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Getting Amazon reviews without breaking the rules

By R. S. Breed · Updated

Reviews sell books, and that's exactly why Amazon polices them. Most of the rules are common sense, but a couple catch authors who mean well, including one that affects how many authors run their ARC teams.

Every rule here is quoted from Amazon's own pages, checked on 29 September 2026: KDP's help page on free copies, and Amazon's Community Guidelines and Promotional Content pages.

The rule in one line

KDP: "You may provide free or discounted copies of your books to readers, as long as you do not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review."

Free copies: fine. Strings attached: not fine.

What's allowed

  • Giving free copies, including advance copies. Amazon's guidelines say readers can "Review free books (advanced reader copies) from authors or publishers. However, they can't require a review in exchange for free books or try to influence your opinion."
  • Asking for an honest review. Amazon allows a review when "a seller encourages you to leave an unbiased, un-incentivized review." A line at the end of your book or in your newsletter asking readers to share what they honestly thought is fine.
  • Answering questions as the author, openly. Amazon's example of what's allowed: an author answering a question about their own book who says "I'm the author of this book."

What's not allowed

  • Requiring a review for the free copy. "No review, no book" breaks the KDP rule above.
  • Asking for a good review. Asking for five stars, or only for positive reviews, is trying to influence the review.
  • Rewards of any kind. Amazon doesn't allow reviews "in exchange for compensation, including payments, refunds, discounts, products, gift cards, warranties, or services". That includes giveaway entries for reviewers.
  • Review swaps. Amazon names this exactly: "An author posts a positive review about a peer's book in exchange for receiving a positive review from the peer." Reading each other's books is fine; trading reviews isn't.
  • Family, friends and colleagues. Amazon doesn't allow reviews of products from people "you have a personal connection with", and lists friends, relatives, employers and business associates. Your mum's five stars can be removed.
  • Reviewing your own book. Amazon removes "reviews posted by someone with financial interest in the product".

The one that catches ARC teams

This rule is the one to read twice:

"Although products may be provided to customers for free or at a discount, and those customers may write reviews, any attempt to influence or manipulate reviews is prohibited, including conditioning any future benefit on writing a review or the content of the review. Benefits include but are not limited to: future opportunities to receive free or discounted products, continued membership in a program or club…"

"Future opportunities to receive free products" and "continued membership in a program or club" describe an ARC team. So an ARC team where you only stay in if you review, or where readers who didn't review don't get the next book, reads as conditioning a future benefit on a review.

What you can do instead: choose readers by whether they read. A reader who finishes your books and tells you what they thought is a good team member, whether or not they post a review.

That's how Bervet is built. When a reader asks for one of your advance copies, you see how many ARCs they've been let in to and how many they finished, never whether they reviewed. Readers are told a review is welcome and never required, and everyone you let in stays on your team for your next book.

Honest ways to get more reviews

  1. Run an ARC. Readers who read before launch can review from release day. How to get ARC readers without paying.
  2. Ask, once, at the end of the book. Readers have just finished; a short, honest ask with where to leave a review works because the moment is right.
  3. Ask your newsletter. The people who already chose to hear from you. Ask for honest reviews, not good ones.
  4. Make it easy. Link straight to the review page, or at least to the book.
  5. Be patient. Reviews build up. The first few do the most work: the Spiegel Research Center found purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews was 270% higher than for one with none (products in general, not books specifically).

On Bervet

Reviews on Bervet sit on the book's page next to the free first chapter. Readers who read an advance copy are marked "Got a free or advance copy", so anyone reading the reviews knows. When your book's out, one button tells your ARC readers where to find it and that an honest review is welcome. Host your ARC free.

Sources

Platforms change their rules often. If something here is out of date, tell us in the forum and we'll fix it.

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