Ever had one of the reviews on your books disappear? Or why do some people get flagged and can’t review your books? This could be why!
Is cleaning up our Amazon book link something we’ve all been missing? If you have ever had one of your reviews removed from your books on Amazon, you already know how much it can suck. It’s always a great five-star review, too. Never one of those vague and misspelled reviews that make you cringe and want to give up writing altogether.
Well, there are a few different reasons why Amazon might be removing your book’s reviews, and at least one of them might be your fault. I know, it couldn’t be our fault, right? We follow all the rules, so it can’t be that. Well, it just might be!
Don’t panic. This is a tip that new authors wouldn’t be expected to know, and I know that some experienced authors may not even be aware of, but before we get into it, let’s look at the most common reasons why Amazon removes reviews.
Why Does Amazon Remove Reviews From Books?
One of the most common reasons why Amazon removes reviews from books is social media connections. It’s not unheard of for an author to add people to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, BookBub, AllAuthor, Instagram, Medium, Goodreads, and many more. Amazon takes these connections, and then its computer-based algorithms mark the author and the reviewer as friends and then delete the reviews.
Good luck trying to have reviews reinstated as well. It’s almost impossible, but I have had author friends have their reviewing privileges taken away and then got them reinstated again.
Another reason why Amazon may remove reviews from books is that the reviewer has broken one or another of Amazon’s Terms of Service. That reviewer will then have all their reviews removed from Amazon. If they have reviewed several of your books, then kiss them all goodbye.
Access your KDP platform or Amazon from a shared IP address such as a public library or apartment. Well, Amazon automatically assumes that people are reviewing from one IP address and removes the reviews. As I found out personally, they’ll also ban you from reviewing anything again. My wife and I both had Amazon accounts, but because we use the same Wi-Fi, it ended up having us both banned from reviewing anything.
Friends and family reviews are also not allowed. If your mom or dad reviews one of your books and they are in any way linked to you online, say goodbye to those reviews.
Finally, the one we’re all here to learn about!
Stripping Down Your Amazon Link
When you go to Amazon, search for your book, and then click on it, it creates a link. Now, that link contains small packets of information. I’ll use one of my books as an example and show you the link Amazon developed after I searched for the book.
This is the full link that Amazon developed. Now, imagine you do a free book giveaway and use that link or an email blast with that link. Amazon’s robots and algorithms may find that a little bit suspicious.
An easier and much cleaner link to the same book would be something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1530776279 – Paperback.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DTRYMJ0 – eBook.
All you need is the initial link to Amazon – https://www.amazon.com add /dp/ and then your ASIN for the eBook and the ISBN-10 for Paperback books.
An easy and fast way to get this link is through your KDP Dashboard. Where your books are listed, it has the option to take you directly to the eBook or Paperback version of your book on multiple Amazon platforms. When you click that link, it takes you to the Amazon site, and the link in your Internet Explorer is the stripped-down, clean version.
Quick and easy!
As authors, it’s easy to get hung up about reviews, especially if you don’t have a lot or you get a bad one that you feel is unjustified. Don’t stress about it. If your book sells and it’s worth reviewing, people are going to review it. To put it in perspective, we average 1-2 reviews per month, which are about 1% of sales. Sometimes, we don’t even get that. It can take a long time to get reviews.
Why Stripping Your Amazon Book Link Makes Sense! – Conclusion
If stripping your Amazon book links didn’t make sense before, then you should be ready to go now!
At Indie Publishing Group, we’re proud to assist Canadian and North American authors in self-publishing their work. If you are in the process of writing a book and need any assistance with paperback or ebook formatting, cover design, professional editing, or uploading to self-publishing sites such as Amazon KDP and Ingram Spark, please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us.
Our experienced and professional self-publishing team is standing by to assist you with your self-publishing dreams.
