Not my precious, precious reviews!
I’ve lost three reviews since last week. One day I checked my Amazon page and saw that Infinite Sacrifice went from thirty-two reviews to thirty-one reviews.
Huh?
This has never happened before and so, I go to where I always go for self-publishing news and advice: the Kindle Boards Forum.
And sure enough, there was already a post up about disappearing Amazon reviews. The person who posted claimed to have lost four reviews and other authors continued the thread reporting their losses and ideas why this would happen.
The theories:
1) Paid review
2) Reviews made from the same IP address as one with financial interest in the book
3) You gave a reviewer a gift card to purchase your ebook for review (considered as compensation). Even if the reviewer didn’t receive their ebook in this way from you, they might have received one from another author, and all of their reviews would be deleted.
4) A reviewer posted the same review on other sites (Goodreads, B&N, Smashwords, etc.)
5) Review left by another author (which I think it completely unfair)
6) That you used your review on other venues outside Amazon (some authors have said that they quoted an Amazon review as a book blurb and then their reviews disappeared.)
7) The reviewer deleted the review.
I couldn’t remember which review I lost (even though I sure did try), but I deducted it was a five-star review 😦
The next day I woke up to another review gone. Infinite Sacrifice now had thirty reviews and dropped from 4.6 stars to 4.5. This time I knew which review went missing. One of my favorites, a four star from a man (very few men leave reviews for my series). This time I could compare it to the reasons above:
1) No
2) I seriously doubt that they live near me
3) I didn’t give this reader a gift card and, since I checked out his previous reviews, he wasn’t a frequent book reviewer so I doubt he’d received a book via gift card for review.
4) This reviewer didn’t post up the review on any other sites.
5) He wasn’t an author
6) I didn’t post this review up anywhere outside of Amazon
7) I don’t think that he did since he only left the review a month ago.
So I still can’t figure out why that review disappeared
By the end of the day, I lost a review on my sequel. Infinite Devotion went from twelve reviews to eleven reviews. It was a five-star lovely and detailed review from a reader who purchased a print copy of my book.
I came up with the same answers as above, except:
4) She did post it up on Goodreads as well.
This might be the reason. Although, many of my other reviews that are still up are posted on other sites. Why aren’t they gone? I hope more reviews don’t disappear from this book since you need ten to run a promotion that I have scheduled to run early November.
When reviewers repost their original reviews, they get a sharp letter from Amazon threatening to take away their reviewing privileges. When authors complain, they are threatened with removal of their book.
I wrote an email to Amazon just letting them know how many reviews I’ve lost and that I’m not aware that they break any of their rules. I told them that I understood that they needed to react to the sock puppet accusations, but that what they are implementing is not effective. That they are deleting genuine reviews.
Here is their reply:
“Hello,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
However, I can tell you that reviews are removed from the Amazon.com website for three reasons:
1. The review conflicted with the posted guidelines, found here: http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines/
2. The review was removed at the request of the customer who submitted the review
3. We discovered that multiple items were linked together on our website incorrectly. Reviews that were posted on those pages were removed when the items were separated on the site
Further, we’re unable to provide further details about why these specific reviews were removed from Amazon.com; we can only discuss that with the person who wrote the reviews.
I hope this information helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.”
Can anyone explain #3 for me?
If any of you experience this (whether it be a review you left or one you received) I think it’s a good idea to just send Amazon an email letting them know that you didn’t breech their review rules and something is not working on their end. You’ll probably get the same response as me, but maybe if they get enough of these they’ll fine tune something so this doesn’t keep happening.
What is going to happen? I worry that people will be discouraged from leaving reviews. The reviews I leave for others, take me some time to construct and if some of them were removed I wouldn’t waste my time to write more. Hopefully, this is a one time witch hunt and not that many reviewers were effected.
But if the three people who took the time to leave my reviews notices that their review is now missing, I want to apologize. I don’t know why they were taken down, but I thank you for letting me know what you thought of my books. It was not time wasted because I cherish every review and hope you are not discouraged to write more.
If any of you would like to read more on this, here are a few links:
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,129759.0.html
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,130243.0.html
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,130320.0/topicseen.html
What about you? Have you lost any reviews (on your books or ones you have left for others)? Can you figure out why it’s happened?
“Can anyone explain #3 for me?”
I believe, when there are multiple versions of a product (say, a hardcover, audiobook, and a paperback), Amazon usually puts the reviews from one version on the product pages for the other versions. So that’s why you might see reviews for the audiobook edition of a book on the hardcover’s page, etc.
So that explanation would be a case where they accidentally “linked” two unrelated products and shared their reviews by mistake.
Thanks so much for explaining that for me, Brian. The third review I lost was a print copy review that also was linked to the ebook reviews. I wonder if that did it.
I’ve lost reviews on all my books. Amazon also deleted a review I posted for a book I bought several months ago, loved, and reviewed, and I don’t know the author at all. When I wrote to them to ask why they deleted it, they said my account was related to another reviewer… but it absolutely is not. I sent them a second email, which they never answered.
Amazon should post their review rules in detail on their website. This is abusive.
Holly, I can’t believe what’s happening either. I would be so mad if any of the reviews I left were deleted. We all know how much time is put into each detailed review.
I’m sorry that this is the backlash of a few shoddy authors (traditional and self-published). It seems like they’re throwing out the baby with the bath water. It would be a shame if this continues without much explanation.
Don’t know about disappearing reviews, but here’s a scary story of a customer being blocked by Amazon, AND having all her books wiped from her Kindle! All done without explanation, despite repeated requests by her to find out what she had, apparently, done to cause such offence.
http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/
That is truly frightening! Talk about a Halloween scare! I can’t imagine if all my kindle books disappeared. Maybe I should complain too much. Sounds like Amazon means business.
Now that you mention it, I noticed a month ago that I lost a review, too. 😦 Hopefully this is just a one time thing. Not fun at all and very unprofessional.
Oh, it got you too huh? That stinks. I really hope it doesn’t continue. I love my reviews 😦
Me too. Not good at all. Here’s to hoping!
Yep, I’ve lost reviews too. 4 at this point.
I used to wake up to check my reviews to see if any were added, now I wake up to see how many are missing! Another one disappeared this morning. The same person who went missing on my sequel, went missing on my first book. I have no idea why.
I represent an author and he has told me he has lost 15! No reason given. Amazon sends a robotic responses to inquiries. I say we start our own review Blog and keep all reviews forever!! This is not fair. Getting a book published and sold is hard enough as it is!
Hi Dave, thanks for stopping by and sharing your Amazon experience. I can’t imagine fifteen reviews disappearing! I’ve said to my family how I think I could be paid in reviews since they give me such a high when I see a new one posted.
When I see them disappear it’s like seeing a trophy vanish off your shelves. Amazon has said that the reviewer needs to request the reason their review was deleted. So I urge you all the check your reviews that you’ve left and ask Amazon to explain any of them that’s disappeared.
I wish I could contact my vanished readers to make them demand the reason. This post has gotten so much attention from people seeking “disappearing Amazon reviews” so it it happening to many people.
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I’m concerned about #4. I often repost reviews for books to Goodreads or B&N. People shop for books at all three places. And if Amazon really does remove reviews for reposting, I think they’ll simply drive reviewers to Goodreads instead to their own loss.
I agree Scott, most of the book bloggers I send my book off to post up at many sites as a courtesy. Amazon needs to be more detailed in the reasons for removal since we need to know what the rules are so we don’t lose more reviews. I’ve heard that a few people have found some success with calling Amazon directly to discuss why their review was deleted. Amazon should at least revise their review guidelines to specifically let people know what their policy is.
Lauren, I am experiencing loss of reviews as well. I Googled and found this post and I wonder if there’s some kind of issue with the book bloggers and Amazon. My reviews are way off. There used to be hundreds which has gone down to nine. Now it says there are nine but only six show. I found it interesting that we are having the same issues and we ‘met’ through a blog tour. I hope this isn’t some kind of trend but I am more than slightly alarmed.
Ah! Yours was the first review that disappeared! That is crazy! I’m wondering if they have removed your review since you’re an author. They have been targeting authors leaving reviews for authors (that is such garbage!)
I have a few reviews left up from the blog tour, so they didn’t just target the blog tour, but those book bloggers aren’t authors as well. I bet that’s what it is. Were many of the reviews you lost by authors? They are considering other authors as either profiting from your review or competing.
This is total crap since I find so many books to read just lurking on kindle boards and now I can’t leave reviews for them? This is very wrong.
Many people have pointed to book bloggers being hit by this review epidemic. I can’t imagine losing all those reviews. I’m so sorry. And thanks for taking the time to write yours, it’s such a shame it’s gone now.
Amazon does listen to reviewers better than authors, so you might want to call about your reviews disappearing and let them now that you are not profiting or competing and see what they say. You definitely don’t want to waste your time writing reviews if they’re not going to accept any of them. Let them know that you are a reviewer and see what they say. Good luck!
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This is a part of the writing world I’m not a part of yet… It sounds frustrating/stressful! Gosh, every review counts–especially a five star one. I’m not looking forward to this part of the process…
Reviews are a fantastic experience, normally. Hearing back from your readers is amazing, but having them disappear is excruciating. Hopefully, Amazon will have this all worked out by the time you get your masterpiece out 🙂
I am very glad I found your post. I was on Amazon tonight and looking at my husband’s book reviews and noticed his book was missing 4 reviews. Sadly, I can not remember two of the four that reviewed the book. They took down my review of teh book even though I had my name enlosed in the review. Then they took down my father’s review of the book – what the?
When a person self-publishes, we are thrilled when any person takes time to write their own review, now they take it down!!! So wrong!
Thanks again for writing about this!
Thank you so much for stopping by! I’ve been out of touch due to Hurricane Sandy, but I’m so happy to have helped you. I’m sorry that your husband lost four reviews and I hope it has ceased. I was so worried I would just keep losing them! It must still be happening though since I’m getting so many hits on this post everyday. I truly hope Amazon has realized how inaccurate this program has been.
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Gosh –that’s awful. Especially for authors who are solely e-published, because Amazon may be one of the only areas people are looking for reviews. I hope that a real person with Amazon actually reads your email and does something about it!
I’m sure they won’t listen to me, but I bet they’ve been inundated with complaints from authors and reviewers. Let’s hope they fine tune their programing a bit so it doesn’t throw out viable reviews.
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I THINK and this is a really good THINK that if a reviewer has only 1 review and its ur book they MAY delete it too. So pretty much that is more than 50% of reviewers.
Luckily, my reviews have stopped disappearing (*knocks on wood*), but you never know when Amazon does another purging. I hope you’re not right! So many of my reviewers are new reviewers. I take it as a compliment that someone read my plea for reviews and they took the time to write a review for the first time. It would be a shame if they removed them for that reason.
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I am a brand new author and so only had 2 reviews. My first was left by a friend of a friend who actually read my entire book in a week. His review showed up on amazon.com but not amazonkindle.com for some reason, and now it’s gone. Maybe they removed it because they realized it hadn’t gone to all formats? Very disappointing when I have so few!
That is so frustrating. Each review is precious when you’re just starting out. A great way to get some reviews is to do a free ebook giveaway on Librarything. If you give away 20 copies, you’ll probably get a three or four that will actually leave a review. It took me forever to get the first ten on my first book, but it’s important since a lot of advertisers require at least ten reviews before they’ll feature your book. Don’t give up!
Also, make sure you put a little note at the end of your book for people to leave reviews if they enjoyed the book (and send them to a mailing list for new releases :)) Best of luck!
Thanks so much! Very helpful advice!
Anytime! If you ever have any questions feel free to email me 🙂
I wrote a book 8 years ago- I think it insane they would suddenly remove it. Thank god I have reviews on barnes and norble still posted- I agree with prior comments they (Amazon) should be clear on the rules.
Very unfortunate.
Thanks for the details- much appreciated!
Wait authors can not review other authors books? That is not fair as we tend to judge booms differently and became authors as we love to read. Well I guess some of my reviews will be deleted then. Also this tossed a wrench into my promo points bash I was planing if IP addresses matter. Ugh. Thank you, for the article it was very useful.
So glad the post was useful to you, Kaj. I heard they were not allowing authors to comment on other books within their genre since they are competing. Silly, really since most authors read the most within the genre they write, but I think it was done to discourage authors from leaving bad reviews just to gain more readers for their book. I still think it’s worth it to try to leave a review no matter what. Reviews are so helpful to authors and for readers. Hopefully, Amazon has relaxed their policy a bit now. Thanks for stopping by!
I been searching for answer as to why my reviews were gone and I came across your blog. I am really disappointed because now I’m back to nothing. My customer was excited to tell me that they’d left me a review but Amazon just removed it without any reason and its really annoying.
Anyway, I’m glad that you posted this information as it helps me understand the reason behind why Amazon is removing the review. Thanks!
So sorry you lost some reviews, Zarina. I know how hard they are to earn and they mean so much to us writers. If I have any advice for you (and it has helped increase my reviews a lot!) is to put a mention in the back of your book as well as on your author page on Amazon to let your readers know how much it means to you when you hear from them (email, review, or on your blog). Also start a mailing list (it’s never too soon!) so that you can build a following. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!
I would venture a guess that the problem arises not from any decision by any person to delete a posted review. Rather, the problem arises from the engine that drives Amazon or any complex website. That engine is multiple linked databases. Databases are prone to corruption and need daily defragmentation.
I suspect reviews get lost now and then in the process. I suspect the algorithms that check the integrity of the database may identify a real (or mis-reported) error. To preserve the integrity of the whole database the checking software deletes what is suspected to be in error. The review is gone, but not because someone wanted it gone. (Just today, I too lost a review–a good one, 5-stars.)
It has become quite clear that one of the main reasons for deletion of reviews on Amazon was the fact that two reviews for the same book came form the same or similar IP addresses, meaning the same computer or local network connection. That means that family members, roommates, co-workers, dorm residents and customers of the same coffee house cannot post reviews of the same book. This could even hit you if you send in a review form a hotel where someone else once sent in a review of the same book.This is a very likely reason because Amazon and almost every online retailer regularly logs the IP addresses of visitors, for valid security and marketing reasons. You can test this by having someone with a different Amazon account post a review for a book on the same computer that someone else has used for that book’s review. Both reviews will disappear and both accounts are permanently frozen from placing any future review of that book. It is Amazon’s way of keeping “sock puppet” multiple reviews by one reviewer using different accounts.
Another connection that causes review deletions is having one credit card fund two Amazon accounts or two accounts using the same delivery address. Only one of those accounts can post a review for the same book. If you violate this, both accounts get their review deleted and re-review frozen, as above.
I find it amazing that Amazon objects to this, but not to the tens of thousands of reviews issued by “review factories” by people on Amazon’s “Top 1000 Reviewer” List who could not possibly have read all those books and who issue perfect five stars reviews for 99% of their books reviewed. That approaches being fraud on Amazon’s part, in that it is unlawful “puffing” of a product they sell.
Agree.
I just lost three 5 star reviews all from different people? People usually post these reviews on goodreads an on other places as well. It’s really disheartening. I had six I now have three.It’s not like I had forty reviews on there. This is crazy.
So sorry to hear that, Kim. It’s a terrible thing to even lose one five star review! Only authors know how hard we work to earn them. I will say that I haven’t had any disappear since that last sweep *crosses fingers*. Hopefully, Amazon will leave you alone for awhile so you can build up many, many more! Best of luck with your writing 🙂
This has happened to me recently. I reviewed a book I read. I really enjoyed it, it was Angels blood by Sallyann Phillips.
I left it a five star review and let my mother in law borrow it. She enjoyed it so much that she brought it.
When she reviewed it amazon uk removed both of our reviews and although I contacted them it has still not been resolved.
They seem to be implying that it is because we are related (but I can’t get a straight answer) but we dont live at the same address. I queried if their policy was that only one person per family can review something but they simply stopped repling to me.
Aside from exchanging some tweets, which is how I found out about the book, I have no connection to the author. Was not gifted it, both myself and my mother in law brought it and although I am an aspiring author, I have yet to be published.
I found it really frustrating as I invested time into not only reading the book, but leaving an honest review.
The only thing I can say is I did put the same review on goodreads, but since my mother in law isn’t on there, it seems they don’t like family, even if they live apart, reviewing the same thing…
I always try to leave feedback for everything I read so I was disappointed when this happened.
Thanks so much for the reblog! It is so frustrating to write a thoughtful review to have it erased like that. I take my review writing very seriously. I know Amazon is trying to shut down buy-a-review operations, but every once in awhile I still lose a review. I’ve heard that if you or your mother-in-law ever used the same server (maybe you logged in when you visited or vice versa) they will erase both of your reviews. So many of my readers tell me that they pass my series on to their family members and friends so this might be a good reason why some of them disappear. It’s a shame and I don’t think Amazon is going to change it. I would write up your review and send it to the author or leave it on their website. I’m sure it will mean so much to her. Best of luck with your writing!
Thanks for replying. My mother in law ordered it while at my house as she had never used amazon before. It foes seem silly, their t & c don’t say one review per household.
It just seems to make things harder for indie authors who rely on reviews.
I am looking forward to reading your book infinite sacrifice, I have it on my reading list for this year and will leave a review when I have.
Have a great week.
Even if they wouldn’t allow more than one review per household, they should at least leave the first one. Oh well, we can’t really do much when it comes to Amazon. Thanks so much for picking up Infinite Sacrifice and I can’t wait to see what you think of it! I’m now following your blog and keeping track of your releases (Darrienia sounds amazing! What a knack you have for writing blurbs.) Best of luck!
I just had a 5-star review removed today after complaining to Amazon about their spoilers-allowed policy. They refused to remove a spoiler review, or at least edit it for me, which would have take 2 seconds. The fool who wrote it gave away my ending, that I worked years to perfect so it’s unpredictable! Amazon told me to stop writing about it. Next thing I know, one of my 5-star reviews was gone. COINCIDENCE??? It has been up there for over a month, and it suddenly disappears? Wow it is time to grow up! I’m furious!
Oh, I’m so sorry, Anna. I wish Amazon didn’t allow spoilers and that your 5 star review disappeared right after complaining. I think you could try two things: (1) Comment on the review that has the spoiler thanking them for reading and reviewing your book but could they reword the review not to give away the ending? (2) Right below your blurb for the book add a special note that warns people not to read that specific review since it gives away the ending of the book. Maybe you can keep people from stumbling on it that way. I hope that helps and that none of your other reviews go missing!
Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately I have decided that commenting may draw attention to it, and the reviewer may also reply and reveal my other plot twists. It is a 4-star review and she plastered it on several sites all over the internet.
I initially thought it was a good idea to put a request at the end of the ebook requesting reviews if the reader likes the book. BAD IDEA! I do not recommend doing this, ever. There were no spoilers until I did this…apparently people feel the need to discuss the book’s end in the review I asked them to leave. I know it can (and should) be helpful to have this request at the book’s end, but I don’t recommend this method of obtaining reviews at all. I will not be doing this in the future, ever! Lesson learned.
I’d rather have a handful of reviews than one revealing the every major plot twist in my book. Almost every review raved about the surprises until this person showed up and revealed what they are. So much for that…. Why read the book when you can read the reviews, you know?
Hi Anna,
I ask for reviews in the back of all of my books and I haven’t had anyone giving away spoilers yet (knock on wood!). It does increase how many reviews are left though and maybe that leads to more people giving away your twists. I think if you left a note below your blurb on your amazon page to be wary of reading the reviews since some contain spoilers. That way readers are warned and can decide to just look at your ratings instead. I wish Amazon did what Goodreads does where it hides a review that gives away too much info under a spoiler alert warning. I think I’m going to write to Amazon suggesting an option to flag and hide reviews that contain spoilers. That way people can decide to read them and then no one should be offended.
That is exactly what I did, I suggested they hide spoilers to Amazon. They retaliated by deleting a 5-star review. If you do suggest this, make sure it’s not on the account associated with any books you have authored.
And may I add, they really did not seem too interested in hiding spoilers. They just don’t care. I don’t see how anyone in their right mind sells books that way!
I am actually considering pulling my books from KDP. I can’t say they are earning the exclusivity.
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