Rating a book

[Bionic Jean]

C.J. wrote: "Goodreads reviewers have traditionally ranked books lower than Amazon reviewers, but I'm not sure readers are aware of that ..."

Not only that, but the descriptions on the two sites were all one star different! For instance on Goodreads 2 stars indicates "it was OK". On Amazon 3 stars indicated "it was OK". If you hovered over the 4 stars, saying "it was good", that equalled GR's 3 stars "liked it". But most people would use the same review, and rate the same number of stars on both sites, not appreciating that the criteria were different.

Amazon have now got round this inconsistency. There are no words whatsoever, just the stars, and an explanation by Amazon of how they favour newer reviews, and those who have purchased the book on Amazon.

[Deborah]

I know my ratings average around 4.5 stars but that's because I take the time to check out the reviews prior to reading. I seldom read a book whose average score is below 4.

[Bionic Jean]

That sounds fair Deborah! It shows your select carefully, so of course your rating should be high :)

[Michaela]

I mostly look after the reviews of friends or people I know from groups, as the average rating often isn´t reliable. Of course I also have a look at the blurb and the genres readers put it into to know whether this would be to my taste. My average rating atm is 3,63, as I give mostly 3 to 4 stars. :)