Julie BroadYour Non-Fiction Sidekick for Writing, Publishing & Marketing a Book That Builds Your Brand and Grows Your Biz

Getting Amazon Reviews for Your Book Has Changed!

11 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:26

In this video, Julie Broad explains that Amazon has upgraded its automated systems to detect fake reviews by analyzing reviewer behavior rather than just review content. She outlines practical steps authors can take to ensure their reviews appear authentic and comply with Amazon’s new standards: prioritize verified‑purchase reviews and encourage readers to actually read the book (especially eBooks where reading activity is visible), slow down the rate of review submissions to mimic natural patterns, let readers follow normal reading and reviewing pacing (including waiting at least 24 hours after finishing a book before posting), avoid AI‑generated or overly polished reviews in favor of short, human‑written ones, and be patient with longer review approval times, which have become the new norm.

Chapters

Amazon has increased its automation detection systems to crack down on fake reviews. 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, 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? Number 1, Prioritize verified reviews. You really want to have them buy a copy of the book and emphasize they should read the book, not just scan the pages, especially with eBooks, that's visible to Amazon. Number 2, slow things down. Slow, steady activity appears far more natural and safer. They don't want reviewers posting a ton of reviews at once. Number 3, let readers behave like readers. Amazon, again, is watching patterns and they're monitoring typical reading behavior. So encourage your audience to have normal pacing. 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. 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. Number 6, Be patient. Review approval turnaround has increased and things feel slower, and that's the new normal.