Rating and reviewing one's own books - yay or nay?

[A.C.]

Since this is self-support I am wondering what the general consensus is in regards to rating/reviewing one's one books. :)

[Patrick]

the worst thing you can do. is like standing on the street and praising yourself that you are such a good lover and i'm pretty sure that i never saw someone doing that.

[Cheryl]

Personally, I have not rated or reviewed any of my own books, nor do I intend to. I've noticed quite a few Goodreads authors who do this, but I get the impression that a lot of readers on here find this a bit tacky or questionable. Of course I'd give my books all 5-star ratings and rave reviews! But, it really doesn't mean anything...all it does is artificially inflate my overall rating.

To me, the important ratings/reviews come from readers who are complete strangers to me. Their honest opinions of my writing are what will ultimately convince other readers to either eagerly rush out to buy my books or (shudder!) avoid me like the plague! Hopefully, not the latter. :)

[M.J.]

While I agree it is probably seen as tacky, in the scenario where you are struggling to entice Goodreads members to give it a go and have lots of 5 star reviews from other sites, is it so wrong?

I hold my hands up to posting a five star review as a substitute for the 26 such ratings on amazon.co.uk which will never see the light of day on Goodreads. Admittedly I knew six of the reviewers, but that still leaves 20, not to mention the six people who gave it 4 stars. Is it so wrong to want to represent them with the one and only review you can post as an author?

Just playing devil's advocate - I know I'm a very bad man really. :-)

[Barry]

When I joined, I cut and pasted the 2 Amazon reviews I had at that time--one 5 star and one 4 star--into one post and gave my book 4 stars to reflect the existing reviews. (I didn't give it 5 stars because I thought it was better to round down than to round up, and because I think 5 stars should be reserved for something life-changing.) I think it would be tacky to actually substantively review your own book, but I don't see anything wrong with letting people on a new site know about reviews from another site.

[David P]

The only time I commented on one of my own books, outside of the product description, was for a 30,000 word "teaser" edition that was getting 5 star reviews. I said I wouldn't rate by own work, but if I did it wouldn't deserve more than 4 stars because it included typos and other small corrections that were addressed in the full 100,000 word book. I suggest that readers save a buck and buy the full book instead. I see that as a service to the reader, since Voyage of the Dead Introductory First Look is intended primarily for Free promotions as a hook for the rest of the series.

In general, I think it is hard enough for indie authors to avoid turning readers off with self-promotions aimed at getting them to look at your book without tooting your own horn when they get there. ;)

M.J.: I would suggest mention of the 26 five star reviews on Amazon UK (with a link) in your product description rather than your own rating. But each author has to make that decision on their own. I would only say there is a reason Amazon does not allow authors to review their own books.

[David P]

Hi Barry. I think that your system is also acceptable, as long as you are cutting and pasting and quote the source. That sounds like a good compromise to kick off ratings for a book that is new to GoodReads but has already received good reviews elsewhere.

[David P]

David wrote: "Hi Barry. I think that your system is also acceptable, as long as you are cutting and pasting and quote the source. That sounds like a good compromise to kick off ratings for a book that is new t..."

MJ, you might want to do that too with your UK reviews.

[M.J.]

David wrote: "David wrote: "Hi Barry. I think that your system is also acceptable, as long as you are cutting and pasting and quote the source. That sounds like a good compromise to kick off ratings for a book..."

Thanks David, it's what I did. I posted a review written by someone from Amazon for one and on another I simply put that I'm giving it 5 stars myself (with my one and only vote) on behalf of the 26 readers from Amazon. Kinda bending the rules but not in a tacky way?

[Sherri]

Why not? Politicians can vote for themselves. I think that if you mention that you wrote the book and describe why you think readers will enjoy it then it's ok.

[David P]

I think that is what the description and author's notes are for. You can also comment on GoodReads without giving a star rating and it is tagged as "comment by the author". It's just bad form to actually try to effect the star ratings by giving yourself high marks. On the other hand, if you use it to cross-post five star reviews from other websites and make the source clear, there are probably acceptable ways to do it. The problem is that what you think is proper may not be the same as a potential reader. Proceed at your own risk!

[Barbara]

@David #1 (message 6) - I have never tried to review any of my books anywhere, but... having a pen-name and an Amazon account under my real name, what's preventing me from posting a review of my books? Yes, KDP knows my real name because I didn't open another account under the pen-name (I did, but asked to close it because I didn't want to bother with different Amazon accounts), but I don't see anything on my book page that says "don't you dare reviewing this because it's your own book"... quite the opposite...
I'm not doing it, but I'm just wondering if Amazon really has a way to prevent the author to post reviews on his/her own books (never attempted, so no idea)!
as for posting reviews from other sites... posting a link in the description like someone has suggested above me sounds perfect! I might do that sometime! :-)

[A.C.]

I was just wondering Because I keep seeing ratings by the author. One had a comment that stated if she didn't love her book how could she expect her readers to love it. I'm not too disturbed by this process on goodreads because a reader can click on the various ratings and see who gave what and the author is explicitly stated as being the author. However on Amazon the author and friends/family of the author can pretend to be someone else and leave raving reviews for a less-than-rave-worthy book and there is no way of truly knowing if it is a true review or a false positive.

I don't mind who reviews/rates what - I just want honesty. If you're a friends or family member - or author - let the reader know. Personally, I prefer letting the readers judge my work because I already love it and I want to know what others think. I just wanted to know what others thought and why because it is fascinating to see how people think. :)

[Michael]

Authors rating their own books undermines the entire process.

It's no different to film companies using selective quotes from reviews on posters and boxes.

[Steph]

Michael wrote: "Authors rating their own books undermines the entire process..."

I agree; and seeing self-reviews can put me off reading the book. Just a thought, but if an author really feels the urge to draw people's attention to reviews on other sites then surely a more appropriate place to do this is via the blog facility on the author's page.

[Sadie]

I'm with the consensus on this one. I generally think it is tacky to rate your own book, and how on earth could you write and objective review of something you are so close to. I get that it's horrible to see your book with no stars under it, but I think it makes indies/SP authors look unprofessional to review their own work - like shouting "I can't get anyone else to review it, so I'll do it myself." Who wants to read that book? If I was just a reader, and didn't know how hard it is to be on the other side of the publishing industry I would be put off by it.

Any number of us could find ways to write false reviews if we wanted to, friend, spouses, children's accounts (or real names if you have a pen as previously suggested), but it is a matter of integrity not to. Bringing reviews from another site, as MJ has suggested, seems a little better, but might this not have been better in the description than as a review?

[David P]

A.C. wrote: "I was just wondering Because I keep seeing ratings by the author. One had a comment that stated if she didn't love her book how could she expect her readers to love it. I'm not too disturbed by thi..." "...on Amazon the author and friends/family of the author can pretend to be someone else and leave raving reviews for a less-than-rave-worthy book and there is no way of truly knowing if it is a true review or a false positive."

AC, you bring up a good point. There is even a group on the Amazon boards that hunts for fake reviews and exposes them. Some authors have even been caught using multiple Amazon accounts to post fake reviews of their own books. Other abuses are less obvious. I actually noticed one children's sci-fi book that got thirty 5 star reviews within a few days of release, so I looked at the reviews. They were all from young kids praising their teacher's book and a couple mentioned the review was a homework assignment. So, yes, abuse is a problem.

If you want to be sure that reviews are legit, I suggest clicking on the "see all my reviews" link on any questionable review. You will see what other books that person has rated and when, as well as where they are from (usually). If all the reviews come from the same state, they might be friends, or the author might have just done local marketing, so don't jump to conclusions.

I've been lucky enough get reviews by top ranked reviewers, including The Kindle Book Review [Top 1000 Reviewer], and those rankings are impossible to fake. On the other hand, some of my reviews come from people who never cared enough (one way or the other) to post a review before. The latest review on my first book (Voyage of the Deadwhich happens to be FREE today) came from someone who sent me a personal email saying both of my books were 5 Star. I wrote back to thank them and suggested they share their opinion on Amazon. They did and it was their first review since getting a Kindle in December. As an author it is just as gratifying to get someone's first 5 star review as it is to get a good review from a top reviewer, but as a reader you can only rely on the reviews from those with a track record.

I hope these thoughts help you evaluate the ratings. Please feel FREE to download Voyage of the Dead on Amazon today and post your own review. By the way, if in doubt, just "Look Inside" by clicking on a book cover to read the first 10% and decide if a book is right for you before buying it. Cheers.

[Andrew]

There's something that just doesn't feel right about rateing your own book is there. I can understand from my own experiences that when a bunch of people download your book you jsut want them to put a review on there.

I've sat there in front of the PC saying "COME ON A FEW OF YOU JUST RATE THE BOOK ALREADY! IT WILL TAKE YOU 60 SECONDS!"

Or words to that effect ;-)

My solution to this for short stories that I am trying as an experiment is something I've called the '5 by 5' club. Five indie authors get together and each commits to reviewing one work for the other four and writing a review, thereby kickstarting the reviews. I am trying this currently for a romance short story and a sci fi short story - both on amazon at around $1 each. If you want to join let me know!

I think this is better than rating your won work, however tempting that is.
A

[Terry]

I think rating and reviewing your own books is crass in the extreme! I am new to Goodreads and have accidentally become my own 'fan', which is bad enough..... I must work out how to remove myself!

I agree, though, that there is nothing wrong with posting good reviews from one site to another. I've got some terrific ones on Amazon that might actually create interest in my books on here, too; it hadn't occurred to me to copy and paste them. I don't know if I actually will, though.

I agree with Cheryl, in that the reviews that are the most relevant are the ones from complete strangers. We've all asked friends who've enjoyed the book to sling a review on for us, haven't we? Somehow, even though they're from people who've genuinely enjoyed the book, I don't feel they're quite as 'real' as the ones from strangers. Silly, I know.

I'm also wary of these reviews that start "I was asked to review this book by the author". I dunno, should you be asking for reviews? Though I realise that contradicts what I said about 'we've all asked friends, etc etc'.

Re what David said, I agree that it's hard enough to get taken seriously without 'tooting your own horn'. How can a review by the author be taken seriously by anyone? Apart from anything else, it's not very cool, is it??!

[Terry]

Barbara wrote: "@David #1 (message 6) - I have never tried to review any of my books anywhere, but... having a pen-name and an Amazon account under my real name, what's preventing me from posting a review of my bo..."

Barbara, you can't write a review on Amazon unless you've bought a book. Otherwise it would be open to all sorts of abuse, I agree. As Sadie said, it's a matter of integrity. Anyway, if your book isn't good enough to get REAL good reviews, then it's never going to succeed in the long run, anyway, is it?

[David P]

Andrew wrote: "There's something that just doesn't feel right about rateing your own book..."

@Andrew, I agree that it is good to get reviews from other authors. I've been fortunate enough to to get numerous 4 and 5 star reviews from other authors (one just came in last night). I support cross promotions among indie authors, especially in the same genre. I've quoted parts of reviews from other authors in the product description for my books and always list their book titles in the tag line. Several have done the same for me. It adds weight to have reviews from other authors and it also gives them more exposure too.

It also helps to get reviews from top rated reviewers. Sending free copies of your work to recognized reviewers can pay off in the long run. An author's goal should be to get good reviews from respected critics and normal readers, not toot their own horn.

However, I think it is also fine for an author to trade reviews with other authors. The only catch is that you need to keep your integrity. You can't give 5 stars to a crappy book without it reflecting on your own credibility. Personally, I don't review any indie book that I can't comfortably give at least 4 stars. I don't write bad reviews of indie books because that is also bad karma and might even cause retaliation. So, as my mother taught me long ago, if I can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. :)

[Andrew]

I've added my book to my shelves, but I think reviewing it would be a disaster. After spending ten years slaving over each of my stories, I pretty much hate every word in the damn thing.

I leave reviewing to the readers, they enjoy my book far more than I do.

[Sadie]

Andrew wrote: "I've added my book to my shelves, but I think reviewing it would be a disaster. After spending ten years slaving over each of my stories, I pretty much hate every word in the damn thing.

I leave r..."

I agree to that sentiment. I also simply think it throws the average off. Not to mention it is pointless, even if we now hate each and every word in the book we still think people should read them (otherwise why publish them). So of course it is going to be a 5 star rating. Isn't that just assumed whether you click the stars or not?