NetGalley Addicts Support Group discussion

I recently submitted two review to Amazon which they rejected for not meeting the community guidelines. I am completely flummoxed as they were normal reviews with the only possible disqualifier the fact I acknowledged that I received an ARC in return for a copy of the book or did not use enough first person pronouns. I have not have problems before with reviews on Amazon. I would welcome any suggestions on how to proceed. This is regrettable as both reviews were 4*s for worthy titles. I have had zero problems on B&N! Has this happened to anyone else?

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Yes. There’s been a few posts in recent months about this. It’s the disclaimer likely causing the problem as every now and then they seem to take exception despite the fact that their review guidelines allow for publishers to distribute advance reading copies.

Never heard about personal pronouns being one to trip the censor.

Marjorie wrote: "I recently submitted two review to Amazon which they rejected for not meeting the community guidelines. I am completely flummoxed as they were normal reviews with the only possible disqualifier the..."

Never mention you got the book in exchange for anything. Amazon doesn't like "in exchange" anymore.

I just thank the publisher (or whoever I got the book from) and NG/EW (if I got it from there) for the ARC. I keep it that simple and all my reviews have been accepted.

Marilyn is right ...it’s the exchange bit that triggers them. It’s a recent change. Thanking publishers indicates to readers that you were given the book.

My problem was solved with Amazon after changing this. I still do the whole in exchange...on Goodreads and my blog

It was just so strange. I had another review accepted a few days earlier with the same disclaimer. I mentioned personal pronouns only because the rejection mentioned "your review should focus on specific features of the product and your experience with it." I thought that perhaps I didn't say "I..." or "In my opinion" enough :-) LOL. I'll change my line re the ARC in the future. So stupid on Amazon's part.

I had a review rejected for the same reason recently. I couldn't figure it out, so I went back & read other reviews. The main character has attempted suicide, and I noticed not one review mentioned that. So, even though they say you can't resubmit, I removed suicide....and resubmitted it and didn't hear anything. I thought about it a couple of days ago and two things stuck out: There are now other reviews that used the word suicide and they had published my reworded review. Since that is all I changed, I am stumped, and I imagine the algorithm laughing at me.

Sounds like Amazon has gotten to for their pants and good.

marilyn wrote: "Marjorie wrote: "I recently submitted two review to Amazon which they rejected for not meeting the community guidelines. I am completely flummoxed as they were normal reviews with the only possible..."

I also just say 'I received an advance copy of the book from xxx' at the end of the review and haven't had one rejected yet (fingers crossed I'm not jinxing myself!)

Carolyn wrote: I also just say 'I received an advance copy of the book from xxx' at the end of the review and haven't had one rejected yet (fingers crossed I'm not jinxing myself!)

I always afraid I'll jinx myself, too, when I say what works for me 😬😁

We all tiptoe around Amazon’s algorithm...but they are a biggie.

I tend to avoid words that might trigger them. 😹

Currently they are rejecting one in three of mine. I use the same disclaimer every time, only changing the name of the publisher, the book and author.
I had left a link to the author's website in one, but as to why they have rejected the others, who would know? Then when you resubmit the review, it can take weeks to be approved, if ever!

I've been saying "Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!" at the end and they haven't been rejected anymore.

I always use the phrase "I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own" and have never had a problem.

All of a sudden, Amazon stopped accepted my reviews. I don't even get a rejection message.

I have always ended my reviews with "I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and (NG/EW) for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving this review."

I have been thinking the issue was that I had three negative reviews in a row. I've been trying to post a positive review (4) and I have gotten neither acceptance or rejection.

Stan wrote: "All of a sudden, Amazon stopped accepted my reviews. I don't even get a rejection message.

I have always ended my reviews with "I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and (NG/EW) for th..."

Look at all the above comments for suggestions 😊

Dorie - Cats&Books :) wrote: "Stan wrote: "All of a sudden, Amazon stopped accepted my reviews. I don't even get a rejection message.

I have always ended my reviews with "I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and (..."

Yes, but up until the beginning of October, my acknowledgment line was never a problem.

Stan wrote: "All of a sudden, Amazon stopped accepted my reviews. I don't even get a rejection message.

I have always ended my reviews with "I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and (NG/EW) for th..."

Lots of comments on here about them not liking the phrase "ARC"

yeah, they seem to really dislike ARC and exchange. I just acknowledge that I got the books from Netgalley and the publisher and they've gone through fine.
Watch me jinx myself :D

https://www.amazon.com/review/RY4WNP1...

I still don't know what is wrong. I have used all the suggestions in this thread (thank you) and submitted several reviews - I have been behind. I don't even get a rejection message, just nothing.

The funny thing is that this afternoon I got an email from Amazon Reviews asking for reviews of several products I purchased in the past two months.


NEVERMIND: It took two days, but after tweaking the review in question, it appeared today at noon.

Oh glad it appeared. I do think that if you have a rejection then subsequent reviews can take a while to appear. I have waited 2-4 days sometimes which is frustrating.

All my reviews have been accepted but about half the time they will take a couple of days to show up.

Something strange happened recently. They have been scrutinizing my reviews for a while, and it would take a few days for them to come up. Sometimes I would get a message, with no explanation, that they'd been rejected. Last week I went and checked for a particular review and it had been put on Amazon, so I figured I was in the clear. However, while checking my email I saw that I had gotten a message from Amazon reviews that that review would not be posted, of course with no explanation. I went back and the review was still there! It had not been removed. Ever since then there has been no policing of my reviews. They are posted immediately.

Bonnie wrote: "Something strange happened recently. They have been scrutinizing my reviews for a while, and it would take a few days for them to come up. Sometimes I would get a message, with no explanation, that..."

There's definitely something weird happening with some reviews. I had my first rejection in 2 years 2 weeks ago & I couldn't tell what the heck was wrong with it. I rejigged it & submitted it but never received any updates as to if it had been accepted this time or not, but I when I checked the book page, my review was there. Very strange.

I don’t understand with Amazon. Sometimes, my reviews go through and others it says Material Too Sensitive can’t print. I just try and put them in. See what happens.

Every time I get a rejection review e-mail from Amazon, which is not common, I resubmit. Sometimes it is then posted and other times not. If not, I contact Amazon through "Help", either by chat or call. The rep taking it will then send the problem to Communities, which is the group that decides what is posted and what is not. Never, after that happens, does my review get rejected again and is not posted. Either it just posts or I get an e-mail from Amazon apologizing for the rejection.

A lot of times, I think it's simply a software rejection, where no person saw the review. After you complain, a rep reads the review. So, always complain through Help, if you see no reason for the rejection. Also, I always put at the end of the review I got a "free" copy, because my understanding is that's like the law or something. You must state you got a "free" product, period.

Sometimes, too, I suspect an author may not like a critical review and somehow gets it rejected. That may be my imagination, though. But once, not too long ago, a 2-star book review posted and then it disappeared. The second time it posted and then disappeared. After the third time it posted and disappeared, I complained to Amazon. It posted permanently then and I received an apology from Amazon. I had made no changes to the review at all.

You can always tell if your review has disappeared by going to the book page and clicking the "write a review" button. If your review is still there, the review boxes will show up with your review and title. (It can take days before a review posts, too, after you submitted it.) If the boxes are blank, so you can write another review, your original review has been rejected or removed, but Amazon should still have a copy of it. Always complain if you feel your review did not violate review guidelines.

SundayAtDusk wrote: "Every time I get a rejection review e-mail from Amazon, which is not common, I resubmit. Sometimes it is then posted and other times not. If not, I contact Amazon through "Help", either by chat or ..."

Most of this jibes with my experience, although I don't use the word "free," I say "review copy," and it gets through fine. But I am amazed that authors (or publicists?) have successfully gotten unfavorable reviews lifted! I'll have to revisit the ones I've submitted to see if they're still there.

As I said, I might be imagining authors can do that. :) But there was something truly odd about the review I mentioned.

I've been experiencing this recently myself. I couldn't understand how my acknowledgment of NetGalley and the publishers providing me with eARCs in exchange for my review was angering the algorithm police, but maybe the word "exchange". I've changed it and just tried posting again. I'm rather concerned because I reached out to Amazon regarding this and got sent an email informing me that if I keep posting "promotional content", my posting privileges will be revoked.

That sounds serious. At some point in the past, it came up somewhere that you no longer could say you got a free book or whatever in exchange for a review. It was like that meant the review was bought. I just state now I got a free ARC from NetGalley and the author or publisher.

I wonder, however, if Amazon has ever read NetGalley's suggestions to reviewers, which do seem to suggest you want to write a review to promote the book, even though it's totally against Amazon's review policies to post a consumer review doing so. NetGalley's money comes from publishers and authors, though, so they want to make publishers and authors happy.

Try posting your reviews early morning, between 8.00 am and 8.30 am and they don't reject mine. I say " I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and give is four stars " and if I post them later on Amazon don't accept them.

Amazon will not let me post reviews at all because I don't buy enough books from them... which makes me not want to buy from them even more...I have always preferred Kobo and will post my reviews there

You can say you received the book free, but the review can't be "in exchange for" that. Sometimes "the decision to leave a review was my own" helps.

i just say ARC provided via NetGalley - nothing else and never had any reviews rejected

I changed my wording from "...in exchange..."to "Thanks to (publisher name) and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions shared are influenced by nothing other than my own reading experience." and sent it last night. It's on the Amazon site today, and I've gotten no email from Amazon.

I just tried another book, and am hoping it will go through with no issues as well.

Dee wrote: "i just say ARC provided via NetGalley - nothing else and never had any reviews rejected"

Yes, Dee...that is how I word it also and my reviews always go through.

I think it's just a random glitch. It's happened to me a couple of times over the past few weeks and I have simply resubmitted the same review with the same title and it has been accepted.