How to Add a Book Review to Your Amazon Listing: A Step-by-Step Guide
A professional review on your Amazon listing is one of the highest-leverage things you can do for your book’s conversion rate. Browsers who land on your book page and see a credible third-party review are more likely to buy than those who see only reader reviews.
Here’s exactly how to add editorial reviews to your Amazon listing through Author Central.
What Editorial Reviews Are (and How They Differ from Reader Reviews)
Amazon has two separate review systems that appear in different places on your book listing.
Reader reviews are the star ratings and written reviews from verified buyers that appear in the main customer reviews section. These are submitted by readers directly.
Editorial reviews are professional reviews from publications, media outlets, and review services. They appear in a separate ‘Editorial Reviews’ section higher on the page, typically below the book description. This section is more prominent in terms of first impression and is where professional review quotes belong.
Professional reviews from services like City Book Review, Kirkus, BlueInk, or any other established review outlet go in the Editorial Reviews section — not in the customer reviews section.
Step-by-Step: Adding an Editorial Review to Amazon
Step 1: Access Amazon Author Central
Go to authorcentral.amazon.com and sign in with your Amazon account. If you don’t have an Author Central account yet, create one — it’s free and takes about 5 minutes.
Step 2: Find your book
On the Author Central dashboard, navigate to the ‘Books’ tab. Find the title you want to update. If your book doesn’t appear, use the ‘Add More Books’ tool to search by title or ISBN.
Step 3: Click ‘Editorial Reviews’
On your book’s Author Central page, scroll down to find the ‘Editorial Reviews’ section. Click ‘Add’ or ‘Edit’ to open the text editor.
Step 4: Format your review entry
Amazon’s Editorial Reviews section has two fields for each review:
• Review text: The actual quoted text from the review. Use a meaningful excerpt (2-4 sentences is typically ideal) that conveys the reviewer’s overall assessment.
• Source: The name of the publication or reviewer.
Example formatting:
Review text: “A compelling debut that builds genuine tension from the opening pages. The author’s voice is distinctive and the pacing never flags. This is exactly the kind of literary thriller that rewards patient readers.”
Source: San Francisco Book Review
Step 5: Save and wait
Save your changes. Editorial reviews typically appear on your Amazon listing within 3-5 business days. In some cases it can take up to 2 weeks. Check back to confirm the review is displaying correctly.
Formatting Tips for Maximum Impact
Choose the most specific and quotable excerpt
The review excerpt on your Amazon listing should be the sharpest, most specific sentence or two from your full review. Generic praise (‘a well-written novel’) converts less effectively than specific claims (‘the courtroom scenes are some of the most tense I’ve read in legal fiction this year’).
Read through your full review and mark any line that makes a concrete, specific claim about what the book does well. Those lines are your candidates.
Include the publication name clearly
List the publication name as it appears on the review. If your review appeared in Seattle Book Review, list ‘Seattle Book Review.’ If it appeared in Manhattan Book Review, list ‘Manhattan Book Review.’ The city-branded name reads as credible and specific.
Add multiple reviews when available
Amazon allows multiple editorial reviews on a single listing. If you have reviews from more than one outlet, add them all. Multiple professional reviews build cumulative credibility and give different potential buyers different hooks.
Update your listing over time
An Amazon listing is a living document. As you receive additional reviews, add them. A book that has gathered multiple professional reviews over its lifespan looks more established than one with a single credit.
What About BN.com and Other Retailers?
Barnes & Noble also has a publisher/author portal for updating book metadata and adding editorial reviews. The process is similar to Amazon Author Central: log in, find your book, locate the editorial review field, and add your review text and source.
Google Books, Apple Books, and Kobo have less accessible author-facing portals for editorial review updates. Pacific Book Review includes automatic distribution to Google Books and Apple iStore as part of their standard service, which handles this placement for you. Otherwise, updates to these platforms typically go through your distributor (IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, etc.).
Can You Put a Paid Review on Your Amazon Listing?
Yes. Amazon doesn’t distinguish between editorial reviews from services that charge a fee and those that don’t. A professional review from City Book Review, Kirkus, BlueInk, or any other credible service can be added to your Editorial Reviews section with the publication name listed as the source.
What you shouldn’t do is submit your paid review text as a customer review. Customer reviews are supposed to come from actual purchasers of the book. Submitting marketing copy as a customer review violates Amazon’s policies.
Editorial reviews and customer reviews are separate systems. Keep them separate.
The Conversion Impact
Readers browsing Amazon are making a quick credibility assessment. A book with a professional editorial review from a named publication looks different from one without. It signals that the book has been evaluated by someone beyond the author’s immediate circle.
That signal matters most at the top of the funnel — when a browser is deciding whether to read further or keep scrolling. A strong editorial review excerpt in the visible portion of your listing is working for your book every time someone lands on your page.
Getting the review in the first place is the investment. Putting it on your Amazon listing is the easy part. Don’t skip it.
Get your professional review to add at citybookreview.com, Other options are Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Blue Ink or one of the others suggested. If you also need back-cover or Amazon description copy, City Book Review’s blurb service delivers a 3-5 sentence professional blurb in 2 weeks.