writers / writers resources

What’s an Amazon Vine Voice?

Posted on by 38 Comments

I post a lot of reviews to Amazon and often notice those names with that little ‘Amazon Vine’ by them, like they’re special, or more

vine voice

I’m a Vine Voice

authoritative. I know their reviews carry more weight than the average review, but I didn’t know who they were or how they were selected–or pretty much anything about them.

Then Amazon made me a Vine Voice.

Here’s what I found out:

What is Amazon Vine?

Launched in 2007 in an effort to encourage top-notch reviews, Amazon selects individuals with unbiased, well-written, balanced reviews to join a cadre of Amazon reviewers called Amazon Vine Voices. They are offered free products, then asked to review these for Amazon. There is no pay involved, just the free products like books, CD’s, movies, computer products, food–anything that is sold on Amazon. Every time they review a product, be it from the list awarded by Amazon or one of their own selection, it carries the logo for ‘Amazon Vine Voice’.

Here’s what Amazon says about it:

Amazon Vine™ is a program that enables a select group of Amazon customers to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make educated purchase decisions. Customers are invited to become Amazon Vine™ Voices based on the trust they have earned in the Amazon community for writing accurate and insightful reviews. Amazon provides Amazon Vine™ members with free copies of products that have been submitted to the program by vendors. Amazon does not influence the opinions of Amazon Vine™ members, nor do we modify or edit their reviews.

How do you join the Amazon Vine Program?

Amazon invites you to join. You can’t request the position or fill out an application. One day, you’ll be sitting at your computer, writing your next book, and an email will arrive asking if you’d like to become an Amazon Vine Voice. You, being a clever person, will immediately respond with a Yes.

Do Amazon Vine Voices Get Paid?

No. That would destroy the authenticity of the review. No one I’ve ever reviewed for has paid me. It’s normal to receive the product for free, shipped to my house, but nothing else. In that way, I feel no pressure to post anything but the truth.

What’s the Process Once You Become a Vine Voice?

Every month, there’s an email in your e-mailbox. From that list, you select which products you are willing to review. Amazon takes care of shipping them to you. When your review is ready, you post it as you would any review.

Click for all of my Amazon reviews

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38 thoughts on “What’s an Amazon Vine Voice?”

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  6. holy cow that’s awesome!!!!!!!! now I need to stop using Amazon to rant and vent and actually try to write intelligent reviews LOL. Do they also base it off of whether people ‘like’ your review or ‘find it helpful” or something? That’s so cool I’d love to be apart of that program 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Mine tend to be level and informative, with not a lot of emotion. I know that doesn’t work for lots of readers, but it seems to be what they liked. I’ve discovered so many great authors because I could try them for free.

      To answer your question: No, I don’t think it matters how many ‘helpfuls’ you get, just the quality of your review.

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      • I keep myself anonymous on Amazon so I can kind of vent without a others I know knowing who I am. I try to be friendly and build other authors up especially within my own genre. If I don’t like their bokks i wont read them but i dont bsd mouth then either. I no longer publicly write bad book reviews anymore. I did before but not since I started blogging. BUT I am not shy about reviewing other products honestly. Lol. Usually I don’t have cause to.

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      • When I read a book, I’m always impressed by some facet of their storytelling skills so I focus on those. Some, I can tell they’re new, but will grow. The only ones I loose it a bit with are those with a political agenda. Drives me nuts.

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  16. I’m just a BIT annoyed because one of your “Vine Voices” reviewed my book that was just released (a different person than the one featured above) and I was unaware that she received “gifts” in exchange for her review. Especially since that is one of the conditions Amazon spells out in their rules and regs on leaving a review by it’s readers!

    It was also apparent that she didn’t even read the entire book, in fact by her own admission she only read 60%. This book is split up where the “meat” of the story comes in the second half. I’m sorry… I don’t mean to appear like a disgruntled writer but I DO expect a company like Amazon to have fair people working for them, people who complete the job before running off with “the goods!”

    I have to remind myself that not all writers out there have integrity and are as professional as moi! But it IS sad that the ones that can’t write are the ones that judge others’ writings!

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    • I have to say, I’d be annoyed too that s/he didn’t finish the book and still thought s/he could review it. You can ask Amazon to remove the review–explain that s/he even admits s/he didn’t read the book. I’ve known them to remove reviews, though never one I asked about.

      At the time I checked on it, there was only one review–this person’s. Most people won’t make a decision based on one review. But, when it’s your baby, that really doesn’t make it any better.

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    • Great to meet you, Carlos. I’m going to check out what you get, see how different it is from ours. Last week, I picked up Creative Labs 70GH014000002 Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Sigma USB Gaming Headset. I’m pretty excited about those. They offer good products to review.

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      • Great, I’ll keep an eye out for what you get too. The headset sounds good, I don’t think we’ve had anything like that on the UK site. We range from Laptops (and supposedly TVs) to books and batteries- so everything big and small. Let me know how the headset works out!

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  18. greetings! were you just this week asked to join? if so, amazon must be all about asking teacher-writer-bloggers to join, because i was invited this week too (and i am all of those things) i found this post searching wordpress for anything including ‘amazon vine’. i’m also a teacher–8th grade english–and a writer (working on a proposal for a travel-related nonfiction book right now) and a blogger (ok, i admit it, it is an obsession!) i hope you enjoy the books you recieve and review. i got my first one today–a YA book by an author i already knew and liked, so i’m super excited.

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    • Hi Joana, I love writing book reviews–who knows why (actually, Sana might be able to explain it)–but taking on this responsibility puts a bit of extra pressure on me to get it right. Since most of my life, I’ve turned my hobbies into careers, I guess that’s OK. Thanks for dropping by. Love your blog! I subscribed to it.

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  20. Great information as always. I enjoy your blog because you clarify ideas, make me think, and show me things I didn’t know before.

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    • Thanks, Sharon. I appreciate that. The Amazon Vine Program was all new to me, too. I had no idea how people got in or what it meant. I’ve been writing book reviews for over a year, just because.

      Thanks for dropping by!

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  21. How fun that you’ve been invited to do this, Jacqui! You’ve certainly earned the designation with all the work you’ve done on reviews, and I’m sure the extra validation feels wonderful. (Getting free stuff must be fun too!)

    As an author who’s received Vine Voice reviews, I appreciate your clarifying what that means, in case readers perusing those reviews might not have understood the significance.

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