Do you review books? – Graeme Ing, Author

Do you review books?

KindleLet's talk about book reviews. Do you review books?

Many people don't. Some folks have grown up in a culture where professional critics review books or movies, usually in newspapers and magazines. It's easy to forget that social media gives us all the power to influence others by writing a review. Other people just don't feel comfortable writing a review online. They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, don't know what to say, or just flat out can't be bothered.

There is some debate about the validity of online book reviews. Recent years have revealed cheating, where specific authors have gamed the system by paying for good reviews. These cases are (hopefully) isolated and we shouldn't discount reviews because of them. Other readers disregard the first dozen 5-star reviews of a book, assuming they are written by family and friends. This “front-loading” effect has less of a bias as more reviews are left. It's unlikely that all 100 of those reviews were written by friends and family. I'm sure every reader has a gut-feeling for how many reviews make a valid sample: 20, 50, 100?

Another debate: Is someone more or likely to review a book  if they absolutely love it or hate it? Hard to say. One could argue that naysayers are more eager to get their opinions online, as can be seen by “trolls” and “flame wars” if you follow any topical thread on social media; but I'm not sure this effect carries across into book reviews. I would argue that there are many more 5-star or 4-star (overall) book reviews than 1 or 2 star, or maybe those bad books just disappear into obscurity? There are too many factors at work to tell. Better books get more visibility on Amazon, in the form of sitting higher on the Top 100 and Top 10 lists or being recommended to people who read similar books. This suggests that better books tend to rise to the top, pushing bad books out. What about all those books in the middle with an average of 3-stars?

I'm more more likely to review a good book, both to reward the author and to encourage other readers who might enjoy it. I have given 3-star reviews, but if the book is terrible then I rarely review it unless I can be constructive. That's me. If most people are like me, then yes, reviews are biased.

Do you judge a book by reviews? Most “experts” talk about the “gun”. This takes the form of a lot of 5 and 4 star reviews (the barrel), and a tapering number of 3, 2 and 1 (the gun handle). This is what you would expect of a good book. A lot of good reviews, a reasonable amount of so-so and just a few haters. You'd probably read that book. What if 90% of the reviews were 3-stars. Clearly the book doesn't stand out, but neither does it suck. In that circumstance you probably want to actually read individual reviews. Many people have commented that even bad reviews do not stop them buying a book, as long as those readers explained what they didn't like. Maybe you don't care about the same things. “Lots of typos but a great story“: Would you read it? “Great action, not enough romance“: All depends on what you enjoy, right?

See how you can leave a bad review and it not be devastating? I always encourage people to leave a review, preferably on the major players like Amazon, iBooks, GoodReads, etc. Or all of them! Not only can you help other readers decide if the book is for them, but authors REALLY appreciate reviews. They do help the recommendation engines like Amazon and give our books more visibility. We're not Stephen King; we need more readers. It needn't take long either. At the very minimum, please give books a star-rating. That's anonymous and very easy now that most ebook readers will prompt you at the end of the book. It takes 2 seconds.

“I don't know what to write“: Fair enough. Keep it simple. You don't have to be a New York Times reviewer and get all pithy or artsy. Just say what you liked. Say who would enjoy the book. Example:

Loved the characters and how they outwitted the bad guy. The twists and turns kept me turning the pages. Read this if you love spy thrillers.

Simple. Effective. Here's another:

I rooted for Helen all through the book. So glad she found the right guy in the end. Super book. I wish there hadn't been so much swearing and F-words though.

That's fair, and warns easily-offended readers not to waste their money. Authors won't hate you for saying that. Better for the reader not to waste their time and money and maybe pick up another book by the same author, than to read it, get upset and leave a bad review.

Of course if you want to wax lyrical for several paragraphs and go into detail, then great. Authors and prospective readers will love you for that. Sometimes it's good manners to warn up front if you are going to give out spoilers. You should be reviewing the book, not giving the whole plot away and ruining other's enjoyment.

So… do you review books? Do you pay attention to reviews? Let me know in the comments.

 

Leave a Comment:

16 comments
Graeme says October 24, 2013

Here’s a recent post by Rainy of the Dark about reviews. Ironically she mentions a conversation she and I had about her review of Ocean of Dust. http://www.rainyofthedark.com/2013/10/23/authors-discussing-reviews/

Reply
    Rainy Kaye says October 24, 2013

    Thanks for the link, Graeme. 🙂

    I reviewed briefly, then stopped for a long time for several reasons:

    1) My original way of reviewing was lengthy–and time consuming.

    2) Closely related to that was the fact I couldn’t easily give it a star rating because books have many aspects. Five star story but three star editing. Is it fair to average that out? One could say I over complicate things 😉

    3) As I near putting my own work into the world, I rather it succeed–or fail–on its own merit and not reviews I have left for others. That goes for both good and bad ratings.

    4) I felt obligated to accept review requests (not necessarily accept the book, but the request) and then, if accepted, obligated to review in a timely manner–which just doesn’t always happen.

    Now I write 3 things I love and 3 things I didn’t, plus a little note who would like the book. That shortens up my time spent writing a review and gets to the point, I think. 😉

    I don’t post on GR and Amazon at the moment, which solves the star rating and unwarranted return ratings. However, I am aware that authors need ratings on those sites, so I may change policy in the future and post the backlog.

    Lastly, I just don’t accept review requests anymore. I buy the book so I have no obligations about any aspect of it (real or imagined).

    Reply
      Graeme says October 24, 2013

      All valid points, Rainy. I think being an author does make one more lenient because we understand first hand the blood, sweat and anguish that goes into writing a book. I give the benefit of the doubt, but realize that I’m not helping the overall quality of books by not downgrading awful books.

      I think the way you review is a very balanced and informative approach. As I said in my post, it is up to each person to decide if they care about any bad points being pointed out in a review.

      Reply
        Rainy Kaye says October 24, 2013

        I have to admit, I’m not overly sensitive to the blood, sweat, anguish thing, because I feel like authors get enough head-patting from friends and family. It took years for me to find honest beta readers, and it was just a relief at that point to know what needed to be fixed. Combine that with my arrogance as a reader 😉 and a stint as an editor, at this point, I say what I mean, regardless.

        I am sensitive to the obligation factor, though. If I give someone five stars, then they often feel obligated to do the same, warranted or not. Same goes for one stars.

        I’m glad you like my approach. It took some time to develop, but it works for me and my situation at this time. It could always change again in the future. 🙂

        Reply
          Graeme says October 24, 2013

          Ugh. Tit-for-tat reviews are unwholesome, whether good reviews or bad. I avoid those groups who do reciprocating reviews like that. Probably why Amazon started removing reviews left by authors, which is unfair because I am quite capable of wearing a reader hat when writing a review.

          Reply
          Rainy Kaye says October 24, 2013

          Yeah, that is a tough one for Amazon because they are limited in ways to control the review exchanges. But, as you said, it’s not really fair to authors. Considering authors are readers. . .There’s no easy answer.

          Same goes for GoodReads removing reviews that discuss the author and not just the book. It’s a good try, but some readers do calculate the author as an individual as part of their decision making process. It wasn’t quite as obvious before the Internet, but now it’s pretty easy to see who is a jerk and decide not to support them. That’s valid too. Not to mention, they didn’t remove the positive evaluations of authors and then received backlash for that too.

          No win lol

          I’m not just skeptical of the tit-for-tat reviews, but reviewers going after other reviews just for having an opposing opinion of the book. I really don’t have time for such theatrics.

          Reply
Catherine Stine says October 24, 2013

Good post. I only post about books that I really like, because I don’t have it in me to write a scathing review. Nor do I want to read a book that really bores me, or is written badly. There are too many books on my TBR pile that are surely great! That said, I give a new book the good old 25-page try. Sometimes it does take a little while to be drawn in.

Reply
    Graeme says October 24, 2013

    That’s another interesting point, Catherine: Should you review if you don’t finish the book? I have done so and have seen others do it. I hate slow books so I pay attention if a lot of reviews complain about the plot moving too slowly.

    Reply
      Christine Rains says October 24, 2013

      I had someone recently leave a 2 star review for THE MARQUIS and they said they didn’t finish reading it. I don’t know if that’s fair to leave a review then. She just said it wasn’t her thing and that was it.

      Reply
        Graeme Ing says October 24, 2013

        That’s a good point. If it’s not your kind of book should you review it. I say yes if you believe the blurb or cover was misleading but otherwise it doesn’t seem fair to review something you aren’t interested in. But that begs the question why was the person reading it? Clearly something went awry? That’s like me buying a dress and then giving it a bad review because I looked silly in it 🙂

        Reply
Christine Rains says October 24, 2013

Wonderful post. Yes, I do review books. I made it a point this year to leave a review for every book I read. Some might be just a few sentences, but it’s a review. As for bad reviews, I try to be constructive and say if it truly wasn’t my thing. Reviews are subjective. I do pay attention to them, especially if I’m unsure if I’ll enjoy a book or not. As an author, I want to know what my readers think. Be it good or bad, I want to know!

Reply
Yolanda Renee says October 24, 2013

I do review books, but not all the ones I read. If I like them I review and always for authors I know and like, but are truly talented. I read a lot, but don’t review everything, especially authors who already have 100’s of reviews. And I never review a book I don’t like, it is subjective, I’ll leave that for the experts – if there is such a thing. I have a TBR list that is massive and I want to do the goodreads thing better, but the time consumption is just too much. I try to encourage others, but so many simply don’t want to or know how! I’d give anything to have family write reviews – heck I can’t even get them to read the books. I’ve begged – it doesn’t work! LOL

Reply
    Graeme Ing says October 24, 2013

    Your last point is an interesting one, Yolanda. I’ve heard others say that too, so perhaps those first dozen glowing 5-star reviews aren’t family after all. 🙂

    Reply
Jen says October 26, 2013

I’ve written quite a few reviews. If I enjoyed the book I will write one. If I didn’t like it for the most part I won’t review unless I was mislead by the blurb or it didn’t make any kind of sense at all. I don’t really like the star rating system. I have a hard time trying to decide which one would best fit the book. So most of them end up with 3 stars unless it really stands out to me.
If a book has nothing but 5 stars rating it does make me iffy about purchasing it. I find it highly doubtful that every single person that read the same book would all have the exact same opinion.

Reply
Readers: What authors really want from you | Graeme Ing, Writer says November 26, 2014

[…] also have said “to write awesome 5-star reviews.” Yes, please. I’ve spoken about reviews before, and we all know that lots of good reviews sell more […]

Reply
Authors Discussing Reviews | Rainy of the Dark (Rainy Kaye) says February 1, 2015

[…] article about reviews as well and linked to this post. We took our conversation there. Check it out here and join […]

Reply
Add Your Reply