Gemsy Review: Get Safe Book Reviews for KDP (Ebooks, Print & Low Content)

I've been getting book reviews safely using Gemsy for over a year now, without any issues. If you need book reviews for many kinds of books, including ebooks, print, and low or medium content books so that your self-published books can get more sales, this review is for you.

This isn't your typical book review platform. Gemsy is an all-in-one hub for book reviews that works for many kinds of books: ebooks, printed books, no content books, medium content books, and soon even audiobooks. I haven't had any KDP safety issues with it at all, and I am about to share with you everything else that makes it special.

After testing multiple book review platforms over the past year, Gemsy has become one of my favorites. Here's why it's different from everything else available.

Gemsy allows you to review high content ebooks like fiction or nonfiction books, but also low and medium content books like notebooks, coloring books, puzzle books, and more. This isn't possible on most book review platforms, which only work for ebooks. If you publish planners, journals, activity books, or any low or medium content format, this feature alone makes Gemsy worth considering.

On Gemsy, people can buy your printed books to review them, instead of just seeing your books in ebook form. This is huge for authors who focus on print editions, or who want to build credibility across both formats and want to get verified print copy reviews.

This allows low and medium content book creators to get reviews, as those type of books are usually not available as ebooks. Also, print reviews carry significant weight with potential buyers who prefer physical books.

And you can request pictures and even videos for the reviews you want to receive. I haven't seen that on any other book review platform. Visual reviews make your book's Amazon listing stand out and provide social proof that goes beyond text alone.

You can get book reviews on Goodreads, which is a feature I haven't seen anywhere else. Goodreads reviews help you reach a different audience and build credibility on a platform where serious readers discover new books.

Gemsy is constantly updating and upgrading their platform. Since I started using it, they've implemented many new features. If you compare their interface and features from a year ago to what they have now, you'll notice huge differences. The team clearly listens to user feedback and works to improve the experience.

Gemsy mentions a requirement that most book review platforms miss. They let you know right away that Amazon requires reviewers to have spent at least $50 to be able to submit reviews.

This is not a Gemsy requirement. It is an Amazon requirement, which means that if you haven't purchased anything on Amazon for a total of $50 in the past few months, you won't be able to submit and get book reviews on any other KDP book review platform either.

This transparency is refreshing. Many platforms don't explain this upfront, and new reviewers get confused when Amazon rejects their reviews.

Gemsy has several features in development that will make the platform even more valuable! Some of them are:

Usually your books will receive a review within five days, but you will be able to adjust the amount of days soon, obviously within a safe range. I like this because it will allow you to space out when you receive book reviews. This increases your account safety by making the review pattern look more natural to Amazon's algorithm.

Soon, Gemsy will have the ability to submit audiobook reviews, which I am especially excited about. As more authors expand into audiobooks through ACX or Findaway Voices, having a way to get reviews for that format fills a real gap in the market.

They're optimizing their library so books are better positioned to get reviews. This should help all users get reviews faster and more consistently.

A complete design refresh is coming that will make the platform even easier to navigate and use.

Gemsy does updates often to stay aligned and compliant with Amazon's constantly evolving KDP terms and conditions. Some of those changes and updates across the year include limiting the amount of reviews you can submit per week, setting the correct marketplace for your books and for the books you review, and other features which help protect your Amazon KDP account.

Remember, never submit AI generated reviews. Gemsy also recommends against this. About a year ago, I did get some AI-generated reviews through Gemsy, but they now have strict policies against AI generated reviews.

Providing AI generated or low value reviews will get your Amazon KDP account banned, so this policy protects both reviewers and authors. I created a video about this topic; you can watch it here.

The way Gemsy works is through a Gems system. They now have two kinds of gems: normal blue gems for ebooks, and rubies for printed verified reviews. Depending on the price and the number of pages a book has, that determines the amount of gems you will receive or need for reviews.

This system ensures fairness. Longer books or print books that cost more to purchase require more gems, which makes sense because reviewers are investing more time and money.

Gemsy doesn't have a tier system in their pricing. It has only one single plan which can be paid monthly or yearly. Tier systems on other platforms allow some people to have more credits or points to review per month than others, which makes the whole system unfair. When some users can review more books, it makes the whole thing feel like a monetary transaction, which is against Amazon KDP rules.

Everyone on Gemsy gets the same opportunities regardless of how much they pay. The only difference between monthly and yearly plans is the cost savings for annual commitment.

After one year of using Gemsy, I can say that it has been a game changer for me.

Even though I have loved other platforms that I recently tried, Gemsy stands out, especially if you need low and medium content book reviews, print verified reviews, and soon even audiobooks.

The platform has been completely safe for my account. I've received quality reviews that have helped my books gain traction and get or increase sales. The variety of review types available gives me flexibility depending on what each book needs.

Also, thanks to those reviews I got through Gemsy, I have been able to run ads to my books. You should never run ads if you don't have any book reviews. I talk more in depth about this topic in this blog post here. I also talk about how to run ads in this other blog post here.

As you can see, my experience with Gemsy has been very positive. Even Trustpilot agrees that this is a great book review platform, with consistently high ratings from other users.

After one year of testing Gemsy, it remains my top choice for getting book reviews safely across multiple formats. Here's what makes it stand out:

Getting reviews doesn't have to be a months-long waiting game or a risk to your KDP account. Gemsy offers a safe, compliant way to build social proof across multiple formats. Here's your action plan: