Are unearned 5 star reviews making Indie authors soft

[Leonie]

Another great blog post, Riley. I tend to look for the lower star reviews (2-4) because they tend to be more thoughtful than the 1 or 5 star ones, and they give me a much better idea of the style of book, and whether it might be for me.

[Riley]

I'm actually the same Leonie. In fact, I can't remember the last time I actually read a 5 star review. I usually go straight to the lower ratings for the exact reasons you gave, but also because if there is a problem, I want to know if I can live with it or not.

[Bee]

Hey I have a question and since this topic comes close to it, I'm asking it here.

I recently read a book (novella, only 80 pages) and it was so obvious that it was a Fanfic. Others said it before in reviews and it is just a fanfic. So even though the author defends her work as being an original story, I wondered if it doesn't violate any rules against copyright since she published it herself.

[Riley]

Not sure on the legalities of that one Bieke, but I would at least state in my review that you thought it was fanfic. I mean, at the end of the day, 50SOG began its life as Twilight fanfic. It's 1 of the reasons I personally haven't read it, though it hasn't stopped millions of other people.

[Bee]

Riley wrote: "Not sure on the legalities of that one Bieke, but I would at least state in my review that you thought it was fanfic. I mean, at the end of the day, 50SOG began its life as Twilight fanfic. It's 1 ..."

Okay, but the book I read has Star Wars in it, all the time. The names, the sentences (May the force be with you), a guy named Father Darth, ... =/

[Riley]

Really? Were they trying to poke fun or they were being serious? Did they think they had written a fan fic or think their work was serious writing?

[[deleted user]]

Very nice point! I agree with most of it, and as some said! Really good you touched this subject!

I too try to be honest in my reviews. However, I tend to give higher rate to "friends" of mine, so that they can feel their work and themselves are appreciated...

However, I think regarding the poor presentation/misspells and such, I thinks it can only be due to some indie/new authors lack of experience and know how...

I just wrote a short story, part of a series and had great help of beta readers pointing me things I could enhance on my writing, mostly because English is not my primary language. I've learned so much with the beta readers, if it wasn't for them, my presentation wouldn't be half as good :)

[[deleted user]]

And just to complete: I think authors should ALWAYS prefer honest reviews, so that they can learn and grow :)

[[deleted user]]

This whole thread has been really refreshing to read through. I have always reviewed honestly and assumed others did as well, but I read a few ARCs this year that were almost impossible to get through and I was horrified to see I was the only low-star rating for the book. It made me want to give up on reading-to-review entirely.

Reviewers who give out four and five stars like candy make it more difficult for other readers to really decide if the book is for them, and I hate wasting my time and money on a book that isn't worth it... that's why I spend so much time beforehand reading reviews!

I've been happy to see the evolution of the book world over the last several years now that Indie authors are able to get their work out there so much more easily. It would ideally mean that authors who write books that appeal to me can get the book to me, even if it doesn't fit the mold of the big publishers. But unfortunately it has also made finding a true gem more of a crap shoot, especially when people who have actually read the book aren't being honest.

Thanks for sharing the blog post, I totally agree.

[Bee]

Riley wrote: "Really? Were they trying to poke fun or they were being serious? Did they think they had written a fan fic or think their work was serious writing?"

Yeah, and she said it herself that it wasn't a fanfic. It's an original novella in her mind. =/

[The Angry Lawn Gnome]

Kira wrote: "But unfortunately it has also made finding a true gem more of a crap shoot, especially when people who have actually read the book aren't being honest.
..."

I keep meaning -- but never seem to get around to, pure laziness, I suppose -- setting up a list of reviewers to follow, folks who seem to have the same taste in books that I do, and seem to share at least some similar opinions. It seems that something like that would be the best cure to "star inflation," if such a term makes sense.

Oh, and edit to add: Why do you think people aren't being honest? Do you mean that sometimes glowing reviews are written by an author's friends and family, stuff like that? That would suck, if so, and if said relationship is not disclosed.

[[deleted user]]

Lumpenprole wrote: "Kira wrote: "But unfortunately it has also made finding a true gem more of a crap shoot, especially when people who have actually read the book aren't being honest.
..."

I keep meaning -- but neve..."

I would love if Goodreads would add a feature to make it easier to find readers with similar tastes. Shelfari has a "readers like you" feature that I really do like, but I still spend more time on Goodreads. I've just been slowly adding friends and following the reviews of people who have been helpful to me in finding a good book, but I have also un-followed a few recently because they gave five "breathtaking heart fluttering stars" to a book that I thought was an absolute crapfest.

I honestly can't think of a good motivation for someone to give out higher ratings if the book doesn't deserve it unless they have interacted with the author on Goodreads and it became difficult to be objective. The one read-to-review that I accepted this month on Goodreads required me to post a link to my review on a thread that the author was diligently checking and commenting on. I was the only one in the group that really didn't like the book, which I found incredibly hard to believe, and it was very awkward to post that link. She was very gracious about my review and told me she knew it wouldn't be for everyone, but it was still hard to post the review having had personal interaction with the author through a goodreads group. That's the first time that's happened to me.

[The Angry Lawn Gnome]

Kira wrote: "Shelfari has a "readers like you" feature that I really do like, but I still spend more time on Goodreads. I've just been slowly adding friends and following the reviews of people who have been helpful to me in finding a good book, but I have also un-followed a few recently because they gave five "breathtaking heart fluttering stars" to a book that I thought was an absolute crapfest.
..."

Interesting feature on Shelfari. Funny, because I personally found the site very hard to navigate.

And as for "breathtaking heart fluttering stars," well not only do I know what you mean, I just about spit hot tea out my nose when I read that. At least I'll now have the proper taxonomy for said reviews down when I encounter them in the future!

[Riley]

Lumpenprole wrote: "Why do you think people aren't being honest? Do you mean that sometimes glowing reviews are written by an author's friends and family, stuff like that? That would suck, if so, and if said relationship is not disclosed. "

I honestly think that people are doing it for two reasons: one, because they are uncomfortable with saying anything negative and worry about hurting people's feelings. In another blog post I wrote on how to write reviews, (http://www.rileybanks.net/3/post/2013...) I try to encourage potential reviewers to realise that their reviews are for readers, not for writers. I am in a couple of author groups, and the overwhelming comments I see is that they don't want to be perceived as negative, or they don't want to upset the author.

The second reason I have seen is that people seem very uncomfortable sharing their opinions - for whatever reason. Some think that their opinion is just one in millions, so it doesn't really matter what they say (hence they go back to their first issue of not wanting to hurt feelings). They have to understand that if they are posting reviews on sites like Goodreads or Amazon, people are definitely reading their reviews - though they won't be for long if they don't actually express an opinion.

A lot of 'reviews' I have read are really nothing more than a rehash of the plot with a very hurried sentence about whether they liked the book. If they didn't like it, they just seem to avoid saying anything about it except a rehash. To me, that's not a review at all, and does nothing to help potential readers.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh but I personally think people should avoid writing reviews if they're not going to take it seriously and actually give an opinion.

[[deleted user]]

Wow, that was a really helpful article, Riley. Just last week I was searching for posts with tips that could help me do a better job writing reviews, and that was just what I was looking for. Thank you!

[Jessie]

As an indie author, I *want* honest reviews precisely because I value giving my own honest ratings/reviews. Unfortunately not all indies are the same. On one mailing list I'm on, if someone gets a truthful 3 star review on Amazon, they actually ASK PEOPLE ON THE LIST to mark it as unhelpful so it goes further down the page. ::shakes head:: Those people give indies a bad name...And personally, a thoughtful 3 star review is more helpful to me as a reader than 10 glowing 5 star reviews!

[March]

This has been a very interesting thread to read through, and very topical as reviews have been much on my mind of late. As a reader, I've had the experience of purchasing a book after reading slews of 4 and 5 star reviews and been utterly baffled by the low quality of the writing and storytelling. It made me wonder whether other readers are truly so forgiving of obvious errors or if the reviews were acquired on the less-than up-and-up. Since self-pubbing my first book the situation has started to make a lot more sense to me. I have not asked all of my friends and family members to hop online and give me 5 star reviews, nor have I entered into any kind of shady understanding with other indie authors. I'd like to attain any success I can honestly, but I can begin to see the reason authors are tempted to do such things. finding honest reviewers is difficult and so many marketing opportunities are contingent on a certain number of reviews. I'm hoping to get there through patience and perseverance, and I look forward to honest feedback as I worked so tirelessly on the writing and editing of my novel, but I can certainly see why some people would be tempted to skip this part and hop onto the bookbub train. It's hard to sell books without reviews, and it's hard to get reviews without selling books.

[Philip]

Hi, enjoyed reading through the group

I'm a reader first and I have learned to mostly ignore all reviews because I start with the blurb, if that does work for me then I may skim the reviews, good and bad. I focus on the story not the grammar or spelling. Coming from the UK virtually every USA book has spelling errors! If we can skip over color for colour than similar typos can be ignored.

As a new self-published author, I know I need better editing (cost) better covers (cost) professional proof reading (cost) and marketing (cost). When readers including me download a book for free or 99c will the review compare them fairly with a professionally published book with a similar star rating that costs $5-10 even as an e-book?

I treasure my own reviews good and bad. I'll try and correct mistakes spotted and amend the Kindle version and revise the paperback. If the reader has set their device to auto update then they will get the new version. A new purchaser will get an amended edition of a paperback. It's not ideal I appreciate but new editions of books are nothing new. Ifsomeone criticises my book for plot, facts (in fiction) or characters then I want to know why.

In the end I'm grateful to any reader if they take the time and trouble to review then all the better regardless of the rating provided.

Yes I know I need a professional editor, I also need to pay the mortgage...