What a difference a review makes
Something that's been niggling me for a couple of weeks is on the table today. Reviews and the subjective nature by which the reviewer matches stars to their words. Now I'm fine with reviews, and welcome as many as possible. But the Amazon page of my book has crossed over the line from "reviews would be great to get it more visible" to "I need another four star review to get my Amazon page back onto an average of four stars".
By this I refer to the monumental impact one little review can have. Let me explain.
Not too long ago, I got a two star review from someone, which is fine. Two stars are absolutely fine. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it and you are welcome to your opinion and I value it. However this review had been preceded by a 3 star review (and again, absolutely fine to have them), and the combination of them both, despite two four star reviews (and most recently a 5 star, which is nice to see but I worry when I see 5 star reviews on Amazon products as it's almost too good to be true and I hope people aren't thinking the same thing when they're looking at my product) has knocked my average rating to 3.6. What's the problem with this? Well, this means that despite three out of five people loving it, it no longer appears in the filter of 4 stars and up; the filter by which the majority of Amazon users shop. This means I don't appear in searches so readily, which means fewer people are going to be aware enough to be willing to give my work a chance.
Like I said, I have no problem with low rated reviews. But the two I have had just don't tally with the words the reviewers actually use. The 3 star says the occult slant was interesting, but that I was not the humorist author "Christopher Moore". Did they give me 3 stars because they only kinda got through the book and the occult slant was the only interesting thing? Or did they not read the genre listing and product description before they bought it and therefore are blaming me for having the same name as a guy who write humor novels rather than the genre in which my book so obviously sits; thrillers?
And the 2 star person says the following: "Too preachy, good read for free. It becomes muddled with all the facts he wants to enter which are good. Just loses it self along the lines". This is not so much a review of my work (as it is not a complaint I have had from any other readers) as it is of their reluctance to think through something and make sense of the story. I don't feel I am being particularly harsh here, as the deliberate approach I took with some of the more history lesson heavy elements was to have the main character, Greg express his own confusion and sum things up in his own words. This is also a primary reason I chose to use Greg as the only "eyes of the reader" so that we experience what he experiences and have no more information on something happening than he does.
Regardless of their reasoning, given the wording, and the use of good twice, 2 stars seems a tad much (or little depending on your point of view) and is the reason I'm now stuck in 3 star limbo with my rankings falling to the low 20,000s every day as opposed to the 5-6,000s it was experiencing before Mr 2 star came along. Though I had a look at their other reviews and the best they've give is a 3 star, with mine at a 2 and one other at a 1 star - they don't seem to like books much.
It makes me wish Goodreads (fantastic site) could blend the reviews people give with Amazon ones. For those of you who have not been to Goodreads.com, this site is essentially for readers to list, comment, rate and review books they have read. You don't have to review of course. But simply adding books you have read to your bookshelf goes a long way in informing other readers and members of the kind of books you like and therefore which ones might suit their tastes too. So far (considering my book wasn't purchased through goodreads.com as this is not allowed), 14 people have added it as "are reading", "to read" or "has read", and 4 of them have rated it, with one 5 star, two 4's and a 3. I really feel if these could be added to Amazon, it would go a long way in bringing me back to the top.
The point is, though negative reviews can be good (and often helpful to an author), if you review in the negative and positive but rate it badly or for the wrong reasons, then really you are just preventing people from even having a chance to judge it for themselves - because as customers we trust reviews and so search by them. So think about your words and match them fairly to your rating. If you couldn't finish it, then that's a 1 star. If you got through it but hated the ending, that's a 2. If you thought it was missing some bits but enjoyed it overall all, be a 3 star man. And if you loved it but cannot in good conscience compare it to the greatest works of literature eve conceived, keep it at a 4.
Fairness to live by.
By this I refer to the monumental impact one little review can have. Let me explain.
Not too long ago, I got a two star review from someone, which is fine. Two stars are absolutely fine. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it and you are welcome to your opinion and I value it. However this review had been preceded by a 3 star review (and again, absolutely fine to have them), and the combination of them both, despite two four star reviews (and most recently a 5 star, which is nice to see but I worry when I see 5 star reviews on Amazon products as it's almost too good to be true and I hope people aren't thinking the same thing when they're looking at my product) has knocked my average rating to 3.6. What's the problem with this? Well, this means that despite three out of five people loving it, it no longer appears in the filter of 4 stars and up; the filter by which the majority of Amazon users shop. This means I don't appear in searches so readily, which means fewer people are going to be aware enough to be willing to give my work a chance.
Like I said, I have no problem with low rated reviews. But the two I have had just don't tally with the words the reviewers actually use. The 3 star says the occult slant was interesting, but that I was not the humorist author "Christopher Moore". Did they give me 3 stars because they only kinda got through the book and the occult slant was the only interesting thing? Or did they not read the genre listing and product description before they bought it and therefore are blaming me for having the same name as a guy who write humor novels rather than the genre in which my book so obviously sits; thrillers?
And the 2 star person says the following: "Too preachy, good read for free. It becomes muddled with all the facts he wants to enter which are good. Just loses it self along the lines". This is not so much a review of my work (as it is not a complaint I have had from any other readers) as it is of their reluctance to think through something and make sense of the story. I don't feel I am being particularly harsh here, as the deliberate approach I took with some of the more history lesson heavy elements was to have the main character, Greg express his own confusion and sum things up in his own words. This is also a primary reason I chose to use Greg as the only "eyes of the reader" so that we experience what he experiences and have no more information on something happening than he does.
Regardless of their reasoning, given the wording, and the use of good twice, 2 stars seems a tad much (or little depending on your point of view) and is the reason I'm now stuck in 3 star limbo with my rankings falling to the low 20,000s every day as opposed to the 5-6,000s it was experiencing before Mr 2 star came along. Though I had a look at their other reviews and the best they've give is a 3 star, with mine at a 2 and one other at a 1 star - they don't seem to like books much.
It makes me wish Goodreads (fantastic site) could blend the reviews people give with Amazon ones. For those of you who have not been to Goodreads.com, this site is essentially for readers to list, comment, rate and review books they have read. You don't have to review of course. But simply adding books you have read to your bookshelf goes a long way in informing other readers and members of the kind of books you like and therefore which ones might suit their tastes too. So far (considering my book wasn't purchased through goodreads.com as this is not allowed), 14 people have added it as "are reading", "to read" or "has read", and 4 of them have rated it, with one 5 star, two 4's and a 3. I really feel if these could be added to Amazon, it would go a long way in bringing me back to the top.
The point is, though negative reviews can be good (and often helpful to an author), if you review in the negative and positive but rate it badly or for the wrong reasons, then really you are just preventing people from even having a chance to judge it for themselves - because as customers we trust reviews and so search by them. So think about your words and match them fairly to your rating. If you couldn't finish it, then that's a 1 star. If you got through it but hated the ending, that's a 2. If you thought it was missing some bits but enjoyed it overall all, be a 3 star man. And if you loved it but cannot in good conscience compare it to the greatest works of literature eve conceived, keep it at a 4.
Fairness to live by.
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