Getting early reviews the right way
How to build honest early reviews through advance copies while staying inside retailer rules.
Reviews help readers decide, and a new book with none can look riskier than it is. The way you gather early reviews matters, because retailers enforce their rules strictly.
What is allowed
Giving a free advance copy to a reader who may choose to review is standard practice. Asking for an honest review, positive or negative, is fine. Readers should disclose they received a free copy where the retailer asks them to.
What is not
Paying for reviews, offering rewards for positive ones, asking family and close friends to review, swapping reviews with other authors and asking reviewers to change ratings can all get reviews removed or accounts penalised. If in doubt, do not.
Building a review team
- Invite readers from your newsletter, where people already know your work.
- Send copies four to six weeks before launch so they have time to read.
- Make it easy: a simple download in the reader's preferred format.
- Remind them once on release day with the store links.
- Thank everyone who reviews, without commenting on the rating.
A review-copy button on your site
A clear "Get a free review copy" button on each book page lets interested readers request one at any time, not just before launch. Older books benefit too; a steady trickle of new reviews keeps a backlist title looking alive.
Read reviews, but sparingly
Patterns across many reviews are useful feedback for cover, blurb and genre expectations. Individual harsh reviews are not, and replying to them almost never helps. Let readers talk to each other.
Notes from the Spinecrest team · October 7, 2026