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Reviews - how useful are they?
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Alexandra wrote: "Here is my blog post discussing reviews and how useful they are. There is even a poll about it so go get your voting sticks out.http://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/2......"
The short answer is as a reader reviews are very important to me. The longer answer for me is that their importance depends on many factors. First and foremost is how familiar is the author? If it is someone I read and already follow, I really don’t care what anyone else says. If, however, I’m considering a new author, the reviews weigh heavily in my decision. That being said, it depends not on just what the reviews say but how many there are, the rating distribution etc. Even what other reviews that the reviewer has written. I generally give far greater weight to Goodreads reviews than Amazon reviews. I usually assume if there are only 3-5 reviews and they are all raving then they probably are not that trustworthy. I look for some critical analysis and writing skill from the reviewer – not just gushing. As for reviews I write, they are usually written just for me as a sort of diary of what I’ve read and how I felt about it. I’ve read so many thousands of books in my life and I tend to recycle them to half price books (because the sheer volume demands it!) so Goodreads is a great place just remind myself what I’ve read. As I’ve migrated away from hard copies to Kindle, reviews have become more important. I used to browse the bookstore and be attracted to cover art. Now it is a different model. I’m much more dependent on referrals and recommendations from friends.
Elizabeth wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "Here is my blog post discussing reviews and how useful they are. There is even a poll about it so go get your voting sticks out.http://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/2......"
That is very similar to my thinking as well. I have a few friends that I trust on their reviews, and I do rely heavily on those (trusted) reviews. It determines if I buy a book vs. borrowing it. If I am looking at an 'untested' author, if they have NO reviews I am very hard pressed to convince myself to 'buy' their book without some sort of feedback.
I dunno...your poll says reviews are very useful. I would actually try the poll again; your method was flawed by language, to be honest. You might want to add different options for importance if you're trying to measure the usefulness of reviews.
Me, I love reviews. Good and bad, I love giving and recieving all of them. A review means people cared about your book enough to talk about it, and frankly, that's never a bad thing.
Me, I love reviews. Good and bad, I love giving and recieving all of them. A review means people cared about your book enough to talk about it, and frankly, that's never a bad thing.
I think reviews are more important to me as an author than a reader. As an author they can give critical feedback I can expand on in future works and provide a path for improvement.As a reader I tend to ignore them unless everyone rated a book 1 or 2 stars then I would probably pass it up. A range of 2-5 stars seems about true to me, since not everyone likes the same things.
That is a good point Michelle. Even if the review is unfavourable someone cared enough to comment.Yes the language is a bit flawed but polls are often that way as it is hard to know how to phrase a question so it won't be a leading question.
Personally I don't find reviews that influential by themselves, it is more a factor among other factors.
They are indeed a good way of listing what has been read and a way of remembering whether you liked them.
People are influenced by many things. I may well run the poll again and I bet the answer is different. It is just my take on things:)
It wouldn't let me set up the poll on here, if a mod can do it lets see. Or go vote on the blog one.
Very good commentary in this thread!I generally do like to read reader reviews, but there's one thing not mentioned in this thread that I find a complete and total turn-off: namely if there's even a whiff of manipulation, I'm out. That is one book I will NOT be reading. Not now, not ever.
As in, a book listed on GR with five or six "five star" reviews by people who have only one or two books shown by their name, and where the "review" is something along the lines of "This is the bestest book everrrr!!1!!"
That does go both ways though. There are books with 1 stars for books not read and the reviewer has only one or two star reviews to his/her name.I guess it depends who the review is aimed at. Sometimes it isn't the author's fault if there are odd reviews. A review which says "This is the bestest book everrr!!" says very little. Even then, though, not everyone likes to write long reviews and if it was aimed at their cohorts then is it still a bit iffy? I am not sure. Whilst I have no doubt there are dodgy reviews how to identify them without knowing the reviewer, the author and the audience the review is aimed at I think I will reserve judgement.
It may be reviews mean different things to different people.
Can you think of any books in particular listed on GR that you've liked where all you've seen are over the top positive reviews? I can't. I must admit I've not purchased any such books (yet) but I have downloaded a few out of curiosity when they were free via Amazon Prime. Can't think of one I finished.I do agree if there were only one such over the top positive review that I should reserve judgement, but when I start seeing a whole lot of them - and no negative or even mildly positive ones - my BS detector starts going into overdrive. Perhaps that is unfair, but when you're trying to find something to read in the tsunami of literature being cranked out these days, I've personally found doing this a useful short-cut.
YMMV and all that.
Megatherium wrote: "Can you think of any books in particular listed on GR that you've liked where all you've seen are over the top positive reviews? I can't."I guess I'd consider those not-yet-reviewed at all, new books from new authors with no reviews. :) Well intended friends of the author may not realize the effect. Theoretically.
As for trolls, who cares. I don't see the difference between 3.1 and 3.9 average rating.
A minor point here: I use the samples provided with the ebook to figure out if I'd read it. If there is anything consistent, anyway; sometimes there's only like 4 pages, or only the cover and acknowledgments pages.
I would rather not engage even to read for free under the promise to review a book, if I have no idea about the quality of the writing. I did once, and I didn't like the time it took me to write a review.
A mix of reviews definitely makes it easier to judge. Not everyone will like a book.
It's really tricky. I've been following this thread with some interest. I prefer to read 2-4 star reviews if I'm looking to read a review. I do, however, read 1 and 5 star reviews if they're of a decent length and say more than "I looooooved it" or "I hated it!" That's my reader brain. The middle of the road reviews tend to tell me about grammar and spelling, and whether the plot holds together. (I have a problem with very poorly edited stories - I can forgive the odd typo, that happens, but the whole manuscript?)Keep in mind that I'm probably reading the reviews because I liked the blurb.
My author brain wants nothing but wonderful reviews, but is uneasy having only wonderful reviews, because I know how suspicious I am of those reviews when I'm a reader. I've been bitten a couple of times - liked the cover blurb, read a pile of happy reviews, and then discovered a book full of spelling and grammatical errors with plot holes wide enough to drive a semi-trailer through.
I think Alfaniel's sample reading is probably a good middle road. It would be sad to throw every well reviewed book away without a trial. But I do understand why there is suspicion.
Leonie wrote: "I think Alfaniel's sample reading is probably a good middle road. It would be sad to throw every well reviewed book away without a trial. But I do understand why there is suspicion. ..."I probably wasn't clear enough, sorry. What I was referring to was a book I'd never heard of by an author I'd never heard of. In those cases, having no reviews is actually more favorable to me a few rather fishy sounding ones.
Of course, if I've heard of a book or an author doubtless so have a great many others at GR or LT or Amazon or wherever. Meaning it is pretty unlikely I'd ever stumble across a situation where all reviews were positive in that case.
Leonie wrote: "It's really tricky. I've been following this thread with some interest. I prefer to read 2-4 star reviews if I'm looking to read a review. I do, however, read 1 and 5 star reviews if they're of ..."You find more holes than the average Joe/Jane :) You see things I would never think of.
Megatherium wrote: "Leonie wrote: "I think Alfaniel's sample reading is probably a good middle road. It would be sad to throw every well reviewed book away without a trial. But I do understand why there is suspicion. ..."If there are quite a few reviews, I like to look at the newest first because there is a good, no I mean great chance that the first 10 or so are from those who know the author.
If on Amazon, I look at the number of reviews first, not the rating. Here, I read the rating & think if what the reviewer says is something I'd like. Reviews here seem more reliable.
Kelly wrote: "Leonie wrote: "It's really tricky. I've been following this thread with some interest. I prefer to read 2-4 star reviews if I'm looking to read a review. I do, however, read 1 and 5 star reviews..."Apparently it's a gift ;) But hopefully a helpful one!
http://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/2...
Of course this is just one set of results and I am sure everyone has their own views. I am not saying reviews are worthless as they are useful, but in conjunction with other factors.
Authors are often told that they must get good reviews or no one will buy the book. I don't believe that is the case, at least not entirely. People review for all sorts of reasons - to share info with friends, to say how much they love a book and why, or indeed why they think a book really sucks, or occasionally to have a rant. How much store do YOU put on reviews? As a reader I am not actually that bothered, I make my own decisions but as a needy author I like the good ones:)
Interested to hear other views.