Reviewer asking for PDF, what should I do?

Hi, I’m an indie author and I need some practical advice.

I reached out to a Bookstagram account (around 3k followers) for a review. She replied saying that Kindle doesn’t work in her current country (Bahrain) and asked me to send a PDF copy instead.

I’m unsure how to handle this.

On one hand:

I only have 1 review so far, so I do need reviews She seems like a genuine reader at least from her profile

On the other hand:

Sending a full PDF feels risky (piracy, sharing, etc.) I don’t know if this is a common excuse to get free copies

So I want to ask:

  1. Does Kindle actually not work properly in some countries, or is this exaggerated?

  2. Do authors usually send PDFs in these cases?

  3. If yes, how do you protect your book?

  4. Would you send it if you were in my position with very few reviews?

I’m trying to balance getting early reviews vs protecting my work, and I don’t want to make a naive mistake early on.

Any advice from experienced indie authors would help.

Posted Mar 27, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC

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