Over the past few weeks we’ve noticed a recurring situation on Amazon. Sometimes Amazon allows the submission of a review, but after a few days you discover that the review was never approved. In other cases the review is approved and visible, but then disappears a few days later without explanation. We analyzed the data across readers and books and there is no clear correlation between specific readers or specific books. It is important to clarify that we are not talking about suspicious reviewer accounts, VA activity, or accounts created only to post reviews. In the cases we analyzed: • the Amazon accounts continue to function normally • the accounts are not banned by Amazon • the readers correctly purchased the books in Verified Paid Purchase assignments • the readers are able to continue posting reviews on other products In other words, everything appears legitimate both on the reader side and on the author side. This issue does not only affect review platforms. It also happens to people who post reviews occasionally and even to users reviewing physical products on Amazon. From what we are seeing, this may happen roughly once every 10–20 reviews posted. For this reason, it currently appears that the cause is something happening on Amazon’s side, not related to the quality or behavior of the reader. It is also possible that Amazon is currently running internal tests or changes to their review moderation system, although at the moment we have not found any clear pattern explaining these cases. Whenever this situation occurs, we verify that both the reader and the author followed the rules correctly, and in the vast majority of cases everything appears perfectly legitimate. Before voting, please put yourself in the position of both an author and a reader, because on BookVillage you will eventually experience both situations: sometimes you will be the one posting reviews, and sometimes the one receiving them. So when you vote, try to choose the option that you believe would make the overall experience of the platform as smooth as possible.

I’ve decided that in this case we will have two winners. The mentorship call goes to @Laura Diaz and @Yannick Di Mondo Both of them have been supporting BookVillage since the very beginning and have publicly shared their experience with the platform multiple times. I read many other comments and posts that were honestly beautiful and very thoughtful. Unfortunately, in a contest you still have to choose, and this time I wanted to reward two people who have supported BookVillage publicly more than once. Laura and Yannick, write in the comments what topics you would like to focus on during your mentorship session. Then contact me at [email protected] so we can arrange when to schedule the calls. If you don’t have a specific topic in mind, don’t worry. I’ll guide you. During the call we’ll look at your KDP business together, understand what the main problems are, and figure out how to solve them!

Hi everyone, I’m Adriano, founder of BookVillage.pub I created this community because I felt there was a real need for a space entirely dedicated to one of the most important topics for every self-publisher: Amazon book reviews. Getting reviews is something that matters to anyone publishing on Amazon, yet I often see that this topic is rarely discussed in depth. Many publishers have questions but don’t always know who to ask. And when they do ask, the answers are often vague or incomplete. The goal of this community is to change that. Here you can ask any question you have about reviews and we’ll always do our best to provide clear answers backed by real experience and data. Your questions will also help shape future content in the Classroom section, such as: • short tutorial videos • straight-to-the-point articles • explanations of different review strategies You are free to ask questions not only about BookVillage, but about any service or strategy related to getting reviews and self-publishing in general. You’re also welcome to introduce yourself and share your experience, including: • what services you have used in the past • what review strategies you have tried before • what worked well and what didn’t This way we can build a real source of feedback and knowledge that will also help future members of the community. Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments and share your experience. And if you know other publishers or independent authors who might benefit from these discussions, feel free to invite them to join the community. 📚 IMPORTANT: BOOKVILLAGE UNIVERSITY Inside the Classroom section, you’ll also find the BookVillage University, where I explain in depth how BookVillage works, how Amazon reviews actually behave over time, and what I currently believe are the safest long-term approaches for both receiving and posting reviews. And there are two lessons in particular that I strongly recommend every user watches carefully: