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I’m a newly self-published author. My book, Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media, was published on Amazon KDP on February 28th. The path to getting the book published was filled with twists and turns. During the process, I noticed that a few aspects seemed to be poorly explained or poorly understood. I’ve decided to write a series of blog posts about what I experienced and learned. This first post will cover “editorial reviews” on Amazon.
Editorial reviews can be found by scrolling past a book’s blurb and suggested purchases in the Amazon storefront. They’re usually punchy quotes like “Laugh-out-loud funny.”―Newsweek. These reviews aren’t specific to Amazon. Plenty of books are published with superlative quotes embedded in their front covers. These editorial reviews form an important part of traditional and self-published book marketing.
Are editorial reviews just paid positive reviews?
As of August 2024, “fake reviews” are punishable by law and civil penalty. Amazon polices fake reviews aggressively and now the FTC is involved as well.
Editorial reviews exist in an area that is rife for bias and conflict of interest. Yet, I was surprised to learn that paying for these reviews is industry standard. The loophole, or compliant angle, is that the reviews should be truthful and don’t have to be positive. Obviously, this creates a natural wink-wink nudge-nudge relationship between reviewers and authors.
The typical setup for reviewers that advertise their editorial review services is that the review will be truthful but that if the author doesn’t like it, they don’t have to use it.
There are a few paths here. The most honest route is organic reviews from prominent critics. Major reviewers review major books, hopefully without being compensated by the book author or publisher. If the review ends up being positive, an author can freely use quotes for marketing.
How book reviewers decide what books to read doesn’t fit into any framework. It may be an editor’s directive, it might be entirely their own choice, or a team might just pick from a list of advance titles sent by traditional publishers. There’s no submission page for indie authors.
For indie authors, there exists a web of “editorial review” services and then old fashioned cold outreach. Both of these usually involve payment, depending on the credibility and audience of the author looking for a review, but in some cases there can be some symbiotic trade.
Editorial reviews cannot be paid to be positive. Uncovering the business dealings or objectivity behind any review, however, is impossible. Before I get into my approach, I’ll provide the steps to uploading any editorial reviews to Amazon.
How to add editorial reviews on Amazon
Editorial reviews can be intimidating. When I first saw the option to add them to my book listing on Amazon, I feared there was some official submission and vetting process. However, it’s just a gigantic free text field. I wasn’t asked to provide a source for my editorial reviews, though I did receive an alert message that changes to my reviews would take 3-5 business days.
The steps to adding editorial reviews on Amazon are simple:
- Navigate to Author Central
- Click the “Books” tab
- Click the book to be edited
- Click the format to be edited
- Click “Edit book details (US-only)”
- The first section is “Your Editorial Reviews.” Click “Add review.”
- Enter all of your editorial reviews in this section.
- Submit
If successful, you’ll receive the below message, which states that the review changes will take “3 to 5 business days” to be shown on Amazon. However, the last time I edited reviews for my book, it took less than three hours for them to appear on my product’s listing page!
How I approached Editorial Reviews for Framed
If all the best sellers have Amazon product pages stuffed with editorialized quotes, does the indie author also need these reviews in order to be successful?
Most people in self-publishing communities say, “No, it’s probably not even worth paying for a single one!” I generally agree with this.
However, I budgeted about $2000 for editorial reviews. I didn’t spend my full budget, but surely this number will sound ridiculous. Is there any chance I make my money back? That’s part of taking the risk here. I don’t know, but so far I’m really happy with the reviews and private feedback shared by my editorial reviewers.
What am I hoping to get from editorial reviews?
- Structured feedback on my book
- Quotes that I can use in promotion
- Credibility for my work
- Referrals to other influential people
Of course, at the gate, all I’m guaranteed is #1 — feedback. Hopefully I get a bit of #2, maybe that leads to a sliver of #3 and a Hail Mary attempt at #4. This is why I’m playing the game. If my book is high quality, the editorial reviews might give it a useful boost.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that my book is nonfiction. There are experts and “influencers” in my space, and I paid them to read and review my book. For fiction, especially for a first-time fiction author, I don’t really think it’d be worth paying for more than one editorial reviewer.
I am pursuing two paths for editorial reviews: individuals and review services, like Kirkus.
In selecting my individual reviewers, I didn’t cast a particularly wide net. I only sent about ten inquiries and I received seven yes-es. The only “hard no” I received was from someone who had signed a contract forbidding any further association with the shadowy company he had once run. The people I selected included two academics, one author, and three inventor/CEOs.
For review services, I was more selective. Some of these cost in upwards of $600! I’ve only recently submitted a few applications, and I’m deciding on how much deeper I’ll go here. Many reviews of reviewers, found on places like reddit, are very critical of this practice, even labeling it a “scam.”
I haven’t received any reviews back from the services yet, but the weight of a Kirkus review, for example, is tangible, and I figured it was worth a shot. There is information suggesting that Kirkus approval helps with book distribution in libraries and such. Again, for fiction, I don’t think I would bother soliciting more than one review, though I’d probably select one of the most prominent providers.
Creating a contract for editorial reviews
For my individual reviewers, I decided to type up a contract just to ensure everyone was on the same page. For a few of my reviewers, it was there first time entering into such an arrangement, and so I wanted to explain my expectations while providing examples.
Some things I put in my contract:
- Payment schedule (amount and upfront vs at delivery).
- Anticipated date my book would be made available to the reviewer and due date of review.
- Mandate for truthful reviews, detail of FTC guideline.
- My right to reject reviews that were found to have used AI or plagiarized.
- General review guidelines (length and style) with an example from Kirkus.
- Guidelines on review content (mostly in line with Amazon’s policies against profanity, and such)
Nobody expressed concern with my contract, though, admittedly, I think that tossing someone a contract at the outset can be a bit formal and intimidating. I never led a conversation with, “Here’s the five page contract you have to read before I send you my four hundred page book!”
“Can you refer me to editorial reviewers?” and “Will you write an editorial review for my book?”
My journey to self-publishing was only possible thanks to the kindness of others and free resources. If you’re publishing your own book and want more help with editorial reviews, please reach out. I’m not really interested in becoming an editorial reviewer myself, but I want to do my part in demystifying this practice.
Thanks for reading! If you haven’t already, check out Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media!
