Amazon’s Logical TOC and Author Review Rules

I’ve posted about reviews and inserting a table of contents into your eBooks before, but I wanted to discuss them again, with special emphasis on Amazon KDP rules.

First, just a quick word about the table of contents. I’m editing a non-fiction book that I want a proper NCX table of contents for, that shows up in the little Go To menu itself, so I’ve been exploring Amazon’s guidelines. I wasn’t aware before that fiction had to have a logical table of contents, but it is now actually a requirement, and authors are starting to get notices from them to put them in their eBooks if they haven’t already. The HTML table of contents that we did here previously is Strongly Recommended by Amazon as well, but the Logical one is a requirement. This table of contents according to Amazon “Lets the reader easily find parts, sections, and chapters of your book from the Kindle Go To menu. Lets the reader see how far along they are in the book. Especially important for books longer than 20 pages.”

This is not an easy process to find out about. I dug around for weeks finding all sorts of conflicting – and mindblowingly confusing – instructions, that seemed to me only a computer programmer would understand. At the end of all that I found that if you convert your HTML manuscript with HTML table of contents in it to an ePub using Calibre, and then load the ePub on to Amazon, the NCX Logical table of contents appears in the Go To menu. Later, after I’ve finished successfully converting all of my own books, I’ll do a proper post with screenshots of the whole process. In the meantime, it’s something for you to start looking into if you haven’t already got these in your eBooks.

Then the reviews. Amazon is on the warpath right now as far as paid for and dishonest reviews are concerned, and us innocent Indies could get hurt as a result of being uninformed. Whether we agree with them or not, we have to follow the rules of any publisher we use, so getting to know Amazon’s policy on this is important. As authors we are allowed to review books by other authors there, unless we have a personal relationship with them, or had a part in creating their book. So, if you’ve designed a cover for a book or edited it, or had any other part in getting it made, you are not allowed to review it on Amazon. Friends and family are only allowed to chat about your book as part of an editorial review which will have to be vetted via Author Central first, or on the Discussions feature – where it says “Start a Discussion” at the bottom of your book’s landing page. They are not allowed to review it on Amazon. Obviously, no paid for reviews other than paid for editorial reviews, for example from an expert in your book’s genre.

By paid for, Amazon also means that if you receive a gift certificate for a book in exchange for a book review this is a paid for incentive, as is asking for a review as a condition for entry into a competition, among other incentives. Swopping reviews with other authors is also not a fabulous idea. As Indies we want to support each other, and we are so grateful when we do get a wonderful review, that we buy and read the reviewer’s books, and leave our honest reviews for them too, but I think that doing that now would be dangerous – for both of you. Amazon may frown on the author whose book you reviewed as well as you if it looks like a “review for a review”. So, if you really want to review a fellow author’s book if they have already reviewed any of yours, rather do so by posting it on sites other than Amazon, such as Goodreads and your blog. At the end of the day, if we want to carry on publishing with Amazon, we must abide by their rules. Even though we know that we truly are posting one hundred percent honest reviews, there are quite a lot of people who don’t, and getting your books booted off Amazon – which is a possibility here – would be an absolute disaster for any new Indie author out there in today’s publishing environment.

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Author: jorobinson176

South African writer.

74 thoughts on “Amazon’s Logical TOC and Author Review Rules”

  8. Thanks for the info re: Kindle and the NCX TOC. I have found that when compiling HTML into ePub, an NCX TOC is automatically generated, as you mentioned. But when using KindleGen to compile HTML to mobi, an NCX TOC is not generated. If they want one, why don’t they fix their KindleGen compiler to compile one? 🙂

    A clarification: when you say, “…load the ePub on to Amazon…” do you mean actually uploading it to Amazon or using the KindleGen to compile a mobi?

    I prefer to work from HTML as the basis for everything, but I guess for Amazon, now I’ll have to start with the ePub. It’s an extra step…

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    1. So far KindleGen refuses to install on my computer. 🙂 I also downloaded Sigil but haven’t quite figured it out yet. I tried a couple of things first, like loading the Mobi file generated by Calibre with instructions to force TOC – that makes the words table of contents clickable in the Go To box. To be honest I was a little nervous because I’ve always thought that loading a “pure” HTML to Amazon was the best way to go. What finally worked was loading the actual ePub that Calibre created when the Browse for instruction came up. There can be glitches apparently if you don’t add the cover to the ePub version as well as on to Amazon. I’ve seen a couple of books on my Kindle for PC pop up as Author Unknown and without covers there, so it seems to be important to add these things to the Calibre ePub as well. The ePub and the Mobi Calibre files loaded fine. I’m totally with you on the HTML file so far, and was quite surprised that the whole thing wasn’t corrupted in some way, but it converted nicely. 🙂

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  9. With regards to TOC, when I was going to publish my first book, I downloaded and later printed) a book that Amazon offers for free, called ‘Building Your book for Kindle’. It includes instructions into how to create and include the TOC in the book. http://www.amazon.com/Building-Your-Kindle-Direct-Publishing-ebook/dp/B007URVZJ6/ It’s free and I’ve used it ever since to create my books. If you use word, it’s pretty straight forward. If you save the document as web page filtered the TOC works for sure. That’s usually what I upload to KDP but I know each person has a method. (It’s also worked fine when I’ve used it in other places).
    The reviews… They are definitely going after people and services who sell reviews (I keep getting followed in Twitter by websites offering 5 stars reviews at a price). It is unavoidable that we might know other writers, but I can’t see that’s ever stopped publishers from quoting the opinion from other writers in their books, although Amazon suggests you could use the editorial opinion to quote opinions of colleagues, but unless you have asked for those opinions and know in advance it’s not going to be that easy.
    Thanks, Jo.

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    1. That book is a little gem Olga – I love it too. Your books have the TOC in the Go To menu when I checked on my Kindle for PC, but I’m amazed that that happened with the Building Your Book TOC instructions. I never saw anything about the logical TOC in there. How did you do it? Any help with this one will be great. I also have those review for sale tweets – scary that some people get taken in by them. It’s turning out to be a bit tricky for us who don’t do these things which really isn’t fair, but, better safe than sorry I reckon.

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  10. Hi, Ronovan: Very informational post. You say: “By paid for, Amazon also means that if you receive a gift certificate for a book in exchange for a book review this is a paid for incentive…” Did Amazon tell you that? Because I asked Amazon if authors could Amazon gift books for reviews. Amazon said “yes.” The reviewer must must note in the review the book was received in exchange for a review. Authors may also hire a service agent such as Net Galley or Choosy Bookworm to post/advertise a book is available for review. Reviewers choose a book to read and review or not. However, no $$$ must be exchanged between the reviewer or the author. Too, the author must accept the review as rated. Those reviews may be posted in the usual way and count as a verified purchase. A review bought from Publisher’s Weekly, must be posted in Editorial. When in doubt, I always ask Amazon for clarification from a 2 Tier supervisor.

    The best way I have found to gather organic reviews is to put this golden gem right after THE END in a book: “Thank you for taking the time to read [title]. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated. Thank you, [author name].” Next, promote the book as a new release. Since I’m an indie author, I can promote a new release at 99¢ or FREE for a few days to gather those organic reviews. Does it work? In 2014 readers posted above 1000 reviews on my titles. One star to five star. That is all the proof I can offer.

    You are correct about Amazon taking a hard look at reviewers and reviews. Last month Amazon removed above 700 reviews on titles posted by a TOP 500 reviewer whose caveat was he would not post a review on a title if it did not merit a four or five star. The point: Amazon Reviewers may not be selective. If a title is accepted for review and read, reviews on Amazon must be posted and ranked.

    As for Table of Contents, Amazon allows indie authors to format TOC at the back of the ebook. TOC is always the last bit of back of book matter in my titles.

    I hope I have added to the discussion in a favorable way. Your blog is very timely.
    Regards,
    Jackie Weger
    eNovel Authors at Work

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  11. Hi Jackie. Yes, this was from Amazon –

    “4.1 What do you mean by compensation?
    Offering payment or any other incentive for a Customer Review is considered compensation. This includes giving someone money or a gift certificate to purchase your book. We consider incentives to be any type of reward that is given in return for a Customer Review, including but not limited to bonus content, entry to a contest or sweepstakes, discounts on future purchases, and other gifts.”

    Congratulations on your wonderful reviews. Marketing and asking for reviews isn’t easy. I am also aware of top Amazon reviewers having all their reviews removed now, after some years, which is absolutely devastating, and this is partly the reason for this post. I think that the point here to consider is not Amazon’s general policy on reviewing books, but Amazon’s policy on authors reviewing books – slightly different animals. Amazon authors must read Amazon’s policies on reviews for them. I also have a policy of only publicly posting five star reviews, and those books that I don’t think deserve them get no reviews from me. Reviewing isn’t my main focus though – so hopefully I won’t get punished for that. Thank you so much for your lively input. 🙂

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    1. JoRobinson176: Thank you! You are right re Amazon TOS as gifting a book is an incentive. I do not trade reviews. I buy my colleagues books and read for pleasure. If my colleagues would rather have a review than a sale, look elsewhere. I see reviews as part of our ebook business. They are a tool. Too often indie authors are desperate for reviews as affirmation that he or she can write or tell a story. I respect their views and need, but reviews are for the reader. Clever Amazon created the ebook review phenomenon to engage the Kindle reader and bring traffic to Amazon. I was trad published in the romance industry for 18 years and before the ereader innovation. Our books had a shelf life between yogurt and ice cream and never gathered a single review. They were not necessary for a category romance. Now rated reviews are key so indies can get free or paid promo slots, another facet of our indie universe. 2014 was my first full year as a indie, a massive learning curve. Reviews don’t sell books. I have a title with above 400 reviews. FACT: It only sells when I promote it , or another title and I see crossover sales and borrows. That is the nature of our indie universe.

      Regards, Jackie Weger
      P.S. I love this discussion and the info you share. It is helpful.

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      1. Thanks Jackie. 🙂 “…shelf life between yoghurt and ice-cream….” – love it. I’ve actually also spotted some really famous writers with very few reviews – Jilly Cooper doesn’t have many at all, but with the re-release of Riders soon I’m guessing that will change. Apparently having fifty reviews on any given book does something to its algorythm in a good way – although I’m not there yet, so I’m still clueless. Us Indies have been zooming along very merrily with the Amazon reviews without any repercussions – so far – but they’re starting to happen now. If a book’s on Select it’s wiser to gift the book to the professional reviewer in paper form, because the only time we are allowed to send free ebooks is for editing, formatting and design purposes – not for review. Then there’s the whole “professional” reviewer thing, because if you gift books for “non-professional” reviews they aren’t allowed to be on Select. Since there isn’t any official way to get professional reviewer status, this must mean sites or people that focus on giving reviews like Kirkus or bespoke book reviewing sites. It’s a very slippery slope though, and I for one will be treading very lightly review-wise for now. 🙂

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        1. Jo: Jilly Cooper is a wonderful writer and traditionally published. She has not put up an Amazon author page. I don’t see any of her titles as indie. So that is another landscape. Her ebooks are priced beyond many readers. Her print editions are showing up in used book stores, even on Amazon 3rd party dealers and on ebay. In the early days of romance, we all made our reputations in used bookstores. As for reviews, she is well-protected by her publishers. We indies are not, so caution prevails. Amazon is chasing reviewers/reviews that game the system to protect its brand. IMO, that benefits the indie author, so that reviews on our titles are trusted. Frankly, my goal is not reviews, but sales. that is where I’m at today~learning how to do that.
          JackieWeger
          No Perfect Secret

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  12. Great, informative post that every author should read.
    Only one comment: If authors upload to and sell their books through Amazon, THEY are the publisher, NOT AMAZON. Amazon is an ONLINE RETAILER and publishes only a small amount of books on their imprints.
    Cheers, and keep up the good work.
    Doris

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  14. Regarding publishing reviews at sites other than Amazon: The last time I looked, Goodreads and Shelfari were both Amazon companies. Book review blogs may not be as “discoverable,” but they may be safer, in the long run. As always, caveat emptor.

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    1. This has been niggling at me too Christine. I should probably try and find Goodreads author reviewing policy if they have one. Yet. This whole Amazon author review takedown has me more than a little rattled. I totally agree with you – safer review blog sites. I know that we are probably the most avid of readers, being writers, but I reckon the internet marketers and “Oy – buy my book!” brigade have probably spoiled our chances of wallowing in mutual review pleasure. 🙂

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  15. I’ve just published a new book through KDP and I read the info given by Amazon re TOC. Unfortunately, it refers only to documents processed through a PC. I use a Mac, and the instruction book on that is currently unavailable ‘due to technical issues’! Not really very helpful. I might try the route through Calibre and see if that works with the Mac.
    Thanks for this very useful post, which I’ve tweeted and posted to FB.

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    1. The TOC issue seems to be something that is getting the best of all of us Stuart. Scribblers having to get our heads around computer coding is a nightmare. If I can make a radical suggestion – you could lead the Mac way if it works 🙂 and if it doesn’t you can change the file on Amazon in 12 hours or so. If you think it’s worth the risk to try – download Calibre free software for Mac. 2. Create a HTML table of contents within your book. 3. Open Calibre and choose ePub as your output file. 4. In the TOC menu on the left, select, Force Table of Contents. 5. Load your cover. 6. Make sure to indicate your author name. 7. Load on to Amazon with additional “proper” cover. 8. Download Amazon’s Previewer and Kindle for PC apps and make sure that all previous versions of your book are deleted. 9. Use the Calibre generated ePub file to upload to Amazon – this has all the metadata encoded so your TOC should work in the sidebar. If you have a problem seeing the newly uploaded book in your Kindle for PC, download a sample of the new one. It would be great to hear how this works for you – and if it doesn’t we can keep trying with new ideas. 🙂

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    1. Thanks Diana. Too right! I admit to being scared – especially after reading all their guides and FAQ’s on the subject. On the surface it seems simple enough, but if you read it a couple of times more it’s not really very clear because there seems to be a difference for product reviews and book reviews, and then further differences for author reviews. 🙂

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        1. It really is. I would think that the fact that we’re writers probably makes us “professional” reviewers anyway. I do understand that the unethical review internet marketing types are a problem though. Broke my heart to see a really amazing author – who writes so incredibly beautifully that he would never have to solicit unfair reviews – get totally taken down by them after years and years of reviewing books that he loved. I’m actually pretty much an Amazon fan apart from this review thing. I’ll carry on with my FMR reviews though – maybe that makes me a “professional reviewer” LOL!

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  20. My god, nothing like making things more tedious than they already are! At least I’m safe with the review process if nothing else… haven’t done anything untoward in that respect… Oh Jo, I’m so looking forward to your pic by pic post. You lost me when you started talking html.

    I post all my (book) reviews on Amazon com/UK and Goodreads, as well as my blog… glad that’s still good.

    One of the reasons why I often look in on folks like yourself Jo; (Besides the fact that you write wonderful books I really enjoy reading) Your info and advice are so invaluable. You do a great service to authors

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    1. Thanks Kev! I think that because you have an official review blog you’re probably safe, although more than a couple of top Amazon reviewers have lately had all of their reviews taken down, so it’s still a bit scary. My reviews are mostly for Feed My Reads South Africa these days, but I admit that I’m still a bit worried.

      This TOC is really tedious – had my eyeballs rolling around on several occasions. 🙂 I’ll get it posted as fast as possible. 🙂

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      1. I review other things as well, Joe… I have bought and still do buy a lot of products from Amazon and I usually leave a review on them… At least half the books I’ve reviewed have been verified purchases as well, so maybe that keeps me in the safe zone… I’m climbing up the reviewers list. 😉

        I downloaded that program, so, really looking forward to your post. 🙂 If I have any trouble with it, I’ll bother you about it. 😉

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        1. If it wasn’t so far away with shipping costs being what they are I’d probably end up in penury buying their products. There is some sort of Amazon thing beginning to happen here, so I’m holding thumbs that they open up closer to home, and then I’ll be all over those product pages – Banana Slicer here I come! 😀 Feel free to yell if you need anything at all Kev. I’ll try and do that post this week if I can get my other work done in good time, otherwise definitely next week. You’ll have fun playing with it though – it’s a lovely little toy for book maniacs like us. 🙂

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          1. Ok, I’m telling Amazon to stay away, Jo… you’ll buy ’em out and won’t leave anything for me! 😀 😀 😀

            Will do, Jo. I will be having a good looksie at it this week. 😉

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  23. This is both Need-to-Know & disturbing information. I am really looking forward to your post on formatting an active TOC as I have been thoroughly confused by the ways I’ve used for Word and supposed YouTube tutorials.

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    1. I’ll get it up soon Richard. There really is a lot of confusing information out there. I’ve been trying all that I’ve found and loading them up to Amazon to see how they work, and not doing any promotion at all until it’s a hundred percent right. So far the Calibre route seems to work best for me, but I’ve heard from a couple of others that they managed the process with only Word. I’ll check them all out including Sigil, and see what choices we have.

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  25. I guess for once, being a woman and having changed names several times can be a good thing. I have a different last name than all my blood relations! Not that much of my family has read the book so far, but if and when they do, no one will know it if they don’t mention our relationship. Knowing them though, they probably would! 😉 ❤
    Sherrie
    Do you know a/b my debut novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador”? A young American woman goes to war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
    My husband made a video for my novel. He wrote the song too:

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  28. You made a comment about ‘professional’ reviewers. I think that would normally be regarded as people who get paid for reviewing. Not necessarily other authors but people who are accredited/experienced in the field of reviewing, whether books, art, music, whatever. It’s about providing an objective analysis rather than being bought for a five star review and I suspect the latter is what Amazon is trying to stop.

    I get paid for reviewing for a site that has Amazon clearance, they aren’t ‘bought’ reviews per se, it involves a whole lot more, nor are they always favourable. I also offer a paid-for service privately, but it’s not just a review, it includes a post-publication report and examples of errors. It’s a complicated field to negotiate. Most authors value the report more than a review!

    I can’t blame Amazon for trying to level the playing field (cliche alert, sorry), what with ten five star reviews from friends and family or people piling in for the sake of argument to give negative ones, it doesn’t give Am much credibility.

    And let’s be honest. How many indie authors are going to say, ‘Jo’s book is crap’ after you’ve given them five stars, and/or vice versa?

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    1. Exactly right! A couple of years ago when I was still seriously green and didn’t have much of a clue about Indie or any other sort of publishing, an author offered to give me his book in exchange for an “honest” review and a heads up on any typos. I was so new in fact, that I still had to open an Amazon account so as to leave the review. Being totally starstruck getting attention from a pucker author, I proofread that book to death, coming up with piles of typos, carefully listed for him. (He didn’t fix them in the end – he said that “a couple of typos were fine because they went with the territory”). Then the review – if I’d read that book now I wouldn’t have put one up to be honest because reviewing isn’t really my focus so I never post anything that I don’t think deserves a 4 or a 5. It really didn’t deserve more than a 3 but the fact that I’d been gifted the book stopped me from publicly saying that I really hadn’t liked it. Personally I don’t ask for reviews, and I’d rather have none than one like I gave that man’s book. My bad.

      Thanks for helping figure out what a professional reviewer is. I’ve worn out google trying to figure how anyone becomes one. Your explanation makes it clear now. People or sites committed to reviewing books in general or by genre – for instance. a dedicated reviewer of romance books would be a professional?

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      1. OK. Let me separate these.

        1) I can’t believed someone offered his book free for a review, standard practice, always has been! AND asked for a free proofread!!!!! NOT standard practice, in fact I charge for doing that. Nor is it a free proofread, I provide a report with areas for improvement, and examples of errors given. There are very few books where I find less than five errors of some type or other. I can think of a handful in the last twelve months. But asking a reviewer to proof for free is certainly not professional behaviour.

        When I provide a post-publication report, I also ask the author if they have fixed the errors before I provide my review. I’m not prepared to recommend books full of errors.

        2) Stars. Nightmare aren’t they? I give five stars to Oscar Wilde and Dostoevsky. I give four to good Indie books that are well written and well edited. I give three to ones that are still good, but have too many errors or the prose could be better. I normally don’t star under three. I posted a two star review and got such a bleat from the author I took it down. I did give five stars to a fantastic non-fiction book recently (primarily photography, but it really was beautiful). I think the difficulty, perhaps the downside of blogging, is that it’s difficult to say, ‘I didn’t like this’ or worse, ‘it’s badly written’ when you know people on the blog circuit.

        3) Professional reviewers? I’m going to be really old-school here. I’ve been writing, reviewing, editing and publishing for more than thirty years and getting paid for it. To me that’s professional. I’m not sure that I can honestly categorise a book blogger who is into romance as the same. A well read romance book reader? An expert in that genre? Depends how they review to be honest. I’ve an overdue post coming up on ‘what makes a review’ so I won’t write it here! To get paid for reviews on the internet you normally need to apply and be accepted, ie like anything, you provide credentials, experience etc. I read one site that had an amazing test, basically to weed out anyone who wasn’t American as they wanted reviews in Americanese. But passing all these loops and hurdles is different to setting up a romance (or cowboys, or fantasy, or travel, or sci-fi, or BDSM) book blog and becoming a self-proclaimed expert. Until someone else acknowledges you are, it’s difficult to claim ‘professional’ reviewer status. As with most things in life. Oh, and I exclude book tour hosts from that too (I do it so I know how it works).

        Sorry. Overly wrong reply.

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        1. Fabulous reply – thank you! That guy saw me coming, and I really was totally green – I’d only had an internet connection a couple of weeks. He’s actually doing really well now too – I went to have a look, although back then he was still quite new. I wouldn’t get caught out like that again though. What you’ve shared here has been incredibly helpful, and I’m really looking forward to reading your what makes a review post. I think that most of us have been in the dark with the “professional reviewer” requirement from Amazon, and hearing all about it from an actual professional reviewer is something we all should be doing.

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          1. Thanks Jo. If you want to send me his info by email, I’m interested enough to take a look. Sheer curiosity. No worries if you don’t.

            I think ‘professional reviewer’ is such a debatable issue anyway. I’ll try and remember to drop a link to my post or link back to you or something. 🙂 It will be a few days. Busy busy.

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  29. It seems to me that my habit of gifting an (always) unsolicited review for a book that I loved, bought, paid for is now in danger of being counter productive. Two authors who would have reviewed my books ( NOT in exchange but who were interested enough in my reviews to then buy them!) now feel they cannot review, for fear of being accused of nepotism. Ironic isn’t that ‘paying forward’ shoots yourself in the foot!

    Another sledgehammer to crack the nut of the troll and dishonest. I give up!

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    1. Maybe the way forward is to approach the bespoke book review sites – Amazon’s rules seem to have all bases covered for reasons to take reviews down, but that bit seems pretty cut and dried – we’re allowed to give free books to professional reviewers. I try and read lots of Indie books by authors I don’t know and leave them reviews, and a lot of others do that too, and if they haven’t already reviewed my books I’ll still review books by Indies I know online – I don’t reckon that’s nepotism. Also, if your book isn’t in Select you can give copies of it to anyone you like.

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      1. Thanks for replying Jo. As you know one of my books is a big ask of any reviewer. I do offer a free copy to anyone who feels they MIGHT like to review but the two who bought the book because they genuinely got interested in what else I wrote, now feel they can’t review it ( for reasons stated.) Giving a copy away has never been an issue but Christophe Fischer’s experience does call the whole issue into question. Amazon are very persistent in asking for reviews of what one buys from them and this is their response! The whole thing would be easier if Amazon were prepared to simply take down reviews at the request of the author who could give a valid explanation of why it is ‘bent’. I asked for a poisonous review to be removed because it was clearly contradictory, slated verbally but awarded four stars by a man who had nominated as shortlisted for his own prize! No can do, they said.

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        1. What happened to Christoph was terrible – first they let you get to top 500 reviewer and then they take it all away because they were “against their policies” without saying which particular policies they meant. Could have been anything. Christoph is totally honest and a voracious reader for his own pleasure, so this particular take town is especially tragic. There have been others though – Indies with less than fifty posted reviews. Jack Eason shared a post from Book Riot where a writer had gone bananas over at Goodreads – totally insane ranting at someone who had given him a one star, and if you look at his book on Amazon it’s just got loads of brand new one stars now. You’re allowed to post a review without buying the book, but you’d think you should at least read it first, even if the author did behave like an absolute troll to begin with. I suppose each Indie has to decide for themselves if the risk outweighs the danger. Are your books on Select?

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            1. If your books aren’t on Select, then you’re allowed to give eBooks to anyone you like, including “non-professional” reviewers for an unbiased review I reckon, although you’re still only allowed to pay for “professional” reviews. All the forums are on fire right now with this thing, with some proper fights happening too – the mind boggles.

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