THE Group for Authors! discussion
Writer's Circle
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Rating and reviewing other authors books on Goodreads (and elsewhere)
I pretty much align with Talia’s philosophy. One reason is that there have been a number of times when I would start a book then after, say, a couple dozen pages, put it down. “Not for me!” Then some time (years) later, I’ll try it again and be blown away. (Thinking of Gone With the Wind.) So if I had given it a two star review, that author, whom I now admire, would have been stuck with a bad review for maybe years.
Ville wrote: "I'm mainly here as a reader. Really, given what I've had published, I'm almost just pretending to be an author. I certainly go on reviewing.That said, there's this dilemma that comes up every tim..."
Hi Ville, I really appreciate your comment and it resonates for me. Being primarily here as an author, I don't review as many books as readers do. However, I do read quite a lot of children's books, especially picture ones.. and if I see great ones, then I really like to let other people know about them. So a lot of my reviews will mostly be 5-star.. as those are the ones I'll take my time to tell others about.
You make some great points, and I agonize sometimes over the not leaving bad reviews of books, because I think about that too. I've read some pretty poor ones too. Sometimes, authors will ask each other to check their book out, and mostly, fortunately, these are great books. However there is the occasional 'lemon' and I'll agree in this instance I have declined to post anything. I know how hard it is not only to write a book and publish it, but also that is maybe 20 % of the overall work involved in getting it to market and promoting it. Poor reviews can really hurt a book, especially in its infancy. So I don't feel like I'll be the one to jump in quickly and leave a poor review of something - but I take on board what you say, that we should not be afraid to leave a 4 or even 3 star review.. if indeed, that's what it deserves.
I've been doing this for about 5 years now.. and I worry much less about reviews for my books now than I used to. Reviews arrive, sooner or later, the good the bad and the ugly. I'm actually glad that my best selling book (that's best-selling, not bestselling!) has a whole bunch of 3, 2 and yes even 1-star reviews. I think that shows a more rounded picture. Not everyone is going to love our book.. and it helps when people say why - whatever the reason.
Thanks for making me think about this again.. and I think when I next do some reviews I'll keep my options open with the lower ratings too.
Julian
M wrote: "Hi, I'm new to the group and joined up because this is on my mind:As authors, how do you manage (or not) rating and/or reviewing the books of other authors?"
I don't read a bad book beyond the first page (or 10,) so there's nothing to review. I may read only a bestselling book to the end, and if if I find it seriously flawed--and there is no chance that I'd ruin an author's career--I may post a negative review.
I don't post a negative review for a new author.
What I also stopped doing is pre-commit when a new author asks me to read a book and give it five stars. In one case, I found a memoir well-written, worthy of four stars, but the author asked me not to post a four-star review. I thought she was wrong--4 stars is a good review--but since then I turn down requests and only spend my precious reading time on books of my own choosing.
You post excellent points and I wish more readers/reviewers took your stance. And you're right about a 4 start review - that's very good, and let's face it, not all books should be in a 5 star category. For an author to even ask that of you is, in my opinion, not cool! Keep reading those books that interest you and reviewing them in an honest way. You have to follow your heart.
I agree a four star review is excellent, though I avoid awarding three stars unless I note some glaring mistakes in story or professionalism. A five star denotes additional merit like a really great story, an innovative twist, or exceptionally drawn characters even if there are still some errors.
My old Ma used to say "if you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut".The same goes for reviews, although sometimes the truth needs to be told, but perhaps not in the public arena.
Having said that, I have had one very negative review, or at least rating, which dropped my Amazon stars down a notch. That person featured in my book as a negative force so I guess it was a form of revenge. What I would prefer as an author is more than an anonymous rating; if you have a criticism isn't it at least polite to say what it is?
Your mother and mine went to the same school. I totally agree. If there is a problem, I personally will message the author and I hope others do the same to me. The review that is placed on Amazon stays forever. If you forewarn the author, they can make changes that a review doesn't apply to anymore.
Amos wrote: "My old Ma used to say "if you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut".The same goes for reviews, although sometimes the truth needs to be told, but perhaps not in the public arena.
..."
Wow! I totally agree. I had a similar thing happen to me regarding my memoir, "Behind the Tapestry." It was a 3-Star Goodreads Rating without a written comment. And this person wasn't featured in the book but she knew a lot of the "players" essential to my story. Not sure what her problems were with it. But oh well. What can we do. Best of luck to you moving forward.
Right now I'm looking for new reviews for my book A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE, which I am also releasing as an AUDIObook as soon as its approved. In 2015, when the novel was first published, it received AWESOME 5 star reviews, most of which still survive to the page on AMAZON. But the algorithms need NEW reviews, so now I've got to go through that ASKING for reviews phase. BUT I CAN'T GET A URL from AMAZON (with 99cent special) to send my readers to!!!! It's so frustrating!
ACTUALLY, I review books for the New York Journal of Books. It keeps me reading a book a lot longer than I normally would - but I am so glad to do it! It has taught me so much about writing and I always have a book on the go. I'm not actually allowed to say a personal opinion in the review that sounds like a personal opinion, just rather report on the book as if I'm noticing things that 'are'. There have been a few times I have read a book and refused to review it because I didn't feel that my review would help the author in any way.
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Anna wrote: "Authors really appreciate Amazon reviews because I'm told that Amazon use those reviews to help calculate the placement in the charts. I don't know if that is true. There are lots of other reasons ..."Yes, it is true. Amazon's algorithm is based on the quality and number of book reviews. They also purge reviews they deem biased such as people with your same last name and Facebook friends if you linked GR to your Facebook account. That's why author reviews are so important.
I'm still in the early stage of learning how GR works and saw a discussion somewhere about how I could join a three-person round-robin (my words) to review one another's books. That sounds interesting, but I can't find where and how to do that. Help?
Darryl wrote: "Yes, it is true. Amazon's algorithm is based on the quality and number of book reviews”No, it’s not.
Amazon’s sales rank is calculated as sales + borrows (for titles in KU).
Reviews have NOTHING to do with sales rank. The only type of list that might give some weight reviews is the pop lists, which considers price, historic sales rank and review average.
Darryl wrote: "…three-person round-robin (my words) to review one another's books
Author review swaps and daisy chains (like you are describing) violate Amazon’s review guidelines and can get your account banned. Not to mention readers consider them unethical and gaming of ratings/averages.
Gee, it's hard to imagine someone begin that vengeful and spiteful over a review with some negative comments. People need to get a grip. I've been doing this long before the internet, and back when you could get newspaper reviews, you never knew what you were going to get back. You were just grateful the paper had mentioned your book at all, because that translates to sales. The problem I see now is over-saturation. I indie-published a book this past April, my first indie (but not my first published novel), and all I seem to get from readers are stars, which are nice, but I would like some comments, too; even just a couple of sentences would be great. Seems everybody is too busy to take the time. I review almost every book I read on GR. I am never snarky but if there's something in the book that rubbed me wrong, or that I thought could have been done better, I don't hesitate to say so. Good constructive criticism is what valuable reviews are all about.
Tilly wrote: "Anna wrote: "Personally, I don't "prize" reviews as they aren't left for me."Great point, Tilly.
Amos wrote: "That person featured in my book as a negative force so I guess it was a form of revenge."It's unfortunate that this has become a thing - whether it's personal or due to political or other differences - and it's very difficult to have any control over.
Cindy wrote: "People need to get a grip."Indeed Cindy. *claps*
To all who've replied over the years, thank you. Since I wrote that first post I've moved from reader to author (+ still reader, of course). So the thread has remained relevant. :)
I am both an avid reader and an author. As a reader, I understand that there is a distinction to be made between what I personally like or dislike and what is good or not good. I often read reviews where the reviewer doesn't make that clear distinction. For example, Minette Walters "The Cellar" was an excellent piece of writing, scary as heck, which also had some elements I don't like (extreme violence); I would still rate it highly - it was a very good book - though I think there are people who would (wrongly, IMHO) give it a poor review because they don't like violence.As an author, I know that reviews may affect purchases, so I am very cautious about giving reviews of 3 stars of lower to any book or product. Those books that I do give a low rating to tend to be works that are long out of print, the author is no longer living, the book is in public domain and made available at low or no cost on Amazon or a one of those services that restores long out-of-print works. In other words, the author's income is not affected by what I may write about the book. And considering how obscure these books often are, I think the readership is limited to, well, me.
One of the more highly rated books I reviewed recently was a self-published book. Really well done, and a lesson that "self published" is not necessarily a synonym for bad writing.
J. wrote: "As an author, I know that reviews may affect purchases, so I am very cautious about giving reviews of 3 stars of lower to any book or product."Now, I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong, you do have a point, but consider this other side: by saying that, you're also saying you're afraid customers might find out the product is bad before they buy it, and be able to make decisions based on such information.
To be clear, what I am saying is that when I give a middling or low rating to a book, it is the case where it does not affect the author's revenue - the author has passed, there is no literary estate (though some of them can be rather dubious) and the work is publicly available. If I genuinely don't like a current book (or product) I don't review it at all.I have no problem with any customer basing their buying decisions on reviews, but I have too often seen negative reviews that do not make the appropriate distinction between what is not good, and what the reviewer simply doesn't like. A customer may be well-informed by a review that is clearly able to define why a product is good or not good; on the other hand, a customer may be put off buying a very good product because the reviewer expressed a negative opinion as fact.
I don't mean to come across as too condemning, but I'd like you to take my point, so I'm going to make it again formulated as a response to what you just said.If you mind that writers or other sellers would lose revenue because of your negative or middling reviews, even if the reviews are honest and informative, then you do mind it if customers make informed choices not to buy.
You say it's about customers making uninformed decisions not to buy because somebody conflated their opinion with whether the product is good. But if we're talking about your own reviews, you could simply not make that error, you could write negative reviews based only on the product being bad and not just your opinion, so this wouldn't be a problem with your reviews. So when you're choosing not to give negative reviews, it shows you're acting according to the value choices I described in the previous paragraph.
So. It's understandable to take the author's side, but I want you and everyone else reading to notice that this may also mean advancing the author's or other seller's interested at the expense of the reader/buyer, who could have appreciated the information in your negative review. So it's a bit of a dilemma.
Anyone got any ideas how it could be made into something else than a zero-sum game like it seems to become here?
I really don't think being an author inhibits your ability to critique another's work, nor should it discourage it imo. Reviews, as long as they are constructive, make for better authors, whether they are positive or negative.
J. wrote: "I understand that there is a distinction to be made between what I personally like or dislike and what is good or not good. "The key to my ratings is how much I personally (and very subjectively) enjoyed the read. That is why I don't feel too inclined to go hard on someone's work by rating it low. If I it usually would be "because I personally didn't like it" not because it wasn't "good".
Ville wrote: "So it's a bit of a dilemma."I believe I see your point and the dilemma. And it is a dilemma, hence my original post. *shrug*
L.P. wrote: "I really don't think being an author inhibits your ability to critique another's work, nor should it discourage it imo. Reviews, as long as they are constructive, make for better authors, whether t..."
I agree but not everyone is critiquing when they review. Some of us are just telling people whether we liked, and what we liked, about a novel we've read. It's not the same thing. We're into the 'are reviews for readers or for authors' woods here, too. I feel like this subject (for me) keeps looping back on itself. :D
I'm an Indie author (9 books so far, 2 in the works) and anyone who'd want to post a review here or Amazon I'd sure appreciate it. I like the idea of 4-5 starts public and if you hated it message me - haha. But really, a bad review now and again isn't always a bad thing. I'd really like more feedback. Although people who are reading my spy novel series give me a lot of verbal good feedback, it's harder to get them to post it on Amazon - go figure :-)
M.N. wrote: "Alejandra wrote: "I have very little time and energy left after work, so I decided that I should only use them for things that make me happy or better by any means. Therefore, I only review and rat..."I think you've got an amazing attitude...I'm a writer and appreciate any reviews I can get...but I'm a reader as well and look for those new indie authors just starting out that need more reviews. Thanks for being a 'reader!'
I have helped design and format hundreds of books for authors during the Createspace era. I know how much effort goes into creating books, whether they sell or not is another story.So whenever I get a book to read whether Kindle or physical, I always give them 4-5 stars, even when I cannot write a detailed review.
Sunny wrote: "I have helped design and format hundreds of books for authors during the Createspace era. I know how much effort goes into creating books, whether they sell or not is another story.So whenever I ..."
This kind of applies even if we're talking about just not giving negative reviews or ratings, but it's all the more so if you're always giving positive ones.
This is kind of what I've been thinking the whole time, but I don't think I thought of putting it like this before. (Could be I did, it's been a long time and I'm not going to review the whole thread.)
Suppose you're a reader who's looking through a book's reviews and ratings, trying to figure out whether they should read it. That is presumably what reviews are supposed to be for. Well, as that reader you CANNOT TRUST people who give good ratings or even reviews just because they're sympathetic to the authors. It's like you're pretending to the readers that hey, this is a good book, you should read this, when you're really just saying to the author "I appreciate the effort you put into this" or whatever.
While, as I have pointed out before on this thread, I recognise there are other sides to this... reviews written without applying integrity as a reviewer are just dishonest advertising, even if it's for sympathetic motives. Whatever you do, you should have integrity in that thing, and you can't just jump into a role where you're trusted somehow but only use it to advance your values in another role.
Ville wrote: "Sunny wrote: "I have helped design and format hundreds of books for authors during the Createspace era. I know how much effort goes into creating books, whether they sell or not is another story...."
It has nothing to do with integrity or self-promotion.
I have been in the publishing industry for years and unless Authors are good marketers, they seldom sell more than a few hundred copies of their books.
They deserve good ratings with the time and money they spend on getting published.
Just so that they can make a few more sales and not get disheartened to continue further,
It is not like I have not given bad reviews, for a product or a book. I have given some books one star as well.
Reviews are like Amazon's way of saying we have millions of books, you guys give stars and review it, it is your headache. In all this "star"-dom, the indie Author who has literally no idea of Marketing gets plowed down.
Also, I am not a reviewer or critic by profession, so I do not care whether I give one or 5 stars. But when I read a book and like it and see it has very less reviews and stars, then I give that book a 4 or 5 star.
I am not a reviewer so I also do not care whether people think my way of giving reviews has integrity issues. I am an Author reading another Author's book and helping them if I can.
The industry is filled with millions of critics and reviewers who can worry about integrity issues.
We as human beings have intellect but sometimes we overthink and get stuck in right and wrong, and overcalculate things.
I simply believe - like begets like, kindness begets kindness, sympathy begets sympathy, and encouraging begets encouraging. If my encouragement in a simple manner, helps an author not to give up and later in life s/he achieves something big as an Author, then I have made my point. I have nothing to gain from it.
You see these big commerce sites have put sales and ratings first in our mind, instead of actually writing good books and reaching and touching the lives of as many people as possible. The vision is important and every Author should focus on that - why the book is being written. Once they understand that and if fate smiles on them, their books will reach lots and lots of people, even if it does not make them a lot of money or get thousands of stars as reviews.
I've seen some trends over the last several years with seeking reviews from other authors that make me hesitant to seek any more. If an author reviews a book and does not like it, then a negative review may be appropriate. The problem I have is when I see author/reviewers criticizing a book because it's not written the way they would write it. The review sometimes becomes more about the reviewer's superiority to the book's author and less about the book itself. If you're reviewing a book and you feel you are a vastly superior author and human being, a few private recommendations for improvement might be helpful and appreciated.
Obviously, there are a lot of author/reviewers out there who give honest reviews. It's a small percentage of others who make the process unpleasant.
I decided that I was spending too much of my mental and emotional energy chasing reviews. It's not worth it to me. I would rather focus on writing the next book and trying to connect with readers than trying to stroke some other authors ego enough to get an honest review.
Ubiquitous wrote: "I've seen some trends over the last several years with seeking reviews from other authors that make me hesitant to seek any more. If an author reviews a book and does not like it, then a negative r..."Very true. But the issue is if you want your books to sell on Amazon you need hundreds of reviews.
Unless you know marketing techniques and can bring targeted buyers to your Amazon bookstore or website, you are stuck with Amazon reviews being directly proportional to sales.
See if you bring 100000 people to your bookstore and out of that even if only 5000 buys or reviews. Good or bad rating you get 5000 reviews. That counts. But not every author knows how to handle digital marketing.
When you are reviewing other books, do it for encouragement and relationship-building and not necessarily for good reviews or sales of your own books. If the other writer is stroking his ego, then move on to someone else.
Almost everything in this world runs on relationships and give and take. That is how our society has evolved. So focus on building relations with other authors instead of focusing on getting reviews.
That is why I say vision is very important. When the vision is true, people will sooner or later start connecting with you and your books, in the long run.
Sunny wrote: "the issue is if you want your books to sell on Amazon you need hundreds of reviews...."What utter rubbish. And exactly the sort of false information what drives authors to do unethical things like buying reviews and swapping fake 5-stars with other authors. And it still won’t sell their books.
What sells books is a good book. That means a well written and edited book that meets reader expectations and tropes. It means a compelling blurb that conveys tone and leaves the reader wanting to buy the book. And most importantly since we DO judge a book by its cover….a professional cover that conveys genre.
I have seen so many authors in GR groups complain about low/no sales and busily swapping reviews with each other…and quite frankly their book package is terrible. If they invested in their book, they might actually sell a few. But it’s much easier to say “oh I don’t have enough reviews…” than say “wow, my opening is crap and my craft needs work.”
Sure a few reviews is good for social proof. But you don’t need hundreds. You only need about 10. I have seen many authors sell thousands of copies of books with NO reviews, because the entire package (cover, blurb, sample) does the job it’s suppose to.
Mellie wrote: "Sunny wrote: "the issue is if you want your books to sell on Amazon you need hundreds of reviews...."What utter rubbish. And exactly the sort of false information what drives authors to do unethi..."
They get low sales because they do not know how to market.
People with 10 reviews or 1000 reviews get sales because they know how to promote their books and obviously, the book content and cover have to be good to make the sales.
I was giving an example that not every author knows how to market, so they have to depend on Amazon reviews. It is not a criterion for every author to make sales but still required in most cases.
Reviews on personal websites have no value. Amazon ratings matter.
Selling books take a lot of effort to sell, different sale mediums, and offline promotions.
Most writers cannot handle the marketing part, because if they hire someone to market, the person will point out all the cover and content loopholes which can result in low sales.
If you wish to be a best seller you need a minimum of 50-100's Amazon reviews, a good marketing team, a good editor, a designer, and a sales team.
Self-published and Indie Authors seldom have the funding to get any of these teams. So what is left for them is either how the book content and cover are well polished or Amazon reviews.
I am not saying Amazon reviews are everything. I believe we should encourage other authors if we like their books, so they do not give up in discouragement.
Reviews are but part and parcel of the whole book publishing business.
Content is king always.
Today I finally got notice of a 5 star review that made it through the hoops on Amazon. It's just the beginning - (Reviews are one of the basic building blocks of a marketing effort). FINALLY resulted in one of these 5Star reviews showing up on AMAZON. !!Gaaa! I've got a bunch more excellent and heartfelt reviews, but these are the first two that were able to pass the AMAZON test: I am so grateful to these two people for going through the hoops! Craig Bruhanski and Walter Herbst. https://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Girl-C...
Caitlin wrote: "Today I finally got notice of a 5 star review that made it through the hoops on Amazon. It's just the beginning - (Reviews are one of the basic building blocks of a marketing effort). FINALLY resul..."So cool. Good for you.
Sunny wrote: "If you wish to be a best seller you need a minimum of 50-100's Amazon reviews"No, you don't. Sales result in reviews - not the other way around.
I've been in the publishing industry since 2010. Over that time I have seen many MANY examples of authors launching with zero reviews and selling thousands of books because of excellent packaging, and a story that grabs readers. Then what happens is because the book sold thousands of copies, you see hundreds of reviews flowing in. It's a common new author mistake to think its the other way around, as you have to have seen the launch with no reviews to watch it happen.
You're obviously new and you are demonstrating a basic lack of understanding about Amazon's algorithms. Reviews are not a factor. Amazon's algorithms are based on sales and KU borrows. Price and reviews used to play a part in the pop lists, but Amazon no longer does those.
If authors want to understand what influences Amazon's algorithms, I recommend David Gaughran's book "Amazon Decoded" which is the result of years of research by top selling authors.
You also seem to lack publishing knowledge in general - which is more than ebooks on Amazon. Many authors are now selling direct and wide, and in multiple formats. There are authors making 6-figures a year from direct sales and... they don't chase reviews on Amazon! ;)
Marketing has many facets. It's finding your readers, whether that is through paid advertising (AMS, FB, BookBub cpc), paid newsletters (BookBub), reader magnets, or author promotions (like BookFunnel promos).
The only thing you got right, is that content is king. Understand your readers, deliver what they want to read, and any marketing dollars you decide to spend, will deliver a much better ROI.
Caitlin wrote: "Today I finally got notice of a 5 star review that made it through the hoops on Amazon."I wouldn't be crowing about using unethical means to game the ratings for your book that doesn't appear to be selling.
2 of your 5-star reviews appear to be fake accounts.
1 is from you (which is frowned upon on GR).
1 is from swapping with another author.
But thank you for demonstrating exactly what I was saying about authors who chase reviews, rather than investing in having a book package that sits easily beside trad published titles.
Sunny wrote: "Caitlin wrote: "Today I finally got notice of a 5 star review that made it through the hoops on Amazon. It's just the beginning - (Reviews are one of the basic building blocks of a marketing effort..."It is ok Melie. You have your way, I have mine.
I am not going to sit down and fight with you over these petty things.
As Ubiquitous mentioned above "The review sometimes becomes more about the reviewer's superiority to the book's author and less about the book itself."
You are kind of demonstrating something similar with your knowledge in the publishing industry over us than actually helping other authors.
For Poor Caitlin, you kind of took away her smile I believe. (Caitlin do not get angry over this lol).
--"rather than investing in having a book package that sits easily beside trad published titles".
Yeah, that costs extra money after editing, formatting, and designing which many indie authors do not have.
Again it is pointless for me to keep defending myself, as you say you are more experienced.
So I better go finish adding merchandise to my site, I still have to add about 150 T-shirt designs to my upcoming store.
In the end, as I mentioned earlier it is not about the ratings and not about the sales. It is the vision and fate, which will help the author to take their book to the masses.
They should focus on writing books that will be remembered even after they are gone and not just for money and reviews.
Just because the 2 reviews next to my book on Amazon are from other writers does not mean they are 'fake'. When I agree to read a book, I only agree to review it if I actually like the book. And I ask for that kind of honesty from other writers. I have taken my time to read a book, and declined to review when I just can't praise a work that has no redeeming qualities. You've created your reputation as a writer through hard work writing your book. If you give a good review to a book you consider below par, you are invalidating your own writing skills. I review for the New York Journal of Books. I'm a writer - and I review other writers. That doesn't make my reviews 'fake'.
Also - I'm doing what I can to promote my book, published by a mid-size publisher. I don't have their access to Amazon algorithms - they have the rights to my book - I can't do anything about their activity on AMAZON, no matter how clueless I may seem about the publishing process. My first book A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE, was handled with a great deal of professionalism by my first publisher, LIGHT MESSAGES, and as a result, the content of the book was able to be read, considered and reviewed in a timely fashion. It won lots of prizes, all of the prizes, initially based on good word of mouth and excellent reviews out the gate. This publisher is in favor of 'soft launches' . . . so they don't actually have a targeted publication date, and my books both showed up on their website earlier than my (June) launch, and quite randomly - there wasn't even an email telling me it had been done. So as a published author, I am trying to have some agency in the process of getting my book read. Reviews for me, are the obvious first step. BTW, I've got 50+ reviews for my first book A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE on Amazon. It's not a best-seller, but my audience sure loved it!
Sunny wrote: "Sunny wrote: "Caitlin wrote: "Today I finally got notice of a 5 star review that made it through the hoops on Amazon. It's just the beginning - (Reviews are one of the basic building blocks of a ma..."Agreed on all aspects, but imagine that someone living on a farm in the States or some 3rd world country. They probably do not have a lot of options to promote their books. For them, a good star review matters a lot.
So occasionally to help promote such authors you can give them good reviews depending on their content.
Caitlin wrote: "Also - I'm doing what I can to promote my book, published by a mid-size publisher. I don't have their access to Amazon algorithms - they have the rights to my book - I can't do anything about their..."Yes, that is what I am meaning to say that Meli completely bulldozed your efforts. Every Author tries his/her best to promote his/her book. You must be trying too.
So saying they are fake reviews is not something I will just say on any forums.
Thank you for gathering info via conversation prior to passing judgement, Sunny. And thank you for the support. It's amazing how vicious it can feel to be attacked, to be accused of dishonesty, to have your integrity attacked online, based on assumptions.
Mellie wrote: "SWhat utter rubbish. And exactly the sort of false information what drives authors to do unethical things like buying reviews and swapping fake 5-stars with other authors. And it still won’t sell their books.What sells books is a good book. That means a well written and edited book that meets reader expectations and tropes. It means a compelling blurb that conveys tone and leaves the reader wanting to buy the book. And most importantly since we DO judge a book by its cover….a professional cover that conveys genre."
Couldn't agree more.
All the marketing or intrigue in the world won't help you if your book is no good - unless of course you're already super famous and can trot out any old garbage (perhaps with a co-writer).
As an author, I want only honest reviews so I never solicit reviews.
As a reader, I ALWAYS say what I think, although I don't review every book I read. I tend mainly to review books I love (4 or 5 stars) or books I hate.
I don't read a lot of indie books and most of those I start, I never finish. I don't rate those. I have read a couple of good indie books so they're not always crap... but I've also read a few trad books that are very definitely crap. Happy to gleefully slag them off.
Of course you're the expert on what is a good book, and what isn't.
I'd like to weigh in with a different viewpoint based on my experience. In 2010 I formed my own company and self-published a nonfiction narrative about a woman who escaped from an abusive marriage and the man who admitted the abuse and vowed to do it all over again. Being unknown, I reached out to several authorities in the field with a brief letter asking if I could send a PDF. Every one requested the PDF and all gave a review. Two called me to discuss the book, and one relationship continues until today---which is fortunate because now a publishing house has bought the rights and has re-issued the book. I contacted all the reviewers and they updated their review remarks.I don't consider my solicitation of these people as being intrusive and apparently they didn't either. Since that time, I've been asked to review a couple of books, which I've done with honest reviews.
This is different from buying reviews, which I have never done.
To comment on indie books: Indie, as I understand the term, refers to the size of the publishing company. It includes university presses and many small, some niche, publishers. My book won national awards when first out and the re-release, exact same story, earned a Kirkus star and another yet-to-be-announced award.
I wouldn't waste my time on some books now on the market, but that applies to some that the big five put out as well as those that are self-published.
I find more appealing, well-written books from small publishers than I can keep up with.
Hi Jennie (congratulations).I think your situation is very different from a novelist's. In a way you're providing a community service with your work which needs oxygen to help people. That's a far cry from a novelist soliciting reviews on stuff they made up.
In fact, I'm not really critical of people who do that. It's just that I wouldn't. I also will never understand people who rate their own books.
As authors, how do you manage (or not) rating and/or reviewing the books of other authors?
i.e. do you continue to rate and revi..."
I don't have time to read through a bad book, so I only read to the end books that satisfy me. So it's always 4-5 star reviews. The exception is when I read a bestseller that turns out disappointing or when my book club picks a book that doesn't grab me but I must finish it. If my lukewarm or negative review will not ruin a writer's career, I post a 2- or 3 star review. If it's a newbie, I don't review at all.