Latest rules for ARC reviews and $50 spend on Amazon

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Are ARC reviews still allowed? I'm sure I read that they were no longer permitted. 

I also recall reading that you can't review a book on Amazon unless you've spent $50 in the Amazon store. I'm getting mixed results from a Google search and can't find the relevant page on Amazon. 

Thanks in advance.

[TimothyEllis]

As far as I know, the $50 per store rule is still in place. That's why they brought in ratings.

ARCs are allowed, but only within the rules.

You can ask for a review.
You can give away a copy.
But you can't give away a copy in exchange for a review.

The way I think people adapted was they culled their ARC lists of all people known to not always do a review, and kept the ones who almost always did one without needing to be asked. That way they get the reviews, without needing to ask for them.

As long as you're careful with your wording, there should be no problem.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

As far as I know, the $50 per store rule is still in place. That's why they brought in ratings.

ARCs are allowed, but only within the rules.

You can ask for a review.
You can give away a copy.
But you can't give away a copy in exchange for a review.

The way I think people adapted was they culled their ARC lists of all people known to not always do a review, and kept the ones who almost always did one without needing to be asked. That way they get the reviews, without needing to ask for them.

As long as you're careful with your wording, there should be no problem.

Thanks. 
 It's for a friend who is launching a non-fiction book. I don't want him to fall foul of Amazon's rules.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Eventually found what I was looking for by Googling. Couldn't find my way around Amazon to get to this  .

You must have spent $50 on Amazon.com, using a credit or debit card, in the past 12 months in order to review. That's a lot of money if you live in SA 

[alhawke]

I giveaway ARCs all the time--mainly through Booksprout and my newsletter. But Amazon is finicky on what reviews they post. They've been known not to post reviews from reviewers despite the $50 rule with some of my ARC reviewers--I know because I've had ARC reviewers tell me.

They also use math that doesn't compute to 1+1=2 with their rating system (I had a recent ebook drop from 4.2 to 3.7 with 10 reviews after ONE 3 star review. (Thanks for letting me vent here!)). So... sigh... you work with what you've got. Follow the rules, don't say "exchange", and accept giving away your book whether a review is posted or not.

Finally, be careful with KU. I've heard KU books can be given away for ARCs but I view this as a risky endeavor. When I was in KU, I always sent over ARCs before the ebook was published so that I didn't possibly break the rules. But I know KU authors do ARCs all the time.

Don't let your friend get banned on Amazon over a review.  Despite a system ripe for nefarious activity, and likely full of nonsense like all review systems on the web in 2025, we authors have to do what's right.

Don't forget to tell your friend that any review can be posted on Goodreads. Goodreads, though a part of Zon, does not go by the $50 rule to post.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

I giveaway ARCs all the time--mainly through Booksprout and my newsletter. But Amazon is finicky on what reviews they post. They've been known not to post reviews from reviewers despite the $50 rule with some of my ARC reviewers--I know because I've had ARC reviewers tell me.

They also use math that doesn't compute to 1+1=2 with their rating system (I had a recent ebook drop from 4.2 to 3.7 with 10 reviews after ONE 3 star review. (Thanks for letting me vent here!)). So... sigh... you work with what you've got. Follow the rules, don't say "exchange", and accept giving away your book whether a review is posted or not.

Finally, be careful with KU. I've heard KU books can be given away for ARCs but I view this as a risky endeavor. When I was in KU, I always sent over ARCs before the ebook was published so that I didn't possibly break the rules. But I know KU authors do ARCs all the time.

Don't let your friend get banned on Amazon over a review.  Despite a system ripe for nefarious activity, and likely full of nonsense like all review systems on the web in 2025, we authors have to do what's right.

Don't forget to tell your friend that any review can be posted on Goodreads. Goodreads, though a part of Zon, does not go by the $50 rule to post.

Thanks so much.
I have advised him to use Goodreads and to interact with readers (not just post ads about his book). I've also warned about replying to reviews, even good ones, as it never ends well. A number of years ago there were some popcorn-worthy spats between author and reviewer. 
Authors also have to take care with social media posts as it's easy to make enemies who can then one-star your books. 

[alhawke]

You know, there's no actual rule I know of regarding commenting over a negative review, but that is the understood etiquette. I think our culture has decided that responding back would fill too many comments and limit the usefulness of reviews, or something. Interestingly, reviewers comment back after negative reviews on Yelp and Fiverr all the time.

Under the same vein of thought regarding Fiverr, I know a guy who had a service that he abandoned right after a really harsh and nasty review. Could be a coincidence, but it's a big one. I don't get why people don't realize how hurtful their comments can really be to people. So often people type away and forget they're talking to actual real people.

[TimothyEllis]

You must have spent $50 on Amazon.com, using a credit or debit card, in the past 12 months in order to review. That's a lot of money if you live in SA 

It's by store. Not sure if its 50 pounds in the UK store, or $50 equivalent in pounds.

[TimothyEllis]

Finally, be careful with KU. I've heard KU books can be given away for ARCs but I view this as a risky endeavor. When I was in KU, I always sent over ARCs before the ebook was published so that I didn't possibly break the rules. But I know KU authors do ARCs all the time.

If you email to a device, there's no problem. Even a straight email is fine, and they self load.

It's when you use Bookfunnel or similar that you get into trouble with KU, because that's viewed as the book being on another site.

But just manual distribution without any site being involved is fine.

[Bill Hiatt]

I believe the language the last time I looked was "available elsewhere on the web." Amazon doesn't want a link that someone could access, which is why BookFunnel is good only for prepub ARCS or ARCS on non-KU books. But emailing a copy to someone doesn't make it "available elsewhere on the web."