I logged in to Amazon yesterday to post a review only to discover that their review guidelines have changed. I can no longer post reviews unless I have spent a minimum of US$50 using a credit/debit card on the site within the previous 12 months. I live in Australia, and find that many things I might like from Amazon do not ship to Australia or the postage makes the cost too much, and I tend not to buy enough e-books to cover the minimum amount (I prefer physical books). So I am sad to say that I will no longer be posting reviews to Amazon.

I am dismayed by this policy change. I believe it unfairly impacts indie authors by restricting who can review their books. It also impacts the customers by restricting their access to honest and unbiased reviews. Reviews are helpful in creating sales, and are especially important for those books which have not been through a big publishing firm with dedicated marketing. This is a disappointing move that just smacks of greed (sigh…). I used to post reviews on Book Depository too, but now they only pull reviews from Amazon…

However, I will continue to post my reviews to my blog, Facebook and Twitter pages, Goodreads and Riffle. And I will continue to look for more places to post reviews. I’m open to recommendations too, so if you know a good place with free access to reviews, please let me know!