Transferring Your Reviews to a Republished Title

Let’s say your book was previously published and the publisher went under. Or your rights reverted. Quite possibly, you published the book and decided at one point to un-publish it. But now you’re ready to put your baby back out into the world again. How do you get back those amazing reviews you spent so much time trying to garner? Here’s how:

First off, I’m focusing on Amazon, since they are the biggest player for most indie authors. I will also explain how to link editions on Goodreads. In my personal experience, reviews on the other retailers will transfer over on their own, as long as the title and author are the same. If they are different, none of the platforms will transfer reviews. There’s simply too much opportunity for someone to cheat the system. When in doubt, send each platform’s customer service an email and ask.

The first thing you are going to need is the original ASIN. This is the ID Amazon gives each eBook. If you know ahead of time that your book is going to be un-published, write down the ASIN before it is taken down from the site. You can find it under “Product Details” on the book’s product page.

If the book has already been unpublished and you don’t know the original ASIN, look at the book’s page on Goodreads. It should be there under the book’s details. You might have to click on “Click for ASIN” next to the ISBN number.

When the re-published book is live on Amazon, ask them to move the reviews from the original ASIN to the new ASIN, providing both numbers. You can do this one of two ways—click on “Help” in the upper right hand corner of your KDP dashboard, then go to “Contact Us” at the bottom left. Follow the menus and send a message asking them to transfer the reviews. KDP will typically transfer the reviews in a few days. Sometimes it takes longer.

The other route is to make the same request via your Author Central account. This is your best avenue if a publisher is taking on your previously indie-published book, unless you can get the publisher to make the request directly. I have made this request using both methods and have found Author Central to be quicker.

Again, remember that for any of this to happen, the book title and author must be the same as for the original edition. The book must also be live. They will not transfer reviews on a pre-order.

Now on to Goodreads! You want your new cover in the system, and you want it to be the main one that comes up, but you do not want to delete the old cover or old information from the previous edition. This can be helpful info for people who previously read your book, and it helps readers keep track of what they have and haven’t read.

Go to your book’s page on Goodreads and click on “Add a new edition”. Fill in the necessary info, noting any changes like a new cover or a new epilogue. Once the new edition is live on Goodreads (typically only takes 5-10 minutes), go to that page and click on “edit details”. On that page, beneath the thumbnail book cover, you will find “Set this book as the primary edition for this work”. Click on that and you’re all set!