Oh, reviews from relatives definitely slip through — no doubt about it. But because of Amazon’s rules, I don’t recommend making them the center of your book review strategy.

Sandy

Wow. I have reviews from 3 family members with my same last name, that’ve been up for years. Y’think maybe they mean ‘family’ in same home? I wouldn’t push it, obviously, but I’ve had more trouble with same household than same family name…. (??) Those punishments, however, are just short of a stoning in the village square.

Thanks, Wendy! Vicki Weisfeld made a similar comment about a shared computer; I like that extra info about the home network! Great advice.

It’s not a myth that relatives can’t review books. This is from Amazon’s review policies, under the “violations” heading: “A family member or employee of the seller posts a review of the seller’s product or a competitor’s product.” I think what you’re saying is that you can often get away with reviewing a relative’s book, and I’m sure that’s true.

But these are the consequences as written on the review policies page:

Amazon has a zero-tolerance policy towards any customer reviews violations. If we detect any attempts to manipulate customer reviews, we take immediate actions that include, but are not limited to:

* Immediate and permanent withdrawal of the seller’s selling privileges on Amazon and withholding of funds.
* The removal of all the product’s reviews and preventing the product from receiving future reviews or ratings.
* Permanent delisting of the product from Amazon.
* Legal action against the seller, including lawsuits and referral to civil and criminal enforcement authorities.
* Disclosing the seller’s name and other related information publicly.

Is that one review worth it?

Sandy

Aw, thanks, Neil. There are days when I need a cheerleader like you and this is one of them. I appreciate you!

Sandy

Great tip about shared computers, Vicki. Thanks! A few years ago the rumor was 50 reviews. When I couldn’t find anything definitive about this online, I emailed Amazon customer support and got a non-answer in response. So in this case, even going straight the company didn’t help.

Sandy

(OK… I know. It’s called hard work. Thanks for doing it on our behalf.)

I’d add to the ‘bust’ list the myth that relatives can’t review your books. They can. (But maybe suggest they use an alias so you don’t look like a Mama’s boy.)

But another caution would be, don’t let friends/family review your book from your computer or even your home network…… Zonny doesn’t like dat!

And no cussin’.

Gabi, it’s confusing and ever-changing, isn’t it? Somewhere in all the rules, I think Amazon encourages us to state in our reviews that we’ve received a review copy when that’s the case. Maybe it’s best not to name Netgalley specifically — just say you received a review copy? I’m glad you found a workaround, though!

Sandy