Indie Book Club discussion

I have noticed that Amazon made the switch to only allowing customer reviews for actual customers. This may, initially seem like a good idea, and potentially reduces spam, but what if a reader wants to help the author out by posted a review there, but purchased their book elsewhere?

My biggest concern with this is authors giving out review copies. I have recently released my first book and have been contemplating looking for people to review it. If I email an ebook copy of my book to a reviewing in exchange for their services, they can only leave a meaningful review on Goodreads, and are unable to leave said review on Amazon as well, simply because they did not purchase the book there.

Am I missing something, or is there a way to still give out review copies and get Amazon reviews out of it? Does Amazon have discount/promo codes that can somehow be given out to reviewers so they can download the book direct from Amazon without having to pay for it, thus satisfying the "purchased" requirement? I'm just shooting ideas in the dark here, wondering if anyone has come across this and has any suggestions.

Thanks.

You can gift a copy of the book to someone via email. Keep in mind they could use the voucher to buy something else though. Also it's a bit fiddly as you have to raise a voucher in their home store as they are non transferable - so if their home store is Amazon.co.uk then the voucher needs to be raised there.

It is possible but it is a bit of a pain.

When did that change? A week ago I reviewed a book I received for a Read and Review and they let me post it.

That's a pain. :P So the voucher is not a discount on a select book, but actual dollars transferred from account to account? Essentially then I would be purchasing my own book at Amazon, thus giving Amazon money (and myself, but at 35%, Amazon gets most of it) to allow a ready to post their review natively...

It changed not too long ago. I have only noticed it in the last couple of days.

So wait. If I buy a book at a used bookstore, I can't write a review for it on Amazon? Or are they only targeting small-press/indie books?

I heard that Amazon was only going to be allowing verified purchased reviews through, however have not seen the implementation at this point. As a Canadian I can leave reviews on anything at Amazon.ca, but can only leave star ratings at .com. Because I saw the only star rating option (at .com) I seem to have been briefly confused because of the information I heard elsewhere. If/when the verified purchased review filter is implemented, this may become a problem, but it is, as of yet, no in effect (to my knowledge).

My sincerest apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

I agree it can become a problem. I know they want to reduce fraud with false reviews but then, I thought the thing they have where it specifies that it is an actual purchase was good enough.

Daniel wrote: "That's a pain. :P So the voucher is not a discount on a select book, but actual dollars transferred from account to account? Essentially then I would be purchasing my own book at Amazon, thus givin..."

I believe you gift the book to the person via their email - which would mean you spend the money at Amazon - and then they can choose to use it to 'buy' your book, or not. As I said you can only use the voucher in the store it was raised in and they are non transferable. As it tends to direct you back to your home store it can be a problem.

I think reviews posted on .com will filter to all the other stores but 'local' ones only stay on the site they are posted on.