Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike
I'm guessing that someone has not seen the websites and discussion sites where authors (and their 'helpers') swap reviews in bulk or the sites that openly advertise the sale of bulk reviews. "Me and my dozen users will review you, and you and your dozen can review me", "Pay me and I will add twenty reviews to your book".
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Figuring that as one of several problems with unsigned reviews, I don't normally pay them attention. But I just checked them for a book that I am finishing up,
Formosa Betrayed. Turns out that there is a book by the same author concerning an earlier historical period --
Formosa: Licensed Revolution in the Home Rule Movement, 1895-1945 -- and Amazon has mixed up that one with the reviews for
Formosa Betrayed. So the customer reviews are doubly meaningless.
As for the number of stars, they are pointless to me because there are lots of people who, if they read it, would like any given book, and lots who would dislike any book. A high star average thus just means that the marketing presentation, on the web site, was effective in drawing to that book the kind of people who would like it. And a low star average means that the wrong people read it. It doesn't tell me whether I would like it.
If a book doesn't fit snugly into a genre, perhaps it would average fewer stars because of mismatching reader expectations. But it still could be a bestseller and/or an excellent book.