The Vanishing Review!

/ Beem Weeks

Greetings, SE’ers! Beem Weeks here with you again. Today, I’m discussing vanishing reviews on Amazon.

Last year, I wrote a post on the necessity of being honest in our reviews of books we’ve read. If we enjoy the story, we explain why. If there were issues, we report those issues without being hurtful or harmful. A review helps the writer, sure, but it also assists readers searching for their next book.

So, if you enjoyed a particular novel, and you wrote a glowing review, why would Amazon yank your review after a day or a month or even longer? That’s a question many of us have had to contemplate at least a time or two.

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I’ve written hundreds of reviews on the mighty Amazon over the past decade or so. My reviews cover almost everything I’ve ever purchased from the site. Books, music, electronics, replacement refrigerator handle—if I bought it, I’ve reviewed it.

But here’s the thing that has long stumped me, my reviews for certain authors are never allowed. I’ve read pretty much every Stephen Geez novel, yet I am unable to post a review. There are other authors as well. Those who belonged to a certain book club some years ago seem to fall on that same review-not-allowed list.

The culprit? Perhaps it’s the infamous algorithm. Geez and I publish through the same company. Maybe Amazon picks up such details and, for whatever reason, decides the review cannot be trusted. It’s a strange thing, this notion of review censorship. It comes down to the relationship between author and reader. If Amazon suspects these two may know one another, it’s lights out for that review.

I’ve been on both sides of this issue. I’ve written many reviews that have been removed or outright refused. I’ve also seen reviews for my own books vanish from the site. In a three-week period, I lost over twenty reviews for Jazz Baby.

So, what can we do in situations like this? Well, it’s difficult to take on a behemoth like Amazon and expect to win. But even Amazon will try to correct an injustice if it can be proven. The problem is, Amazon rarely gives an explanation as to why a review was removed or refused. So, look for other sites that allow for reviews.

What are some of those other sites? I’m glad you asked.

  • Book Bub: This is a site that is both reader and author friendly. Authors can post their books on the site for readers to discover.
  • Good Reads: Though this site is owned by Amazon, they tend to be friendlier when it comes to reviews. Good Reads also boasts a large footprint in the indie author world.
  • Barnes & Noble: They are still very much in the book selling game. B&N has a global reach. They also have a lengthy history behind them. Though not as large as Amazon, B&N can be a great asset for indie authors and readers.
  • All Author: I’ve been a part of this site for over three years now. They are small but mighty. The site is growing by the day. They offer free author profiles, as well as a paid version that gives writers more options.
  • Authors Den: I’ve had an account with this site for six or seven years. They have a book review program where authors can give copies of their books to readers who promise to post reviews. They have a free version and a paid version for those looking for more options. They even offer marketing tips.
  • Writing.com: This is another reader/writer friendly site. Writers can promote their work while readers can post reviews. A smaller site, but still one to consider.

 

There are many other sites that allow the posting of reviews. A simple Google search will yield numerous possibilities. Sure, we all want to shine brightly on Amazon, but sometimes we’ll encounter issues that are out of our hands. Just don’t get frustrated. Our options are practically unlimited. We have the world at our fingertips.

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114 thoughts on “The Vanishing Review!”

  1. Coming a little late to this, Beem. I’m always confounded by the decisions Amazon makes with reviews. I usually post reviews initially on my website, and afterwards on Goodreads and Amazon. Then, if they disappear from the author’s page on Amazon, I share again. Not sure whether that helps but I persuade myself it will at least give the author’s book some promotion. And thank you so much for pointing out these other sites that promote authors.

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  2. Great post, Beem 🙂 Amazon is frustrating with their review censorship. If you buy it you should be able to express your opinion on it.
    Thanks for listing alternative sites to post reviews. There is a few I haven’t heard of.

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  3. Amazon is hard to figure out, Beem. I think my reviews demonstrate that I’ve read a book and enjoyed it (can’t make that stuff up). So I’m baffled why a review is rejected. And I feel so bad for the author. I also post all reviews on Bookbub and Goodreads. I’ll have to check the others out too. 🙂

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  8. I don’t even bother writing reviews on Amazon anymore, they remove so many of mine. I post on Goodreads and BookBub instead. I’ve never tried the last three sites you listed. Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to look them up.

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  9. Thanks for the tips of where to post reviews. I post on Goodreads, Amazon, Bookbub and although I have an account with All Author, I’ve not posed a review there. I:LL remedy that, and with the others you mentioned, too.

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  13. A disturbing trend in society is that we can’t seem to talk to anyone from giant corporations when problems occur. Even if I disagreed with the rationale, I would like an explanation. Another example is my local cable company. After waiting two weeks for a technician to come to our house, the man left, and we began having issues immediately. The guy couldn’t have been gone for more than five minutes, and now our cable and phone (we bundle) weren’t working. I called the local company and asked them to send him back. Instead, my only recourse was to reach the national number and be told it would be another ten days before someone would return.

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    • That is just awful, Pete. We are at a point where the giant corporations are just too big to care. Customer service no longer applies. I absolutely detest our internet provider (WOW). It is the worst cable company ever. We used to have options locally for cable back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Then the corporations bought up the small locals, divided the territories, and took away choice. It’s a take-it-or-leave-it world they’ve built. I hope you get your situation settled.

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  16. It’s so hard to reason with an organisation when you don’t know what the issue is. It would be so much easier if the parameters were clear. I do understand why they allow those ones that say ‘I know the author’ because then someone reading them is aware that there may be bias in them. Thanks for the information about other sites, Beem – much appreciated!

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    • I’ve had that problem. I’ve read several books by Mr. Geez, but I cannot leave a review. I think I’ve been able to review one book you, Beem, but the “Big A” has said “NOPE” to several others from your pen. I’ve bought and read books by many of the posters on this thread but could not leave a review.

      My two romance stories have sold very well, but you wouldn’t know it by the number of reviews. I suspect that is because I know many people who tried to review it. Lately, I’ve had the actual reviews by one particular person disappear, but the star rating stayed there.

      I had one book with a lot of reviews pulled by Amazon, put back up two weeks later, where it gathered more reviews, only to have all of the reviews and all of the high star reviews removed save for a single four-star review four months later.

      So, all I do is look at the sales I know I’m making and the lack of reviews and tell myself… “Hey, it’s Amazon. Go figure.”

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      • I wish I understood what the issue is with Amazon, Verwayne. But they are too big to care enough to tell us their reasons. Maybe try to post star ratings, then come back later on and post a review. But even that might not work. Thanks for your comment.

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    • I agree, Trish, especially on why Amazon will let some reviews stay where the poster admits knowing the author. If I’m reading a review that states that, I can take it into consideration if the gushing compliments seem overdone. That seems fair to me. 😊

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  17. This is something we have all faced at one time or another. I think part of the problem, as you pointed out, Beem, was being the same members of a book club for a few years. There doesn’t seem to be a solution, other than what you suggest – that we post our review on other sites such as BookBub and Goodreads. Interesting that I’ve never had a problem with reviews on Goodreads and it is owned by Amazon. Thanks for addressing this issue!

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  20. Terrific post, Beem, on a subject most, if not all, of us have experienced. I’ve certainly had reviews of my books disappear, and many reviews I’ve left for others do the same. Something new happened to me recently a couple of months ago, though: I suddenly got anywhere from ten to 25 reviews posted on each of my books, in ONE night! It looked to me like they’d been written weeks before they showed up, so whether they were languishing in the “Amazon Approval Line,” or lost in space, I have no idea, though I was certainly happy to see them.

    Because so many of the Amazon reviews I’ve left on other books have been removed, I’ve almost given up on writing them, but I love that you included a list of other options. I knew about Goodreads and Book Bub, though I haven’t been taking advantage of them as I should, but the other sites were new to me, and I plan to check them ALL out. I’d like to get back into the habit of leaving reviews again, without expecting them to be removed in a day or two.

    Thanks so much for the reminder and the links, and for a really helpful post on an important issue. 😀

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    • That’s an interesting issue you’ve recently experienced, Marcia. I agree, it’s a good one, having many reviews show up all at once. Maybe there are some reviews that languish behind the scenes, as you’ve suggested. It does get frustrating to write a review only to see it vanish. But those other sites are worth checking out. Thanks for the comment.

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  21. I think most writers have a love/hate relationship with Amazon. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve never had a single review I wrote rejected. Maybe down the road, some were pulled, but if so, I don’t know about it. On the flip side, I’ve had many reviews for my own books pulled, which is frustrating. I’ve seen reviewers state that they know or are related to the author, and yet those reviews remain. Makes no sense whatsoever. But algorithms and bots have minds of their own. I am thankful for other sites like BookBub and GR, which I use to post reviews. BB is my favorite.

    I’m unfamiliar with most of the others you mentioned, Beem, but plan to check them out. Thanks for those references. As you said, we all want to shine on Amazon but we have to remember there are plenty of smaller ponds to play in.

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    • I’ve had many reviews (some not even book-related) rejected by Amazon, Mae. I am at a loss as to why. But the smaller ponds are indeed viable. I also enjoy BB. Perhaps we can all chip in and help build that site’s reach into a strong alternative to Amazon. Thanks for stopping by.

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  22. Excellent post and so relevant. I’ve never had Amazon explain or rectify any review issues I’ve experienced … no matter whether I wrote them, failed to receive them, or had them deleted at some point.

    Bookbub and B & N won’t deal with me as I’m in the UK. I always review to Goodreads along with Amazon. It’s nuts that while Amazon now owns and runs Goodreads, and have done for quite some time, they don’t police the reviews like they do on their actual sales website.

    The others you list are new to me, and I will have to check them out.

    Thanks for sharing, Beem 💕🙂

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  23. I’ve had reviews I’ve written rejected, twice with letters threatening me with account closing if I continued to violate their terms, but usually with no letter at all. I’ve also had reviews my books have earned disappear. (I lost twenty-five overnight once on Type and Cross, and I have yet to get back up to my original amount.) Amazon has too much control/censorship rights, and they don’t play fair. I’ve seen reviews stating the reviewer is related to the author, and those biased reviews are still there. I’ve seen reviews trash a book because they don’t like the genre, and those biased reviews stay. Where do mine go? And yours? And the rest of ours? I really wish Amazon was not the one-stop shop that it is. They have too much control

    Thanks for that list. I post to a few of them already, but there are some I’ve never heard of. I always enjoy getting new tools and can’t wait to check these out. Excellent post, Beem.

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  24. You pose some important questions, Beem. Several years ago, I wrote to Amazon and asked why they blocked my review. It was a 5-star review for a writer I do not know. They offered a cryptic response that explained nothing. I wrote again to no avail. Since that time, I don’t try to unravel why/how Amazon works–I doubt even they don’t know. Thank you for adding the links that freely allow reviews.

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  27. Hi Beem, the Zon and I have a love hate relationship. When my ebook, While the Bombs Fell was yanked in December 2019 (for reasons I have never discovered and probably never will) all 52 of my reviews went with it. They weren’t transferred to the paperback which remains on Amazon. I’ve had to toil to get more review for this book on Amazon. It is very disillusioning as the reviews I had were largely from people I didn’t know and were certainly not all 5-star reviews.

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    • That sound crazy, Roberta. A lost review is one thing, but for them to remove an ebook is just awful. If there were other sites big enough to compete with the Zon (I like that 😁), maybe they’d show even a little respect to those who use throw money at them. Thanks for stopping by.

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  28. Amazon is a strange bird. I’ve only had one problem with submitting a review and it was for a book where I obtained an advanced reader copy. I changed the lingo a bit (after a few emails back and forth with Amazon, where they wouldn’t tell me why). Harmony was the one that pointed me in the right direction. A few months ago, I reviewed a book by a NYT best-selling author. It took over a week for that review to go live. This week, I posted two on the same day and both went live almost immediately. Go figure!

    I always post on Goodreads and BookBub. I wasn’t aware of these other sites, but I’ll check them out. Thanks, Beem.

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  31. Thanks, Beem, for the list of review sites. As another comment mentioned, going with a distribution wider than Amazon can help. For example, Draft2Digital makes that easy, and other companies offer wide distribution, too.

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  32. Pingback: The Vanishing Review! | Legends of Windemere

  33. “Authors Den” sounds interesting, Beem, thank you.

    I’ve had review troubles, but the oddest was my husband’s experience. Back in the days when we weren’t as aware of Amazon’s rules, he bought one of my books, read it, and submitted a review. It was refused on the grounds we were related and he might have a financial interest in promoting my work. Fair comment, or it would have been if I didn’t donate my meagre royalties to charity.

    However, a year or so later he bought a hardback copy of a book on battleships – one of his passions. He found a serious factual error in an otherwise excellent book, so he wrote a tactful 4-star review. It was refused, and Amazon didn’t give a reason. After that, his attitude was “what’s the point in bothering”. I couldn’t blame him, but I do wonder if it’s one of the reasons few readers do review.

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    • Thanks for stopping by, Sara. What sort of tips are you looking for? If you’re looking for writing tips, you’ve come to the right place. Story Empire is full of great posts on all sorts of writing tips, advice, and experiences. We have many authors here who each have a lot to share. We’re glad to have you in our audience.

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      • I am kinda struggling with what to write about. I have a million ideas and have no idea where to start. I don’t really want to blog about one specific subject but if you have any ideas on what people like to read about and how I can narrow it down. Really any tips at all. I am great with poetry and I want to do some research based ones.

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    • Start at the beginning. The beginning is whatever you decide, Sara. You’re the author, the creator. You get to determine where it begins and where it ends. You create the characters and their situations. A writer is all-powerful within the story. You can begin by writing a short story. 1500 words to tell a tale. Once you get the hang of writing a beginning, middle, and end, you’ll find writing novels easier than you could have imagined. Just begin your story, and finish what you’ve started.

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  38. That is a bit messed up that they are removing reviews from the product. Puzzling 🤔 I was very curious when you said you were a writer. What kind of books do you write? I am writer but I’m just starting to pursue it. I have started this blog, I’ve written many poems and I am currently starting a book.

    Liked by 6 people

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    • I write fiction, Sara. Short stories and novels. If you’re looking for advice on writing, this is the place to be. Story Empire is packed with helpful posts on pretty much every aspect of writing, publishing, and promotions. If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask here in the comments on any article on the site.

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  39. Thank you for sharing your post on Amazon reviews. Though most of my reviews are accepted by Amazon, I’ve scratched my head on a couple of reviews that were rejected. When I called to find out why Amazon rejected the review, they always gave me a “canned response.” I post reviews on some of the sites you suggested. I particularly like BookBub because it will notify my followers that I’ve posted a review and I can share it on my social media.

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    • Thank you for adding to the conversation, Linnea. I’m like you, I like BookBub a lot. They make it easy for writers and readers to connect. I don’t think many of us have ever gotten a straight answer from Amazon over lost or refused reviews. They just can’t be bothered.

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