Hi everyone 🙂
I’m an indie author from Poland and I’ve recently published my first techno-thriller on Amazon. I’m proud of the book — it’s about 85k words and very character-driven — but I’ve run into a really discouraging problem:
I simply can’t seem to get any Amazon reviews, even from genuine readers.
A lot of people who bought the book here in Poland either:
• aren’t eligible to leave reviews, because they haven’t made enough previous purchases on Amazon, or
• have their review rejected even after purchasing and reading the book, and
• Kindle Unlimited isn’t available here, so that route to early readers is basically closed.
So I’m now in this strange situation where there are sales — but still zero reviews.
And as you all know:
• without reviews the book is basically invisible in Amazon search
• there’s almost no organic discovery
• and it becomes very hard to build momentum
It feels like Amazon is much more established in the US/UK than in countries like mine — so many readers simply don’t meet the eligibility threshold for reviews.
Just to be clear:
I’m not looking for shortcuts or fake reviews.
I just want a fair way to reach legitimate early readers who are actually allowed to review.
So my questions to other international authors are:
• How did you get your first real Amazon reviews from outside the US/UK?
• Is there any ethical way to reach readers in markets where reviews are allowed?
• And is this level of restriction… normal?
I’ve put years of work into the book, and right now it’s honestly a bit demoralising that it can’t gain visibility simply because many readers here don’t meet Amazon’s eligibility rules.
Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated 🙏
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OP, I'm just thinking out loud here, so bear with me.
If you say that your native land has barriers in place that are preventing people from leaving reviews, for whatever reason that exists...my ONLY real question is -- what are you doing or have you done to get that same work noticed and reviewed in countries where these barriers wouldn't exist?
If Book X is doing well at home, it might be coming down to "Local author makes good...let's support them", and while that's great and all, if it only has curb appeal at home and nowhere else, then the work will languish. Let's at least be honest about that.
If the only reason people are buying your books at home is because you're home-grown and they want to support you...that might mean the work hasn't the legs to stand on a global stage. Example: locals call it a 5/5 masterpiece that hits all the right notes. Global audiences see it as a 1-star failure that should've stayed isolated to the home country and nowhere else.
It's a drastic extreme, yes, but you get the idea.
For the book to garner reviews, it needs to be accepted by a wider audience than just your own back yard, know what I mean?
So, what have you done to get your book seen outside your own borders? How confident are you that the sales you see at home would or should translate into sales from abroad?
If the 5/5 book at home is gonna be a 5/5 elsewhere, then the reviews will come eventually, even if none or few appear locally. If the 5/5 local is gonna be a 1/5 or 2/5 elsewhere, then you may have to accept that you only have the one pond to fish in and be okay with that until it eventually plateaus and then ultimately dries up.
Again, just thinking out loud here.
Are you writing in English or Polish? Maybe Empik Selfpublishing will be a better option than a foreign site.
It’s already published in English on Amazon. I didn’t know Empik also had a self-publishing option ,thanks for the tip Although I’m a bit worried the reach there might be more limited.
If you are publishing in English, you should be marketing to a global market. So it should not matter where you personally are located, unless your book has some particular appeal to Polish readers (Polish setting, Polish folklore, something that will make it highly appealing to bring in those readers.)
Otherwise, unless you are suggesting that the real issue is that friends, family, and people you are acquainted with locally are the only ones who can't leave reviews... those people probably aren't the ones who should be leaving you reviews anyway. Friends and family reviews are highly likely to be rejected or removed later even if they do post because Amazon considers them biased. Amazon has gotten really intense about removing and rejecting reviews lately. They've been increasing this over the past year or two, and people are reporting even more of an uptick over the past 2 months. They're only removing 4 and 5 stars.
So your goal is really no different from that of any other author--how do you market your book broadly to readers who read techno-thrillers? Do you have an appealing cover that you didn't make yourself? Is the blurb strong and on point for the genre? I would always suggest ARC reviews prior to publication because I think it's always good to launch with a few reviews for social proof. I like using ARC platforms like Booksirens and Booksprout. Booksprout, I know will take books that have already been published. If cost is an issue, you can also use your social media followers and give them a free copy of the book in the hopes that they will leave a review.