Discussion | Amazon and their review guidelines
I had to post my review for The Anchor by B.N. Toler Thursday for it's release. I love writing my reviews and I always make sure I post on all social media platforms, especially if it is book I received for review.
But the last few reviews I have written and posted on Amazon I had to go back and rewrite my review because of Amazon's OUT OF CONTROL guidelines.
On Thursday I received an email just minutes after I sent in my review saying they couldn't post it. They gave a list of reasons why it couldn't be posted.
It looked something like this.
The only reason I could think of as to why they wouldn't post my review is because I had a swear word in my review. That happened to me last Spring when I wrote a review for author M.S. Brannon. I did have fuck and ass in that review, but oh well. For The Anchor I couldn't remember writing any bad things. So I went over and reread my review, not finding anything wrong with it.
Then it hit me. I had added a quote from the book in my review and in that quote it had the word 'Goddamn.' I sat there shaking my head saying to myself, NO WAY. That one quote couldn't be the reason why they wouldn't post my review.
So I went and deleted the comment and resent in my review. A few minutes later I received an email saying that my review had gone live. I was in complete disbelief. One word, Goddamn. That was it. So now my review is on Amazon without my favorite quote from the book because I couldn't add it into my review for Amazon because of their outrageous guidelines.
Yeah, I wouldn't want my kid saying that word, or hear it come out of one of my little cousins mouths. But we are all grown women who are on Amazon reading these reviews. It was a review for a romance novel. Yes, that included a lot of sex. No little kid is going to be on Amazon reading our reviews.
Us as bloggers should be able to write what we like and how we feel, that's why we receive copies of books from authors in advance, so we can write reviews and share our favorite quotes from the books. I would understand if it was a children's book but it wasn't.
What I think Amazon needs to do is start a rating system. If we are posting reviews for ADULT books we should be okay to write what we want. For other things, there should be a cap on what we write because it can end up being read by kids.
We are writing reviews for smut books and can't have the word Goddamn in our reviews, that's a little crazy. We are grown women. I am a bit annoyed with Amazon and it sucks because we write these reviews to help our favorite authors, especially self-publishing authors, they need the reviews more. It really does put us in between a rock and a hard spot.
*** You can find my real review for The Anchor below. I highly recommend this series. Start with The Suit. It is currently on sale for .99 cents! ***
But the last few reviews I have written and posted on Amazon I had to go back and rewrite my review because of Amazon's OUT OF CONTROL guidelines.
On Thursday I received an email just minutes after I sent in my review saying they couldn't post it. They gave a list of reasons why it couldn't be posted.
It looked something like this.
The only reason I could think of as to why they wouldn't post my review is because I had a swear word in my review. That happened to me last Spring when I wrote a review for author M.S. Brannon. I did have fuck and ass in that review, but oh well. For The Anchor I couldn't remember writing any bad things. So I went over and reread my review, not finding anything wrong with it.
Then it hit me. I had added a quote from the book in my review and in that quote it had the word 'Goddamn.' I sat there shaking my head saying to myself, NO WAY. That one quote couldn't be the reason why they wouldn't post my review.
So I went and deleted the comment and resent in my review. A few minutes later I received an email saying that my review had gone live. I was in complete disbelief. One word, Goddamn. That was it. So now my review is on Amazon without my favorite quote from the book because I couldn't add it into my review for Amazon because of their outrageous guidelines.
Yeah, I wouldn't want my kid saying that word, or hear it come out of one of my little cousins mouths. But we are all grown women who are on Amazon reading these reviews. It was a review for a romance novel. Yes, that included a lot of sex. No little kid is going to be on Amazon reading our reviews.
Us as bloggers should be able to write what we like and how we feel, that's why we receive copies of books from authors in advance, so we can write reviews and share our favorite quotes from the books. I would understand if it was a children's book but it wasn't.
What I think Amazon needs to do is start a rating system. If we are posting reviews for ADULT books we should be okay to write what we want. For other things, there should be a cap on what we write because it can end up being read by kids.
We are writing reviews for smut books and can't have the word Goddamn in our reviews, that's a little crazy. We are grown women. I am a bit annoyed with Amazon and it sucks because we write these reviews to help our favorite authors, especially self-publishing authors, they need the reviews more. It really does put us in between a rock and a hard spot.
*** You can find my real review for The Anchor below. I highly recommend this series. Start with The Suit. It is currently on sale for .99 cents! ***
Comments
Post a Comment