I am new to AW and searched through the threads for a little bit to see if I could find any similar threads on this subject, so please forgive me if I'm repeating a question that has already been answered.
I just released my first novella a week ago via Amazon, CreateSpace, and Smashwords. I have made some sales, nothing big, but still enough to make me happy that someone actually wanted to read something I wrote. On my Facebook writer fan page, I got a message from a reader who bought my book in eBook form on Amazon. They said they tried to leave a review (5 stars, yes!), but they're review was rejected.
Has anyone ever experienced this?
They forwarded me the review and I asked Amazon. Amazon told me their guidelines were 1. No profanity, 2. Over 20 words/under 500, 3. No external links, 4. No promotion of other product on a review for this product. This review met all those guidelines. My father tried to test this on his own then (he bought an eBook copy) and his review was also rejected. He emailed Amazon's review appeals and they responded that anyone that is family or friends with the author are not allowed to do reviews.
First off, the person that brought it to my attention isn't someone I personally knew. They added me on my Facebook fan page after they bought and tried to review the book. And in the case of my dad, how do they even know he's family? Yes he has my same last name, but many people will review books with authors that have the same last name. Doesn't mean they're related. I wouldn't want to go this route, but I've even seen authors who reviewed their own book or/and had a spouse that did so.
I'm just in a kind of shock. I would love reviews on my book (especially a 5 star), but I have to wonder if any of the other people that purchased my book also had trouble.
I just released my first novella a week ago via Amazon, CreateSpace, and Smashwords. I have made some sales, nothing big, but still enough to make me happy that someone actually wanted to read something I wrote. On my Facebook writer fan page, I got a message from a reader who bought my book in eBook form on Amazon. They said they tried to leave a review (5 stars, yes!), but they're review was rejected.
Has anyone ever experienced this?
They forwarded me the review and I asked Amazon. Amazon told me their guidelines were 1. No profanity, 2. Over 20 words/under 500, 3. No external links, 4. No promotion of other product on a review for this product. This review met all those guidelines. My father tried to test this on his own then (he bought an eBook copy) and his review was also rejected. He emailed Amazon's review appeals and they responded that anyone that is family or friends with the author are not allowed to do reviews.
First off, the person that brought it to my attention isn't someone I personally knew. They added me on my Facebook fan page after they bought and tried to review the book. And in the case of my dad, how do they even know he's family? Yes he has my same last name, but many people will review books with authors that have the same last name. Doesn't mean they're related. I wouldn't want to go this route, but I've even seen authors who reviewed their own book or/and had a spouse that did so.
I'm just in a kind of shock. I would love reviews on my book (especially a 5 star), but I have to wonder if any of the other people that purchased my book also had trouble.