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Originally Posted by peachiekene
I tend to agree with the price affecting the review. I've noticed that in the past with myself.
It can also depend on the type of book. If I picked it up because I thought it "looked cute" or something - I'm more lenient because I wasn't really expecting much from it anyway. (I no longer buy books without skimming the first chapter anymore because there are so many poorly edited books out there - I've been burned too many times.)
I'm wondering where the ratings are coming from. If you go to any well reviewed book on goodreads, they all average between 3-4.25 stars, not 4.25 - 4.5 like the data suggests.
Books that have less reviews have higher average scores. Even generally beloved books don't break the 4.25.
-Pride and Prejudice: 4.24
-Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 4.17
-Gone with the Wind: 4.24
The exceptions would be books in a series/omnibuses.
The lower ratings make far more sense because there's no one thing that every single person absolutely loves.
Not that goodreads has the authority on reviews - I just don't think the place people are buying the books from is necessarily the best source.
I've also noticed more recently published books (especially YA and NA) tend to have much higher ratings - and I wonder if this is because of the few scandals involving authors or author-fans harassing negative reviews - as well as people leaving goodreads.
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Some speculation: GR encourages two star reviews as "I liked it." Amazon lists two stars as "I didn't like it." Not everyone bothers to look at what the stars supposedly mean but where I will sometimes give a 2 star on GR because it supposedly means "I liked it" I will usually bump it to 3 on Amazon. But it can be arbitrary.
The averages are probably computed differently too. I notice it most with my own books, but a three star drags the average down more on GR than on Amazon. Amazon wants to sell books--as a retailer, I think they err on the side of presenting a higher average (more of a bell curve maybe?) I've never sat and done the averaging out--note I said this was speculation on my part!
There are have been just as many controversies on Amazon over reviews, traded reviews, etc. Amazon even started taking down reviews if another author was obvious about being an author (apparently with the tit for tat exchange of reviews, some authors thought it was a bright idea to mention their own books or put author in their name and so on.)
Reviews are an odd business.
Another thing that skews reviews is when you get to second and third books, you are generally left with people who LIKED the series. So you GENERALLY start seeing less two and one star reviews. I say generally because one of my series has two star reviews from the same person across the entire series. Now, even knowing that GR means "I liked it" I'm amazed that anyone "liked" it to that extent, but kept reading the entire series. I think that is an exception though. Most people, if a book is 3 or 2 stars are going to be on the fence about continuing the series.
Then too, with series, there can be a stinker book in the middle. OR some reviewers get "harder" on the series, expecting MORE with each book or comparing it to their favorite in the series. I have a hard time not doing that myself. I love Ilona Andrews, John Levitt, etc. When I review their books, I tend to think, "Well the first is the best." So do a penalize the second or third a star because I'm not comparing it to books in general? I find I lean in that direction...
Complicated.