THE Group for Authors! discussion
General Discussion
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Ouch! That really hurts!
It sounds as if he doesn't understand the star rating and puts a star against a book to indicate that he wants to read it. Strange but true - it would not be the first time I've heard of that happening!Do not let it ruin your day. I've had a couple of one-star reviews from people who quite certainly meant it...
You have joined the one star club. Be proud of your achievement. All the best, most successful authors in the world are in the club too. Pick a well known author you love, and have a look, they will have one star reviews. Lots of them.it means you work is at least visible enough to warrant getting a rating.
Seriously, it doesn't mean he's even read it. Goodreads members use the rating system in all sorts of ways, including rating books they'd like or wouldn't like to read, how much he likes your name, your cover, even your profile picture. Without a review, it means nothing apart from the fact he's found your book, which means other people will be finding it too - good news.
And yep, it hurts, so wear it like a badge of honour instead.
Nicki wrote: "I knew receiving that first two-star rating or mediocre review would be uncomfortable. What I wasn't prepared for was getting a one-star rating. I'm somewhat mollified to see the reviewer left seve..."Nothing seems odd to me about this member's behavior. The books may have all been moved over to GR from another site or the member may just be getting around to cataloging. There is no obligation to add a written review. You have no way of knowing what a one * rating signifies to this member. For them, it may just be a way of indicating their level of interest in a new book. I know it brings down your average, but members get to rate and to organize their catalogs any way they choose. My suggestion is that you ignore your average and concentrate on writing good books.
This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, everyone!
Nicki,Always keep in mind that, according to most literary websites and periodicals, less than 3% of avid readers feel the need to ever post a rating or review. Those that do, post them to share their opinion of a book with fellow readers, not as a personal message to the author. Consumer reviews are merely personal opinions and, therefore, purely subjective. One reviewer's worst book ever may very well be another's best book ever.
Jim wrote: "Nicki,Always keep in mind that, according to most literary websites and periodicals, less than 3% of avid readers feel the need to ever post a rating or review. Those that do, post them to share ..."
Thank you, Jim!
Hi, Nicki, this sounds harsh but some people are just unfair and the problem is their reviews stick. I have had my share. Writers can't take it personally or they will get depressed and not want to write anymore. Just keep writing and take the good with the bad. Nicki wrote: "I knew receiving that first two-star rating or mediocre review would be uncomfortable. What I wasn't prepared for was getting a one-star rating. I'm somewhat mollified to see the reviewer left seve..."
Ronald Wheatley
Ronald wrote: "Hi, Nicki, this sounds harsh but some people are just unfair and the problem is their reviews stick. I have had my share. Writers can't take it personally or they will get depressed and not want to..."Thank you, Ron!
I forgot to add I have received a couple of one stars, one of them said "terrible", another said "No Boko Haram," and that is in my opinion not a review. Some people would rather (and please excuse my vulgarity here) "piss" on other peoples flowers than grow their own gardens, and probably because they can't, they lack what it takes to write a book and they are envious.Tell us what you really think, Ron.
It happens, I'm afraid. Some people use the rating system to flag books that they want to read. Others will make up ratings and even reviews of books they haven't read because it makes them look like a prolific reviewer.Then there will be some people who give a one star review because that's really what they think of a book.
Sometimes you just have to shrug and let it wash over you.
Nicki wrote: "Anyway, I know there's nothing to be done about the rating, but I could use some advice on how not to let this ruin my day."Don't look. Reviews are for other readers, not authors. I certainly wouldn't be nosing into the user's profile looking at what they have rated/reviewed other books. Plus GR user's all use the rating system in different ways.
Move on. Write another book.
Thanks, everyone! I promise not to be such a cry baby the next time. I'm still fairly new at this author stuff.
You're not being a cry baby, its a shock, but you've done just the right think in seeking advice and reassurance, rather that contacting the reviewer, because that can spell disaster.
Emma wrote: "You're not being a cry baby, its a shock, but you've done just the right think in seeking advice and reassurance, rather that contacting the reviewer, because that can spell disaster."Thank you. Yes, I read that was a big no-no.
Everyone has a different opinion and as authors, we're so close to our words that we act as if someone insulted our child when we get a bad review. But just as not everyone loves each other, not every reader is going to love every book. Welcome to being an author and just focus more on the fans who love your work and can't wait for the next story to come out.
Nicki wrote: "I knew receiving that first two-star rating or mediocre review would be uncomfortable. What I wasn't prepared for was getting a one-star rating. I'm somewhat mollified to see the reviewer left seve..."There's really no reason to find it odd that a GR user rates but rarely posts a review. This is a book cateloging site, and many users use it only to record for themselves if they liked a book and how much.
I rate books, and rarely post a review. There are various reasons for that.
As far as rating a book that's been out less than a week, that's not odd either. I can read several books in a week, as can many readers.
So, apparently someone doesn't like your book *shrug*.
Did you know there are people out there who don't like books like Harry Potter? The Lord of the Rings? Books by Steinbeck (raises hand), and on and on.
There are all sorts of reasons readers don't care for a particular book. And they're entitled to their opinions and their preferences.
But your post does demonstrate one reason why MY profile is private.
Ronald wrote: "I forgot to add I have received a couple of one stars, one of them said "terrible", another said "No Boko Haram," and that is in my opinion not a review. Some people would rather (and please excuse..."I could post my grocery list in my review space if I wanted.
The review space on GR is for a reader to post their own thoughts, if they choose. It matters not if it meets anyone else's criteria for a "review".
Emma wrote: "You have joined the one star club. Be proud of your achievement. All the best, most successful authors in the world are in the club too. Pick a well known author you love, and have a look, they wil..."Well said Emma. I'll just add that there can be multiple reasons for why someone would give you a low rating: fake account of a same-genre-author, fake account of rival publisher, fake account of a blogger, you p****d someone off and they or their friends are out to make an example out of you, he/ she really read portion of the book and really hated your book, he/ she does not like any book from your genre OR he / she wants attention, etc. At the end of the day, it's nothing to take personally.
Noorilhuda wrote: " I'll just add that there can be multiple reasons for why someone would give you a low rating: fake account of a same-genre-author, fake account of rival publisher, fake account of a blogger, you p****d someone off and they or their friends are out to make an example out of you..."Wow. It staggers me that you automatically attribute malicious intention to a 1-star and miss the most obvious - how about the reader simply didn't like your book?
Tessa wrote: "Everyone has a different opinion and as authors, we're so close to our words that we act as if someone insulted our child when we get a bad review."No. We don't. And if you think your book is your child then you need to seriously reconsider if you are ready to publish.
A book is a product. You do your utmost in terms of craft and production to make a book that people might want to pay money for, then you make your product available for purchase.
Every single reader is entitled to their opinion. I have 1-star reviews. Some people don't like my books *shrug* they are entitled to that opinion. There's lots of books I don't like either. I hope that for those readers, the next book they pick up is more enjoyable.
Noorilhuda wrote: "Emma wrote: "You have joined the one star club. Be proud of your achievement. All the best, most successful authors in the world are in the club too. Pick a well known author you love, and have a l..."Your reasoning seems paranoid to the extreme. Most members on this site are really not giving that much thought to authors. They are just cataloging their books to suit themselves.
Noorilhuda wrote: "Emma wrote: "You have joined the one star club. Be proud of your achievement. All the best, most successful authors in the world are in the club too. Pick a well known author you love, and have a l..."During my 4 years on GR I've seen that happen. Some authors are not above it - to try and screw a fellow author over. But those sort of cases are few and far in between. Why let it bother you so much? Flag it and move on.
You failed to mention that the vast majority of readers use rating system to simply catalog their books.
I wish authors would stop reading so much in to the star ratings, it would spare them a lot of unnecessary headache. It's a rating of your book, not of you as a person.
A.W. wrote: "Noorilhuda wrote: " I'll just add that there can be multiple reasons for why someone would give you a low rating: fake account of a same-genre-author, fake account of rival publisher, fake account ..."@A.W. and Faith, wow! Breathe! I gave a number of reasons or did you read the first line only? And you have a perfect right to your opinion, just like I do mine. But don't jump on me! wow!
Alexandra,I joined GR in 2014, but have only recently become active on the site. I'm still learning my way around here, so I'm unclear on why it would be considered bad form to look at others' profiles and see their book reviews and ratings.
I wouldn't find looking at all creepy. I'd be unlikely to do it myself, but I think it's understandable.But as several people said, somebody somewhere is bound to hate what we write (I've already had that experience). It is depressing, just like a rejection letter—best thing to do is keep writing anyway.
Nicki wrote: "Alexandra,I joined GR in 2014, but have only recently become active on the site. I'm still learning my way around here, so I'm unclear on why it would be considered bad form to look at others' pr..."
It's a little stalkerish coming from an author who is pissed off by a review. However so long as you don't contact or act out against the reviewer in any way they have no way of knowing that their profile was being checked out. Stalking authors (and their fans) is one of the reasons some members have private profiles.
Checking out a profile is the best way to ascertain whether or not the person possesses the knowledge, intelligence and experience to support an opinion, claim or advice posted by them within a discussion group. If the profile is vague and the information provided cannot be easily researched and verified, there is a good chance that the profile is inaccurate, exaggerated and, therefore, unreliable. An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed.
Jim wrote: An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed..."Wow, that is REALLY stalkerish. A profile is not a job application.
Faith wrote: "Jim wrote: An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed..."Wow, that is REALLY stalkerish. A profile is not a job application."
Agreed. If I were checking out a profile, it'd mostly be to see what their tastes were--I can't imagine taking the effort to verify their information ("Can you prove that you did in fact read The Great Gatsby in 2014?").
Fraser wrote: "Agreed. If I were checking out a profile, it'd mostly be to see what their tastes were--I can't imagine taking the effort to verify their information ("Can you prove that you did in fact read The Great Gatsby in 2014?"). "Yeah. But for fun, I just looked at my profile through Jim's lens and outside of the books I've read, my profile (via photo alone) basically indicates that I can drive a boat and have excellent taste in hats. :D
Faith wrote: "Jim wrote: An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed..."Wow, that is REALLY stalkerish. A profile is not a job application."
Unless you are a member of a NetGalley (or a similar site), or accept ARCs. Then, one of the requirements is to have an open profile so authors and publishers could check the number of friends/followers one has, how active on GR one is, or how often the person reviews (the number of reviews).
I check profiles of people that send me friend requests, to compare if we have a similar taste in books and if the person is active on GR.
I would think it was creepy if someone would check my profile for other reasons that are named above.
Noorilhuda wrote: "@A.W. and Faith, wow! Breathe! I gave a number of reasons or did you read the first line only? "I read your entire list. They all attributed malicious intent to a user. They all played the "poor victimised author" card. I didn't see any reasons listed by you that accounted for: lack of craft, poor editing, meandering plot, no characterisation or simply having a book that didn't engage the user.
I find it interesting you jumped to 1-star reviews being some form of attack, rather than firstly acknowledging that the author failed in some aspect of story telling with that particular reader.
Faith wrote: "Jim wrote: An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed..."Wow, that is REALLY stalkerish. A profile is not a job application."
Not really. As a reader, I always check a book's overall rating and read the one-star and two-star reviews. If a book has numerous reviews where readers state the writing is amateurish and the characters underdeveloped, I will likely pass on the book. But I will also check a handful of profiles to see their average ratings. If they rate everything low, then I know they're likely more critical than I am and I might dismiss their comments. If they have an average of 3.5 or higher, I'm more inclined to take their comments into consideration.
That said, I pay no attention at all to ratings without reviews. If I have no way of knowing why they chose the rating they did, it might be something completely irrelevant to me, such as strong language, or sexual content.
I don't call that stalkerish at all. I call that doing my research before I spend money on a book, or more importantly, invest my very limited free time in reading a book that I would know I wouldn't enjoy if I bothered to read the reviews.
TH, I agree that stars without commentary aren't much help. But if the commentary is sensible, I wouldn't bother myself with their average star-rating--that sounds like more work than it's worth.
T.H. wrote: "Faith wrote: "Jim wrote: An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed..."Wow, that is REALLY stalkerish. A profile is not a job application."
Not really...."
Comparing ratings/reviews is one thing (everyone does it) confirming the details of someone's profile is a whole other level of due diligence, and is stalkerish.
Faith wrote: "T.H. wrote: "Faith wrote: "Jim wrote: An honest profile will provide specific data and details that can be easily confirmed..."Wow, that is REALLY stalkerish. A profile is not a job application."..."
I certainly wouldn't bother googling anyone, that not only is creepy, but horribly time-consuming. But if they have a blog and we like similar books, I frequently click the link to add them to my RSS feed. I figure they include a link, they want people to check it out.
Fraser wrote: "TH, I agree that stars without commentary aren't much help. But if the commentary is sensible, I wouldn't bother myself with their average star-rating--that sounds like more work than it's worth."It takes about three seconds, so I don't find it more work than I'm willing to spend, but I get not everyone cares at that level. I've just bought and read a lot of books with rave reviews that turned out to be horrible. I may spend a half hour reading the first two to three chapters before deciding the book's not for me. Then I find out all the rave reviews are from people who only give out five stars. For me, that's worth a few seconds to double-check.
Jim wrote: "Checking out a profile is the best way to ascertain whether or not the person possesses the knowledge, intelligence and experience to support an opinion, claim or advice posted by them within a dis..."I don't use the profile. I come here to catalogue books. I also join some discussions. Although I have recently learned not all have the same manner of talking as others. Its a multi region site. Different people with different customs
Nicki wrote: " I'm still learning my way around here, so I'm unclear on why it would be considered bad form to look at others' profiles and see their book reviews and ratings. "It's not, but that isn't all you did, is it?
No, you then proceeded to make assumptions about that person, based upon your lack of understanding of how GR users use GR, coupled with your hurt feelings.
And then you posted those negative assumptions, in such a way that anyone who wanted to could see in less than 2 minutes exactly who you were presuming it about.
There have been some authors (not you) who take all that a bit further and post personal attacks to the person, or post a link to the review or their profile and post their accusations on their blogs, where friends and fans proceed to post personal attacks to the person.
Not saying that to pick on you, but because you asked. Hopefully I (and others) have helped clarify the misconceptions regarding not posting reviews, posting negative ratings, etc.
But yeah, this is one reason why my account is set to Friends only, and continue to petition GR to change it so that my reviews, ratings and shelves can be too.
Jim wrote: "Checking out a profile is the best way to ascertain whether or not the person possesses the knowledge, intelligence and experience to support an opinion, claim or advice posted by them within a dis..."Yikes!
I post nothing on my profile that can be confirmed - with very good reason.
I had a GoodReads Author recently refuse to provide me with a review copy he'd offered because I refused to give him my full real name.
His choice, his loss - none of his business.
La-Lionne wrote: "Unless you are a member of a NetGalley (or a similar site), or accept ARCs. Then, one of the requirements is to have an open profile "It's not a requirement for Netgalley, no. Although certainly it can make a difference with approvals from Big Publishing Houses.
I occasionally review Netgalley books, and my profile is private.
Jim wrote: "Checking out a profile is the best way to ascertain whether or not the person possesses the knowledge, intelligence and experience to support an opinion, claim or advice posted by them within a dis..."Why would anyone provide traceable personal information on the internet? My profile is accurate, but it is also very hard to link to a real life person, though the authorities could no doubt do it given the incentive. Unless you're a public figure, I don't see any reason to make such revelations. And if my profile is not convincing to someone, that matters not one whit to me.
That was the way of things back when I first got online 20 years ago, but it's pretty common now for people to provide traceable information. I have personal information up because I'm a writer and I want people to link my online self with the real life me. I don't think there's anything wrong with being cautious and not being linkable, but I do believe it's more the exception these days.
Usually i only read reviews after I've read the book and I'm curious what other people made of it.
Alexandra aka Auntie J wrote: "Nicki wrote: " I'm still learning my way around here, so I'm unclear on why it would be considered bad form to look at others' profiles and see their book reviews and ratings. "It's not, but that..."
Alexandra, I appreciate your input. This has been an enlightening thread, and I appreciate all those who took the time to comment.
Nicki, years ago I was dj-ing a free-form radio show and I got a call in the studio. The caller said, "That isn't music, this is the worst crap I've ever heard; stop ruining our ears!" I hung up the phone completely deflated. The phone rang seconds later. I took a breath and picked it up. The caller said, "This is so great. Thank you. I love what you're playing! You've made my evening."So when the reviews for my new book started coming out (about a month ago), I got ready. The first was a 5 star rave review. And more good ones. But. Down the road came a reviewer who said she couldn't finish the book.
People's taste is all over the lot. As authors we have to toughen our skin and do what we love. Just keep writing! Just keep writing!
P.G. wrote: "Nicki, years ago I was dj-ing a free-form radio show and I got a call in the studio. The caller said, "That isn't music, this is the worst crap I've ever heard; stop ruining our ears!" I hung up th..."Thank you! In hindsight, I regret posting this topic (I did so coming from a place of ignorance and hurt feelings), but I appreciate your kind words.
P.G. wrote: " ...People's taste is all over the lot. As authors we have to toughen our skin and do what we love. Just keep writing! Just keep writing!"Amen to that! To quote Shakespeare (I think), "To thine own self be true." Maintain your own integrity and your loyalty to your story. You can't please the world; sometimes the world is determined to be offended no matter what you do. So, do the best that you can to make your story the best it can be. You won't regret it. And again, just keep writing!
Anyway, I know there's nothing to be done about the rating, but I could use some advice on how not to let this ruin my day. :)