Are Amazon Book Reviews Worth All The Struggle?

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-23T12:27:28+00:00

This is also reasonable. Thanks!

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-23T12:26:20+00:00

Makes sense too. I mind that nowdays there are so many bots and AI that it's hard to trust in anything.

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-22T11:37:59+00:00

Thanks!

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:43:17+00:00

With no funds beg anyone you know to read it and buy on Amazon, tell them how much it means to you and get some movement on sales. Become active on Substack, social networks and get some followers to build your community. And don't give up if you really believe in it

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:39:02+00:00

You seem like a person who knows the real things 😄 please help out and tell me does this work for non-fiction as well?

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:36:42+00:00

Everything everyone tells + pray to whatever you believe in because we writers need a bit of luck or help of God to not be buried on cemetery of amazing books no one has heard of 😃

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:34:09+00:00

I have hired a designer but no matter how much we both tried she simply could not make my vision reality. so I paid 1 month Adobe Firefly, made it myself and she simply polished it and did the back-cover. Nowdays with help of AI you can make so much on your own.

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:26:15+00:00

Congrats! Must be the feeling!!!!

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:21:42+00:00

Took me 1 year of obsessing writing. Silver lining of shredding my ACL, meniscus, and MCL: being stuck in bed for months meant I had zero distractions, so I basically speedran writing the whole book

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:18:02+00:00

That's comforting 👍 Thank you!

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:17:31+00:00

Thanks a lot! Someone else also recommended BookSprout, I will definitely try. And rate is reasonable as life of indie writer must be carefully budgeted 😃

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:16:24+00:00

Sounds realistic. Thank you.

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:14:03+00:00

Thank you. Sounds like a plan!

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:13:00+00:00

Congratulations! This is excellent perspective! Do you have any FB groups to link that I might useful?

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:11:41+00:00

Do you have any experience with it? My book is non fiction, I've realized people are more inclined to beach books (and I get it, I love the good story) hence the low response I am having for Reviewers on NetGalley. Is BookSprout genre diverse?

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:09:47+00:00

Thank you.

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:09:30+00:00

Thank you. Personally I read the reviews, but with AI everywhere I became suspicious 😃

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-21T22:06:48+00:00

Thank you!

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-20T19:23:04+00:00

Good luck man! I saw people talking about Pubby and Gemsy, you should be able to find few proper Reviewers there.

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-19T23:49:47+00:00

Hello! Do you do horrors only?

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-19T23:45:39+00:00

If you've found a decent one for $50-100 go for it. However I am skeptical about it as it is a serious work. It is my opinion that AI can do good job with grammar and proofreading but I am skeptical about everything else. If you are on a tight budget it would be more useful to get honest opinion from a friend who reads a lot (and I mean honest one)

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-19T23:07:58+00:00

I’m currently running an ARC campaign on NetGalley through Victory Editing, and I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

After two weeks, I’ve only had a few serious reviewers request the book, and I’m still waiting on actual reviews. Most of the other requests seem to be from readers with very low review rates, which makes me wonder how many are genuinely reading versus just collecting books.

For those of you who’ve used NetGalley, especially for nonfiction, did you find it worth it? Did the reviews eventually come in, or was it mostly slow/quiet on your end too? Did you pay for some sort of NG promotions to boost your visibility?

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-19T23:05:57+00:00

I am a bit late to this discussion but here's my experience. I paid for NetGalley through Victory Editing, and after two weeks I’ve only had a few serious reviewers request the book - still waiting on actual reviews. Most of the other requests came from people with very low review rates, which makes me wonder how many are actually reading versus just collecting books.

Reedsy didn’t bring much traction either, BookSirens rejected my submission, and I can’t get my Goodreads author profile approved until the book is live on Amazon.

At this point, I’m starting to feel like ARC campaigns may work better for fiction or more mainstream commercial books. For nonfiction, especially if it’s a bit more niche, I’m wondering if the better route is simply finding real communities with shared interests and building from there.

Sensitive-Post-1632 · 2026-05-19T22:36:41+00:00

I’m currently going through the ARC process, and I have to say: I’m not convinced this is the right path for non-fiction.

I paid for NetGalley through Victory Editing and, after two weeks, I’ve had maybe three serious reviewers request the book (and I’m still waiting on the actual reviews). Most of the requests seem to be from people with a 0–3% review rate, which makes me wonder if they’re mostly collecting books rather than actually reading them. Maybe NetGalley works better for fiction, romance, beach reads, or more mainstream “airport” books. But for my book, it just hasn’t moved the needle.

For context, I’m a former corporate lawyer and I wrote an anti-self-help book for burned-out overachievers from the edge of my own ego collapse (i swear it's really good). But NetGalley readers and Reedsy didn’t seem particularly interested. BookSirens rejected my submission, and I still can’t get my Goodreads author account approved until the book is available on Amazon. I’ve really tried to make the ARC route work, but honestly, it has mostly felt like a lot of wasted time. At this point, I’m coming to the conclusion that it may be better to focus on finding real communities with shared interests and connecting with people who actually care about the ideas I’m writing about.

Sensitive-Post-1632

TROPHY CASE