Amazon's review system now blocks legitimate reviews when readers post too many too fast, finish books unrealistically quickly, or use external PDFs. Julie Broad recommends spacing out review requests, waiting 24 hours before posting, and focusing on verified purchases to avoid rejection.
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Hey author, I know you're working hard to get more Amazon reviews, and if some of them are delayed or rejected or just not showing up, you're not imagining it. Amazon changed the rules. So if you wanna know the latest issues and resolutions for getting Amazon reviews to stick for your book, this video is for you. Hi, I'm Julie Broad, founder of Book Launchers and your host here at BookLaunchers.tv. And I wanna talk about Amazon reviews because I know, how important reviews are. Every author needs them, although some of us— looking at you, James Clear— have enough. But that's rare. Most of us need more Amazon reviews because they impact our credibility, conversions, and visibility. And when things start breaking on Amazon, it's so frustrating. One of my favorite tools for getting book reviews is Get Authentic Book Reviews. It's helped me get dozens and dozens and dozens of verified reviews for Self-Publish and Succeed and Self-Promote and Succeed. And Flávia, the owner, the founder, she recently sent an email talking about the latest Amazon review challenges, and it lines up with what a lot of authors we've been working with have been experiencing. So here's the situation: Amazon has increased its automation detection systems to crack down on fake reviews. And on the one hand, this is a good thing because we as authors want a platform people trust. We We don't want fake reviews because that means scammers can scam and win. We want real reviews and we want a level of policing so that this is legitimate and people trust in the reviews. But the part that's affecting authors, in Flávia's words, is that the new systems are unfortunately affecting many legitimate readers, reviewers, and authors. So even if you're doing things right, you may still be seeing issues. What Amazon's actually doing is that Amazon isn't just looking at the review, It's important to understand so you can educate your audience when you are asking for reviews because Amazon's analyzing behavior. The new automated bots are looking at patterns to determine whether activity appears natural. So the question is no longer, is this a good review and was it by a, like, arm's length party? It's like, does this look like it's a real review? Here's some things that Flávia in particular shared that she's seen raising red flags. Posting reviews too quickly, so getting tons of reviews really fast in a day or two can be a huge issue. Of course, we want to get a lot of reviews as soon as possible, but if they're posted too fast and it doesn't look real, that's an issue. Reading books unrealistically fast— well, they don't know if somebody has a print book and read it fast, but if you sold them a 99-cent Kindle book or free book or anything on digital and they don't open it or they quick scan it and then post a review, Amazon knows that and it hurts you. If a reviewer is reviewing books that they didn't purchase and they do a lot of book reviews for books they didn't purchase, this can also be a flag, as can someone that is just reviewing a lot of books all at once. So if they're using external copies like PDFs, Amazon's tracking reading behavior, and if something looks off, Amazon may delay the review for a few days or weeks or just reject that review completely. They may even block reviewer privileges, and in some cases they're putting accounts at risk. So this is not something to ignore. Now, Amazon doesn't just want reviews. They want natural reader behavior that creates the reviews. So now it's not just about making sure the people who review your book are at arm's length from you—no friends, family. Remember, they don't want them posting reviews, and this has been a previous source of issues. But now they want natural readers to be posting a review. So what can you do about all this? Well, let's walk through some things that will help protect you and your readers. Number 1: Prioritize verified reviews more than ever. Now, you still can give people a free copy in exchange for an honest review, but more than ever, you really want to have them buy a copy of the book. And if you're selling or giving them copies of the ebook, put it through Amazon as much as possible and emphasize they should read the book, not just scan pages, because especially with ebooks, that's visible to Amazon. So really avoid outside copies or PDFs as much as possible with your reviewer pushes. Number 2, slow things down. This is not a race to the most reviews. Slow, steady activity appears far more natural and safer. And we've seen this with sales rankings, right? They no longer want that big hit of sales in a day. They'd rather have 10 sales every day for 100 days or one sale every day for 100 days than 100 in a day. And this kind of behavior is now hitting reviews. They don't want reviewers posting a ton of reviews at once. They don't want a book to get a ton of reviews in a single day and not have anything else. And this is especially if sales aren't matching up to the quantity of reviews. So if you're a reviewer, don't be batching your reviews and pushing all your reviews out at once. Space things out. But do the same as an author and ask people in a spaced-out manner. Number 3, let readers behave like readers. Even if someone reads fast, Amazon again is watching patterns and they're monitoring typical reading behavior. And this includes page reads on Kindle. So encourage your audience to have normal pacing. And for you, this is just not rushing reviews. One of the things Flávia said is don't post a review within less than 24 hours of reading the book, even for short books. Number 5 is avoid AI-generated reviews. Apparently this is putting reviews at risk as well by using AI text. Amazon's watching for this and is killing the reviews that seem like they're written by AI. So it's better to have a couple of short human-written sentences than a longer, more elaborate review that somebody has AI help them write. Ultimately, number 6, be patient. This is gonna be the hardest shift. Review approval turnaround has increased. And things feel slower, and that's the new normal. Now, yep, this is frustrating, but Amazon is trying to protect the integrity of the review system. And long-term, that does help authors who are doing things the right way. Fast reviews are not gonna be what wins anymore. Getting sustainable reviews from real readers, that is what wins. And this is why building an audience and building real relationships with readers matters so much, because when you have an email list and an audience and a real engagement with them, you are not scrambling for reviews and you can educate your audience to help you get the reviews they do post to stick. And ultimately what matters and always has mattered is getting reviews from people who actually read your work. So if you've read one of my books, I'd be so grateful for a review. If your reviews feel like they're coming in slower or getting rejected more often, it's not just you. It is the system. So play the long game, and in the meantime, come hang out with us at the Author Lab on Skool where we're always talking about these things. It's free, and it's where the cool authors are hanging out. Booklaunchers.com/skool. The authors who win in this next phase are the ones who build trust, not just get fast reviews. I'll see you on the next video.
