Is anyone else having issues with Amazon not publishing reviews? I won Twice as Perfect but got it late so I missed out on the 300 bonus points. Regardless though my review still hasn’t shown up. Anyone else have resolutions for this issue?
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I’ve had this issue a lot. Not necessarily with books through BookishFirst, but with other ARCs I’ve read. I usually submit the review multiple times. I give them 24 hours and then submit it every day until it’s approved. It’s extremely upsetting when I’m trying to help indie authors get the word out about their books.
Also, I’ve noticed that ARC reviews and negative reviews typically take longer to be approved, likely because Amazon is not making money off of an ARC review and negative reviews will not increase sales for them.
If you include a statement in your review, such as, “I received a free copy of this book, and I’m leaving this review voluntarily,” (which you are required to do), then I’ve noticed issues with these as well. I’ve seen people try to reword the disclaimer, but I’m not sure how effective that is.
I’m not sure that my answer is helpful, but I’m in the same boat as you!
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Oh this was very helpful thank you so much. I guess like you mentioned I will keep posting until it’s approved.
I’ve had an issue lately where Amazon denies my review because I thanked the publisher for sending me an ARC, so that’s been fun.
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I sent in my review for Send Her Back the last day to earn 300 points ( I only received the book the day before!!) and they didn’t approve it till Friday. So review it earlier? If you review it on pub day, you’ll still be able to get 300 points if it takes a week to be approved. 
When they take forever to even snd the book to you though, not much can be done.
You are not required to include that disclaimer on BookishFirst or NetGalley reviews. You can but it’s not required. I never have. I only have for my Macmillan ARCs because they do specifically call attention to the wording. But I don’t thank the publisher, the author, or anything and it’s never stopped me from receiving ARCs.
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I haven’t exactly had that issue with Amazon reviews. But they didn’t post my last review for about a week, and then they sent me an email that there was something unacceptable in my review. But they didn’t say what, so I had no idea. I just ended up cutting off the last paragraph. I guess that worked.
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If I mention the name of the publisher or Bookish First in my review for Amazon, I receive an email that says my review does not comply with their guidelines. It never says how. I’ve been putting a generic “received copy for review” at the end and that sometimes gets through.
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I have been arguing with Amazon for 2 years over reviews. Since I started leaving reviews for books I didn’t buy at Amazon, all of a sudden ALL my reviews were wiped clean and dubbed as suspect.
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I’ve had this happen many times but the review eventually does get approved. My biggest issue with Amazon is a few times they have not even allowed me to review a book because “too many people are posting reviews” or something similar. And what makes me angry about this is every time the author has been a black man or woman.
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I went through this as well with the recent lot of books I won. I kept submitting and when I’d go back to check on why it had never gone through, it looked as though it had never been submitted. So I’d submit again, rinse and repeat. Finally I did a help chat and complained about it and I got a response on one book within 24 hours, then the others eventually filed in. But I had the same issue - lost the Amazon points on 2 of those books between the delays with the publisher shipping and the delays with Amazon. Super frustrating. It’s really annoying when you bust your butt to read a book that you got at the last possible second to review on pub day and then your review just sits there…
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Oh definitely it’s a pain. That’s why I have stacked up points and really been selective of ones I get because of that unless I win but even so the Amazon thing has been an issue.
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I’ve had the same issue of Amazon not publishing my review because it “did not comply with their guidelines.” Maybe because I mentioned my thanks to the publisher for an Advance copy? But no specifics were stated.
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Other people have mentioned that specific thing as well. I do that in my reviews as well but maybe if I left it out it would make a difference. I always thought the rule of thumb is if you get a book early especially an ARC you would have to specify that.
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I notice that lately Amazon takes days if not weeks to post my book reviews. To make things worse, one of my recent reviews has been Xed out because my review violated some of Amazon’s guidelines, but it doesn’t tell me why / how… I don’t remember I used F-bomb, or other inappropriate words…
Ugh that is awful 
did you ever try to email them to find out why?
Ya, I’m going write them an email to find out “why”…It’s just frustrating, not sure if my next book review would be Xed out again…
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I haven’t had issues with Amazon until I posted a review that mentioned LGBTQ+ and a gay friend of the protagonist. It was a five star review, but apparently, Amazon doesn’t take too kindly with LGBTQ+ mentions and references to transgender/gay.
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Now, I don’t know what to write for book reviews anymore! If Amazon thinks that our reviews violate its rules / guidelines, at least point out what are inappropriate, then we won’t repeat the same thing; but it just leaves us in the “dark”
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