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Amazon reviews being rejected
Sorry. Has not happened to anyone, yet, posting reviews on my fiction novel.Tom Lyons
I have had reviews rejected. On both occasions the reviews contained prohibited words. If I remember correctly, one was 'fake'. The other was 'shit', which reviewers are not supposed to use to describe a book. In fact I had not done that, but I had quoted some dialogue from the book which contained the offending word.The books in question were novels, though, not a non-fiction book of the type your friends were reviewing.
Amazon will sometimes reject reviews if they believe the relationship between reader and reviewer is too close (familial, members of the same writing circle, etc.). This may be what happened in this case. Exactly what makes Amazon decide that a review does not meet their guidelines can be a little mysterious.
Reviews will be rejected if amazon thinks the reviewer has a financial or other interest either in the book or in the author, e.g. family and friends, competitors, or paid for reviews, which I'm not suggesting these are.For example the review you have on goodreads states the reviewer is part of your 'team' this would be considered a biased review by amazon and would be removed.
D.C. wrote: "Amazon will sometimes reject reviews if they believe the relationship between reader and reviewer is too close (familial, members of the same writing circle, etc.). This may be what happened in thi..."I also took a look at your title, which appears to be a guide to do something that is perfectly legal in the country in question, but might be of questionable legality for citizens of certain countries. This may make Amazon twitchier than normal.
I have had this happen also. I spoke with Amazon and was told that family members are not allowed to post reviews. I thought we were encouraged to get family and friends to purchase, read and review our books. I was wrong is what the rep told me. So, I asked what about people who may have the same last name as you, are they not allowed to leave reviews. The rep said Amazon knows who is related and who isn't. So I'm really happy the family enjoyed the book since the review was declined. She was upset because she wanted to post her opinion.
I've edited books for someone who ended up reading my books and loving them. She tried to review them, but can't. Apparently Amazon thinks that all I charge for editing is a good review. lol
I don't see how she could possibly have a financial interest in my book selling or not. Sometimes, they don't make any sense. One might assume I'm the one with a stake in her sales - and yet, they don't prevent me from reviewing her books.
I'm glad they're trying to keep the review system honest, but they could engage a brain or two when coming up with policies, and they could inform people (in other situations) of why their review was rejected, rather than referring people to a list of possible reasons.
But... their playground, their rules.
Of course they don't actually know who is related to you or not, unless the review comes from the same IP address as the author account. Or you write 'didnt my son/daughter/sister etc do a brilliant job.'
Brigitta wrote: "I have had this happen also. I spoke with Amazon and was told that family members are not allowed to post reviews. I thought we were encouraged to get family and friends to purchase, read and revie..."This is horrible news for people who have a common last name.
Thanks so much for all the help, very helpful and it definitely explains why one of the reviews was rejected (family) although this is a surprise to me too. (It's not mentioned in the submission guidelines but it IS mentioned in the FAQ, which I hadn't actually read before.)Oddly enough the review from my team member (that's up on Goodreads) is also up on Amazon and they don't seem to mind that one, so far.
I live on a small island (not Cayman, despite the subject of the book), I wonder if they'll assume that we're all related here or that the whole island has a financial interest in the book!
Gordon, if you send me a copy of your book I will
Review it and I encourage the Goodreads community to do the same. DM me on my facebook page and attach your book.
It has never happened to me or anyone I know until you mentioned it today, however, I do know if you don't buy the book, you can't review it or it is rejected.
Not true, Pattimari.I often get review copies direct from authors, I have reviewed them both on amazon.com and .uk in fact the review group I run here on goodreads depends on that ability.
You can review a book that you have not bought. I have reviewed many books that I did not purchase directly from Amazon. At the end of the reviews is a link that says write a customer review. You are able to leave your view there if you have not purchased the book. Also Amazon will not let a customer leave a review if they have never bought a book from Amazon. The reviews that I leave on Amazon are the ones I also place on my review blog. Check it out http://brigittamoon.blogspot.com/
Brigitta
Brigitta
I stand to be corrected~ Thanks for letting me know. I thought you had to buy the book.I am having a Nov 12th Book Swap where the books have to be lower to 99cents that one, if anyone is interested, email pattimari@hotmail.com
I've recently lowered Off the Grid (Book 1 of The Jamie Keller Mystery Series), to.99 cents. I'd be interested.
To be honest, I begged my family members NOT to write a review on Amazon.As a reader I would always be suspicious if a not so well-known author has ratings from readers with the same last name.
In the old days, when East Germany still existed,a party of tourists from Wales wwas stopped at the border.
The guards could bot believe that 19 passengers were called Williams and 17 were called Jones. They couldn't believe it because they knew nothing about Wales.
In some parts of the world, many people share the same surname. Even in the country of England many people share the surname Smith.
I was in Berlin as the wall went down. And I was in Wales this year. What makes me an expert in this case :DJust kidding. Personally: My Last Name is not very common. My exact Name (First and Last) just exists twice in germany. But I think Amazon also differs between "Smith" and "Winterbottom" on this issue ;)
Where's a 'like' button when you need one? :D
To the point of having to purchase the book: Amazon does recognize some reviewers are a "verified purchaser." I don't know how buyers weigh that information unless a review is out of sync with other reviews.
Hi,Would anyone be interested in writing a review for my new book Snapshots, on amazon? A review is most reliable when it comes from other writers such as yourselves.
Cheers,
Mehreen Ahmed
Mehreen10@gmail.com
http://www.amazon.com/Snapshots-Mehre...
It's not the same last names that get a review deleted by Amazon. After my sister's reviews of my books were taken down after they'd been there for years, I conducted a little experiment. I found five books written by people with my last name (Nichols) and gave them five star reviews. Every single review stayed there until I took them down myself maybe a year later.
However, a review written by my brother-in-law was taken down, even though his name is different from mine and we live on opposite sides of the country.
I believe they figure out the relationship between family members through purchases. I have sent gifts to my sister through Amazon and since she and her husband have the same address, Amazon recognizes a relationship.
Or maybe it's more sinister--they monitor our emails or they have this humongous data base detailing the relationships of every reviewer and author on Amazon.
I've also noticed that if I write a review for a self published author, it won't go up if I don't give it at least three stars.
My book Sportsman's Bet has had nine reviews for ages, can't seem to get a tenth review to save my life. Most of them are from bloggers to whom I sent review copies. Sure wish all the people who tell me they read it and enjoyed it would post a review, but so far no luck.
Mod
For at least three months, they've invited me to review my own book, Darwin's World; I downloaded it to see what purchasers see, as opposed to what I sent to Amazon. It was being promoted as a freebie at the time, so yep, I downloaded my own book.
Since they kept asking so insistently, I gave in and submitted an (honest) review of my own book, based on the revision I'm currently working on. Writing needed much work, characters good, action plentiful. I also identified it clearly as 'author self review'.
Not surprisingly, it bounced.
I guess ASKING for a review isn't the same as WANTING a review! :D
Want to bet that my book won't still be there on next week's list of review requests?
The thought of Amazon figuring out family relationships through purchases or having some ability to monitor emails is deeply disturbing. I wonder too if they're checking to see if one's Facebook "likers" are trying to write reviews. I've been hoping for a first review since my book was published a month ago and asked one of my likers, who said she stayed up until 4:00 a.m. to finish my book, if she'd be willing to write a review. She agreed, but so far nothing has shown up. Likewise for a good friend whom I chat with via email. I thought they just hadn't bothered--it never occurred to me they might not be ABLE to post reviews. What's wrong with Amazon? Of course they must have some standards for reviews, but don't they want us to sell books?
Roderick wrote: "I have had reviews rejected. On both occasions the reviews contained prohibited words. If I remember correctly, one was 'fake'. The other was 'shit', which reviewers are not supposed to use to desc..."True, Roderick, isn't that strange? Two of my books have the word 'shit' in the title. No problem. But you can't use it in a review.
Brigitta wrote: "I have had this happen also. I spoke with Amazon and was told that family members are not allowed to post reviews. I thought we were encouraged to get family and friends to purchase, read and revie..."My wife was encouraged to review one of my books, and then the review was rejected. I think it's Big Brother at work.
My review of "Fifty Shades of Grey" was rejected because I noted the number of times Ana says "holy crap and holy shit." I changed it to "holy crap" and "holy `word beginning with s that means the same thing as crap'" and it went through. I believe Amazon is trying to cut down on the number of truly awful books with dozens of five star reviews written by family members--siblings, parents, in-laws. I've seen more than a few obscure self published books with a number of five star reviews. They are all from people who've never reviewed a single book on Amazon before this.
It's not working.
My wife was also repeatedly encouraged by Amazon to review my book. She finally did, but the review was rejected for some reason. Then, days later, the review was posted, just to be taken down a few days later.
Gregory: I think Amazon realizes any book review will help sell a book and that makes them money. I just don't think they quite figured it all out yet; so be patient. I just publish my next nonfiction book Beaver Trapper John Day last week. I wrote a review and they posted it as a book description?It takes a while for a book to find the audience that does Book reviews naturally.
Keep you chin up and enjoy your working partner & wife. Deb and I have been doing this for decades now.
Hi all, new here! I have read that sometimes reviews get rejected if they are by authors who write in the same genre. Does anyone have any experience with that? I hesitate to review the books I've read that are also romance or historical fiction because I don't want to get that distressing email from Amazon telling me that I'm a "rule breaker!"
I have never heard of this restriction, though for all I know it might exist.
ID I once asked Amazon about that and was told it applies to NEGATIVE reviews - so if I were to give a rival fantasy author a 1 star review it wouldn't be allowed. (Even if I genuinely thought their book was pants).
I suppose this policy makes sense. They can't know what any reviewer genuinely thinks, so in such a case they are likely to assume one author is trying to put down a rival in the the same genre.
Dave wrote: "Gregory: I think Amazon realizes any book review will help sell a book and that makes them money. I just don't think they quite figured it all out yet; so be patient. I just publish my next nonfict..."Thanks Dave. My point was that first they asked her to review, then rejected it, then posted it and finally removed it. A bit chaotic, don't you think?
D.C. wrote: "D.C. wrote: "Amazon will sometimes reject reviews if they believe the relationship between reader and reviewer is too close (familial, members of the same writing circle, etc.). This may be what ha..."I'm disturbed that Amazon knows who is related to me and who is not. Not for review purposes but just because it skeeves me out a little.
I've had an author in my genre post a review and it has remained. She was very detailed about what she did and didn't like, though. I think that may be part of the answer. Maybe encourage your reviewers to provide both good and bad feedback and see if that will be accepted. I can usually find at least one constructive comment to include in my reviews and I believe that lends some credibility.
Amazon, as others already said, doesn't require the book/item being reviewed to be purchased from Amazon. However, amazon accounts cannot post their customer product opinions until a purchase was made (verifies shipping addresse and banking info so prevents someone easily creating a thousand accounts to rate/review from...).
Not sure if the readers OP mentioned had brand new accounts with no purchases so that's why their product opinions were not posting.
Like goodreads, Amazon is a U.S. site subject to FTC rules requiring that consumer product opinions disclose all connections (relative, editor, publisher, work for...) and all payment (fees including but not limited to services like review exchanges or actual monies). Both sites can legally, provided properly disclosed, accept such reviews. Both sites choose in TOS and in review guidelines to prohibit commercial (paid) reviews with the exception of disclosed book/product received free for honest, completely unrestricted review. Many reviews are on both sites properly disclosing connections and aren't found against policy; reviews not disclosing are always supposedly removed when found out.
Amazon's idea of review policy guidelines just gets weird on submitting individual reviews so some Amazon staff remove friend/relative reviews (even when disclosed) and other Amazon staff members won't. Reviewers they consider "notable" do get preferential treatment (for example, one regularly without disclosing he was paid to edit the book reviews books and never gets a review removed or not allowed; one top reviewer account profile says it is not an individual reviewer but instead a group of reviewers who "may be compensated" — only on the profile, never in the reviews and 100% clearly not in compliance with FTC disclose in the review regulations, clearly not an individual customer/reviewer, and clearly against Amazon's no-paid-reviews rules — but no matter how many of us report the reviews and the account it's still there, still a top reviewer, and still part of the VINE program).
I'd suggest the OP ensure the readers wanting to review his book make sure they purchased something and review a handful of older reads first plus see if they've read any books recently reviewed by top reviewers or on top lists that they can review. Then see if they can go back and submit a review for OP's book (no potentially insulting words like "moron" or "malicious", cuss words or phrases an autoscript might think are directing readers to other purchase sites or mentioning prices, etc.). It's sometimes not a bad idea to write a very short, bland review to get it submitted then weeks later edit to expand.
Amazon is strange about reviews. Barnes and Noble is nearly impossible to submit or to edit something that their autoscript refuses with a menu choice to edit to comply with their guidelines (the menu doesn't work and polite bland reviews about how much you enjoyed, liked characters, etc. won't submit).
Good luck and always just make sure your reviewers on U.S. sites disclose properly if there is anything to disclose. After that, each site will determine if acceptable or not. To the best of my knowledge, so long as the connection properly disclosed goodreads currently allows friends and family (and even publishers and authors) to review here.
Thanks for all the tips and help - a very interesting topic and thanks especially DA for the comprehensive post on the FTC guidelines. Much appreciated.
I really wish I did have a better clue about why Amazon rejects some (or remove later if reported as abuse) and accepts other quite similar reviews.
My review of Kevin Booth's Celia's Room was posted on Good Reads without question. The same review had been rejected by Amazon (US and UK) three times. Amazon simply does not reply to queries or complaints from reviewers, like me, who are genuine purchasers of their advertised books. There are no reasons given for rejection - one is simply referred to the Guide, which warns against various 'crimes' such as indecency or other abuses such as trolling.
I've had the same problem. I have had four people contact me, upset that their reviews were rejected by Amazon. Two were told by Amazon that their reviews were rejected because they were family members. That is simply not true, not unless you consider everyone on the planet is family to one another. They do not have the same last name, do not live the same part of the country, and while did review my first book, they did so honestly and really want to review the second. These are readers I cultivated through social media and therefore have had some communication with, but I couldn't pick them out of a lineup. This is "a word that begins with S and means the same thing as crap". Love that.I'm seriously considering pulling away from my Amazon only policy.
It would help if there was a way of communicating with the review judges who reject reviews. Does one have to write a letter?
Rebecca wrote: "I've had the same problem. I have had four people contact me, upset that their reviews were rejected by Amazon. Two were told by Amazon that their reviews were rejected because they were family mem..."Not meaning to be difficult, but why in the world would you have an "Amazon only" policy? Wouldn't you want as many people as possible to buy your book? My books that I have any control over are on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and anywhere else I hear of that sells fiction. What's the benefit of just Amazon? I'm really curious.
I should explain, Wayland. My books are on Barnes & Noble through Amazon distrbution rights, but not Smashwords, Kobo, iBooks. I did this to keep myself eligible for higher royalities and lending. DUMB.Like I said, it's an error that I'm working to remedy, but once you are in these things, Amazon hangs on to you for 90 day periods. Chalk it up to stupidity on my part.
There's a difference between stupidity and inexperience. Learn from it, move on, you're good. ;)
Rebecca wrote: "I've had an author in my genre post a review and it has remained. She was very detailed about what she did and didn't like, though. I think that may be part of the answer. Maybe encourage your revi..."Rebecca wrote: "I've had an author in my genre post a review and it has remained. She was very detailed about what she did and didn't like, though. I think that may be part of the answer. Maybe encourage your revi..."
Rebecca wrote: "I've had an author in my genre post a review and it has remained. She was very detailed about what she did and didn't like, though. I think that may be part of the answer. Maybe encourage your revi..."
Thanks DA for the run-down on the Rules. It was very interesting and comprehensive ... But it still doesn't explain the rejection (I'm talking about Celia's Room now, and not the others that have been rejected.) I did indeed purchase a copy of Kevin Bond's novel Celia's Room as an ebook. Kevin is a fellow member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, not a close friend, but who would know that and should it matter? One meets people who've written books and sometimes would like to read their offerings.
My comment is as a reader who tried, unsuccessfully, to give a five-star review to a new author I really liked. Amazon repeatedly, and swiftly, returned my review along with a cryptic list of criteria to be met/I'd failed to meet worthy of the riddle of the Sphinx.
I posted my review on Goodreads. Nice but it won't get the exposure it would have on Amazon. It was on a gay book so maybe some homophobe took delight in rejecting it. Personally, I think not since it was rejected so quickly.
Then, not liking being dissed by the big bad impersonal Amazon Machine I deleted all my earlier reviews. There's an element of good will in giving a corporation my time and effort in reviewing an author. Now as it happens, being throughly ticked off with Amazon led me to this site and several others! So there's the silver lining in the Amazon cloud. (No not that cloud, the metaphorical one :)
So authors, in this n=1 report, yes readers who have absolutely no personal connection with you whatsoever, who just like your stuff, who take the time to try and say nice things about you, beat their heads against an impersonal, unreasoning electronic wall.
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Books mentioned in this topic
F**k It - Do What You Love (other topics)Fifty Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say about You-Know-What (other topics)
Sportsman's Bet (other topics)
I've been lurking here for a while now, it's great to be able to follow all of your experience and experiences.
My book has a grand total of one Amazon review and I've now heard from two readers that they have tried to post reviews on Amazon and they have been rejected.
This is, needless to say, quite disconcerting. It's hard enough to get any reviews and the idea that people are trying to post them and getting rejected is hard to stomach. The readers I've heard from are people I speak to regularly and who care about how the book does etc, so I can only imagine there might be one or two others that are having the same experience but aren't going to bother telling me.
Has anybody else had similar experiences? Any quick fixes that you know of? The Author Central helpline was no help, they told me to tell the readers to call for help (which they have, no luck - they were just directed to read the review guidelines and try again, which at least one of them did a few times).
Thanks in advance,
Gordon.
ps. The book is non-fiction, business guidebook stuff.