receive royalties on the original amount though.

[Michele]

Bruno, thanks. I'm learning a lot about this part. If they're giving me the same royalties, that's great. That's what I'm hoping.


Bruno wrote: "Not TOO sure but I read somewhere that Amazon can discount our books ad lib. You should still receive royalties on the original amount though."

[Whitney]

From what I was told by a friend whose account hadn't been used in a while due to internet issues, they restricted it based on activity as well. Seems to be a lot getting in the way of reviews there. An acquaintance try to review and have to work at it for half an hour before they could get it up as anonymous. Amazon wouldn't even let them post under their profile which was active and in decent standing

[Michele]

Whitney,

Interesting. Thanks.

[Michele]

A.A. wrote: "Amazon will remove any reviews posted by friends and family. So, if you friend someone on FB or GR it's likely that they will not be able to post a review or even have their reviews removed. It hap..."

Thanks.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

A.A. wrote: "What I suggest is not to worry about it. Promote your book and allow readers to buy and post reviews organically. "

Agreed. Organic reviews are, by far, the most satisfying.

[Michele]

They are organic--readers who've found me online and bought my book. Not friends or family. I've had these readers send me messages about not being able to comment.

Yes, the lovely comments they send me are satisfying. But it would be great to have new readers read their reviews. Hence my frustration.

Never said they weren't organic.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Okay, I believe they are organic. I don't think anyone said they weren't.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Hey Michele? I took a look. Your book has only been out a couple of weeks and you already have four glowing reviews on Amazon. This is better than most of us see in a much, much longer time period. Your numbers look good as if your book has been selling well. More reviews will come. Those people sending you lovely messages can always come back and review later after they've spent a little more money. For now, relax and enjoy the ride. You're doing better than most of us did our first couple of weeks.

[L.D.]

There are other places they can leave their reviews in the meantime. Goodreads is an ideal site! There's also Librarything, twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. They can virtually praise you everywhere until they reach their threshold! I've gone back and added reviews once I spent enough. It's never too late to leave a review.

[Michele]

All true. Thank you.

[Alyson]

I just got this message on a book that I was going to review this morning. I cleared out of my browser and it went right in.

[Kristopher]

I did not know there was a minimum before a person could post a review. I just thought amazon didn’t want people you knew or were friends with on social media making reviews on your books.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Yeah, they started doing that maybe a year or two years ago.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

I'd speculate the reason was to limit the use of freshly-created bot accounts for selling reviews. A small group of relatives is probably not as large problem as the potential of thousands of bots reposting whatever someone would pay them for.

[D.C.]

I didnt know any of this. I published feb 19, 2019. My first review was posted very quickly, 5 starts and about 2 pages, I almost cried it was so good. Second was 5-star a day later. Now I have three and all are 5-star, I have been pulling my hair out figuring out how to get things moving. I feel better about it now but I still want to SELL BOOKS!. Best of luck to all! and thanks for making me feel better.

[Justin]

So I have a half dozen people from my e-mail list whom will be receiving my book. They only connect with me through there, can they leave reviews of my book on Amazon?

[Bruno]

Justin, they probably can so long as they qualify for the 50$ a year spend threshold.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Catherine wrote: "Hi there,
Am offering my book up for reviews to a select group of reviewers."
1) wrong section and thus off-topic
2) no link rule broken twice
3) self-promotion
post removed.

[Roxanna]

Dwayne wrote: "If these people who are telling you they love your book are friends, you don't want them reviewing your book anyway."

Why not? I am curious.

[Roxanna]

A.A. wrote: "Amazon will remove any reviews posted by friends and family. So, if you friend someone on FB or GR it's likely that they will not be able to post a review or even have their reviews removed. It hap..."

How would they know if they are your friends and family?

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Roxanna wrote: "Why not? I am curious."

You want reviews from people who read the genre. Target the right audience. Especially in the first reads and reviews, because they determine who the next readers will be. The first purchases and reviews are crucial especially for Amazon's recommendation algorithms. If you get the first from friends who read something different normally, you'll screw up those recommendations, possibly forever.

Always try to get reviews from the right target group first and foremost. Some people learned it the hard way.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Roxanna wrote: "Why not? I am curious. "

It's nearly always obvious when you're browsing reviews and most of the reviews of someone's book came from friends or relatives. The reviews are always five stars with a few words like, "This is the best book ever" or "I can't wait to read the next in this series" or something along those lines. Often times you'll see authors with an uncommon name and two or three reviews by people with the same last name.

Many readers avoid books when they can tell the reviews are stuffed with reviews from friends and family. They're only interested in genuine reviews. A stranger will give you an honest review. You're great aunt Bessie will write a review saying, "I could not put this book down." She's your great aunt. She loves you. Of course she loves your book. Readers don't care about that. They only want to know what other readers really think about your book.

Let your great aunt tell you how marvelous your book is over a cup of coffee and leave the reviews to readers who don't know you.

[Leah]

Dwayne, that’s something that gets under my skin. When authors with poorly written books have a million reviews from obvious friends and family. It makes them feel they’re the greatest authors and their books are fantastic, and they start to believe it. Then someone organic tells them the truth (even kindly and softly), and the author thinks they’re crazy and breaks down. The author may have great potential to be a great author who is capable of a great book, but they let bias readers sway them into believing that they already are.

[Leah]

Michele, I’ve had the same happen to me. People will reach out about how much they love the book but not review. Not every reader reviews. If they did, I’d have hundreds more, which would be nice, of course lol. From what I learned, for every 100 books purchased, only 1 to 5 reviews will come.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Leah wrote: "Dwayne, that’s something that gets under my skin. When authors with poorly written books have a million reviews from obvious friends and family. It makes them feel they’re the greatest authors and ..."

I sort of agree with you, but I'd put it differently. Even writers who study the craft and put a lot of hard work into a book can and will get negative reviews. Often times a negative review indicates this book isn't to the liking of this one particular reader. That's why you'll see even highly respected and famous authors getting a lot of negative reviews. I spend a lot of time reading classics. I love Twain, Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and so on. But, their books do not appeal to everyone.

Authors need to try to understand that reviews are not there for us and they are nothing but an opinion. So, if someone leaves you a negative review, let it go. Don't let it make you crazy. And attempting to pad your reviews with positive reviews from your friends and relatives does nothing but hurt you and your reputation.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Dwayne wrote: "Authors need to try to understand that reviews are not there for us and they are nothing but an opinion."

I hope you don't mind that I am repeatedly following your thoughts.

Anyway, what I'd like to add is that a well-written and constructive bad review can help filter out the bad readers - those who wouldn't enjoy your book anyway. Now, let's take an example, someone writes a medieval-theme book with a great story but it also involves detailed torture. Someone is completely disgusted by the detail (no matter how realistic it is) because they just can't stomach it. If they point it out in the reason, it can prevent other potential readers from being disgusted by it and thus having more negative reviews.

Which is why I see reviews as something for other readers because it helps them to see if they would (not) like the book. If a bad review does exactly that, it has its value.

Of course, unconstructive bad reviews suck and we can do nothing else but to deal with them.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

No, I don't mind. And that's a great point, Tomas. Most of my work would be R rated and contain things that might bother some readers, be it harsh language, a mass murder, a rape, what have you. Not only can a negative review warn some readers that they might not like the "objectionable material", it could also help draw in readers who like books that have a bit of grit to them.

[Phillip]

Dwayne wrote: "Authors need to try to understand that reviews are not there for us and they are nothing but an opinion. So, if someone leaves you a negative review, let it go. Don't let it make you crazy. And attempting to pad your reviews with positive reviews from your friends and relatives does nothing but hurt you and your reputation. "

I think every indie author goes through a phase where we believe in reviews being the golden ticket to success. The best perspective I can think of to get people to let go of this absolute faith in reviews is this:

Think of any famous person (especially politicians) and what happens when they ANNOUNCE a new book. Before anyone has read a single word, there are thousands of reviews. Supporters give it five stars and glowing reviews. Haters call the book the worst thing since garbage was mixed with disease. Nobody read the book, but a 3.0 rating stares at you. If you put faith in reviews, this unreleased book is just "meh."

We may not be famous to the level in the example above, but it happens to all books. Family and friends give support through amazing reviews, and the trolls smack the rating down with one stars (true, there are those who don't like the book, but just as family reviews are easy to spot, reviews from people who only give one or two stars to all the books they review are a telltale sign as well.). As long as YOU love YOUR book, it's good. As Dwayne and others have said, "the rest are only opinions."

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Well, my family doesn't know yet (apart from my sister) that I am writing. And they can't speak English (thus can't read the book when it's done) so I am not at risk of having false good reviews. Nevertheless, for the reasons you stated and the skewed perceptions, I'd probably ask my friends to not rate/review the book right away.

And, as Phillip said, there's the risk of reviews being "weaponized", especially in case of knows authors. Some of the long-in-waiting books don't have a publication date yet but they already have reviews - 5* from those hyped for the sequel and 1* from those angry with the waiting time. That might actually happen to us if we keep our readers waiting too long for a promised sequel.

[Leah]

Yep, I’ve come to the same conclusion that many of you have. Reviewers may rate your book poorly because they didn’t like it (it’s a personal matter) not because it’s a badly written book. And the opposite can happen, as I’d mentioned in my comment. Reviews can also help other readers to know if the material in the book is something they’d be interested in or disgusted by lol.

[Roxanna]

Tomas wrote: "Roxanna wrote: "Why not? I am curious."

You want reviews from people who read the genre. Target the right audience. Especially in the first reads and reviews, because they determine who the next r..."

Hi Tomas,

That makes sense. Thanks for the answer.

[Roxanna]

Dwayne wrote: "Roxanna wrote: "Why not? I am curious. "

It's nearly always obvious when you're browsing reviews and most of the reviews of someone's book came from friends or relatives. The reviews are always fi..."

Hi Dwayne,

Thanks for the information, I can see how friends and family's reviews might turn readers away.
Good to know for a newbie like me. Fortunately, my friends and family don't do reviews, so I will have to wait. :-)

[[deleted user]]

Leah wrote: "Michele, I’ve had the same happen to me. People will reach out about how much they love the book but not review. Not every reader reviews. If they did, I’d have hundreds more, which would be nice, ..."

First hand experience that Leah's speaks the hard truth. There were over 3.5k copies of my eBook downloaded during a promotion a few months ago, and I have less than a dozen reviews...

As for friends and family leaving reviews, I think GR and Amazon have a way of tracking them if you sign in with Facebook etc. So, for example, if I used my Facebook account to sign in on GR, and my sister does a review here, they can take it down. Same on Amazon. Not sure of the details, but Kindleprenuer wrote a great article (and video) on the topic. I don't have Facebook, or friends, or a sister. So I'm good lol...

As for negative reviews, you have to remember that people are buying your book. The same people who fight on Facebook and comment on every post ever made on Instagram. They can, and will, say negative things about your book. Even if it's irrelevant. One of my 1 star reviews says "I didn't read this book, I forget why."

Indie publishing is not for the faint of heart lol! We're all learning and thankfully have places like this to lick our wounds and get ready for the next battle.

Thanks all!!

[Leah]

True that, Beth!

[Eileen]

Beth wrote: "Leah wrote: "Michele, I’ve had the same happen to me. People will reach out about how much they love the book but not review. Not every reader reviews. If they did, I’d have hundreds more, which wo..."

Also, I think that if you ever send someone (friend or family member) something from Amazon, somehow Amazon will connect it with your book if they review it. That review will be deleted.

[Carol]

I've had the same thing happen. Not sure, but I think the barrier is void if they actually buy the book.

[Christopher]

This discussion is upsetting. My debut novel has been out a week. I sent an announcement to my mailing list. A number of recipients have emailed that they’re reading the book. I don’t know who will review it, but I think it is unreasonable for anyone (Goodreads or Amazon) to suggest that I can stop someone from reviewing the book. What do you think?

[J.M.K.]

We are running campaign to lower the power of haters. Amazon has the helpful button count but no similar count of report abuse clicks. This is one of the AI solutions, which cause imbalances for many years. Author's review should be allowed and authors and others should be able to comment if a review is abusive or totally out of context. So far we find Goodreads doing a better job than Amazon, though, both have the same owners. We research and expose artificial intelligence imbalances.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

J.M.K. wrote: "Author's review should be allowed and authors and others should be able to comment if a review is abusive or totally out of context."

If authors were given the power to determine what reviews are abusive, I'm guessing it would lead to some authors shouting "abuse" every time they had a negative review. And if a reviewer misses the context of the book, is that their fault or the fault of the author? Best that authors stick to writing and let Amazon police their own web site.