01
What do Amazon's review rules restrict?
KDP's customer-review page says you may provide free or discounted copies, as long as you do not require a review in exchange and you do not try to influence the review. Offering anything other than the book, including a gift card, invalidates the review, and the Amazon Community team will remove it. Reviews that conflict with the Community Guidelines are a common reason a review never appears. KDP names reviews posted in exchange for compensation as one of those conflicts, along with spam and hate speech. The Community team does not tell you the outcome of a report. Star ratings are not a simple average. Amazon says it uses machine-learned models. None of this is a quota of reviews you must collect before the book can stay on sale.[80]
- A free or discounted copy is allowed. A required review is not.
- A gift card, or any extra incentive, is named as a reason for removal.
- Amazon does not publish a minimum review count for a book page.
02
What must a paid review disclose?
The Federal Trade Commission's endorsement guides, at 16 CFR 255.5, say a connection between the endorser and the seller must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when it might materially affect the weight of the endorsement and the audience would not reasonably expect it. Material connections include payment and a free or discounted product, even when the advertiser did not require an endorsement in return. They also include other benefits, such as early access. The disclosure has to communicate the nature of the connection well enough for a reader to judge it. It does not have to list every detail. A disclosure does not repair a practice that requires the review to be positive, or that makes a reviewer expect trouble for a negative one. An Amazon customer review and a paid editorial review are different products. The customer-review rule still forbids requiring the Amazon review.[80][246][247][248]
- Disclose payment, a free copy, or early access when readers would not expect that connection.
- A disclosure does not make a required positive review acceptable.
- Label a Kirkus or BookLife quote as that publication's review, under that service's own reuse rules.
03
What is an advance reader copy?
An advance reader copy is a copy you send before, or around, publication so a reader can finish the book early. Amazon's rule does not create an exception for the word advance. If the copy is free or discounted, you still may not require a review or try to influence it. KDP Select is a separate exclusivity rule for the ebook. The Select terms do not name advance-copy services. Whether a particular file counts as digital distribution is answered on the Select exclusivity page, not by a review how-to. Give the reader the copy under the retailer's review rule, and do not treat a stack of early copies as a purchase of praise.[77][80]
- An early copy is still a copy. The no-required-review rule applies.
- Select exclusivity is a different question. Read that answer before you upload the ebook file anywhere else.
- Amazon does not publish a number of advance copies that makes a launch valid.
04
What is NetGalley used for?
NetGalley says it helps publishers and authors offer digital review copies and audiobooks to reviewers, librarians, booksellers, educators, and media. Members join and request books at no cost. Publishers receive requests and can also send a pre-approved link to their own contacts. The same page says publishers pay a setup fee and a monthly subscription that depends on how many books or audiobooks are active, and that there is a package for independent authors. It does not print the dollar amount. It tells you to request terms and pricing. A NetGalley listing is not an Amazon customer review, and it is not a promise that members will request or finish the book.[258]
- Members: no charge to request and read.
- Publishers: a fee, with the amount off this page.
- Feedback goes to the publisher. It is not automatically an Amazon review.
05
What do Kirkus Indie and BookLife charge?
Kirkus Indie, checked on 6 October 2026, lists three paid options. A traditional review starts at $450 for 250 words, with an expedited option of $599. An expanded review starts at $599 for about 500 words, expedited at $750. A picture book starts at $399 for 200 words, expedited at $450. Standard service is returned in 7 to 9 weeks from receipt, and express service in 4 to 6 weeks. Kirkus says it does not promise a positive review. You can leave a negative review unpublished. Excerpting is allowed only after the full review is published on Kirkus.com. BookLife's fee for a BookLife Review is $399, or $499 over 100,000 words. Expediting, from six weeks to four, is $150. After you make the review public, printing it in Publishers Weekly is an extra $100. BookLife's submission guidelines say Publishers Weekly consideration is a separate $25 fee, that only a small share of submissions is reviewed, and that selection can still be cancelled. BookLife's self-evaluations are free and do not decide eligibility. There is no free BookLife Review on these pages.[247][248][249]
- Kirkus Indie is paid. A negative review can stay private.
- BookLife Review: $399, with the surcharges above. The review is private until you make it public.
- Publishers Weekly consideration: $25, not a promise of coverage.
06
How should outreach stay within the rules?
Ask for a reader's honest reaction. Do not ask for a star rating, do not write the review for them, and do not add a gift, a bonus file, or a payment beyond the book. If you send a free copy, say so where the endorsement appears and a reader would not already expect the connection. Use a Kirkus or BookLife sentence only with the attribution those services require, and only after you have followed their excerpt rules. KDP's promotion page says third-party promotion is allowed and that you are responsible for the tactics. It advises against any site that promises a return. A review service that sells a positive Amazon review is outside both the Amazon rule and the endorsement guides.[80][90][246]
- The book can be free. The review cannot be required.
- Say when a reader got the book free, if that connection is not obvious.
- Skip any service that sells a positive customer review or a promised return.
07
How do advance-reader directories fit?
The advance-reader directory and the advance-copies task list services for delivering copies, finding readers, or pitching media. A listing is not an endorsement, and it is not permission to buy praise. Use those pages to see what a service claims to do, then check the current price on the service's own site. Pair them with the marketing directory when the job is advertising rather than a review copy.[80][247][248]
- Directory listings identify a job. They do not rate the provider.
- Confirm the live price. This page only repeats prices from Kirkus, BookLife, and the Copyright and platform pages it cites.
- Customer reviews, editorial reviews, and ads are three different spends.
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