How reliable are amazon's ebook reviews

nollagkind · 12-30-2009, 10:31 AM

Hi,
I, like many others here, am a new kindle owner.

I have been looking at the kindle store and some of the books are getting fantastic reviews. I searched to see if this is matched any where else but could not find any supporting reviews. This only seems to be happening with free or low price ebooks. The reviews for mainstream stuff seem to be genuine.

I know, that in the past, authors/publishers have orchestrated campaigns to have books up there are best sellers or up there with 5 star reviews.

On one or two of the books I have looked at the author has posted one 5 star, albeit declaring themselves as the author.

So for books like Midnight in Madrid or Regression are the reviews representative of a wider reading public or could it be just family and friends helping out.

lilac_jive · 12-30-2009, 10:45 AM

It's hard to tell these days. You can also check out goodreads, which has a strong reviewer presence (and you don't have to type up a review to give it a star rating), but of course you might see the same thing.

kennyc · 12-30-2009, 10:55 AM

Well, I tend to go with the consensus, but will read a few of the positive reviews and a few of the negative and decide whether it's for me or not. If there is only one or two reviews I wouldn't necessarily trust them...

animedude01 · 12-30-2009, 11:06 AM

With reviews, you're always taking a chance. If there are lots of reviews, it's most likely that the reviews haven't been orchestrated. However, you're also assuming that all the reviewers have the same opinion as you do. There really is no magic way of finding the perfect book. Over time, you'll likely find individuals who's reviews tend to work best for you. You should probably check with various sources if you can.

Other than that, you're always taking a chance with any reviews

Any book that only has one or two reviews are always risky as they could be rigged.

However, there have been very few books that I've disliked so much I regret buying them

crutnacker · 12-30-2009, 11:14 AM

With nothing to back it up (except a friend who wrote some books that were published by a major publisher a few years back), I'd say that in some of these cases these are self published works and/or friends of the author trying to drum up some readership.

Heck, if you can make the Kindle best seller list, at least you can put that on your resume!

neilmarr · 12-30-2009, 11:28 AM

Amazon reviews of self-published work and from smaller publishers are often 'author circle' and a tad partisan. One thing you can do to check the value of a critique, Nollagkind, is to click on the reviewer and see what else s/he's posted to be sure that you're reading a truly independent view of a book. Cheers. Neil

krazy4katz · 12-30-2009, 12:11 PM

Another good place to look for reviews is Librarything:
http://www.librarything.com

The nice thing is that you don't have to sign in or create a password to read reviews.

k4k

Latinandgreek · 12-30-2009, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well, I tend to go with the consensus, but will read a few of the positive reviews and a few of the negative and decide whether it's for me or not. If there is only one or two reviews I wouldn't necessarily trust them...

I use a similar system when reading the amazon reviews. Surprisingly, the negative ones sometimes give me a much better idea whether or not the book is for me. Some negative reviews are childish or petty sounding, and those I usually don't pay much attention to; negative or semi-negative reviews that are honest and somewhat critical tend to five me a better idea about the book that gushing, 5 star reviews. . Be careful of spoilers, though, I find that a lot of reviewers on amazon spoil it up without any warning.

nollagkind · 12-30-2009, 02:14 PM

OK, thanks for the replies.
I think its just a case of tread warily.
Some of the books I have been looking at have no other reviews that I could find. So I expect they are being hyped.
By the way, for international kindlers there is no such thing as a completely free book in the kindle store. The cheapest, for me seems to be $2.30. This seems to reflect the charge international roaming and VAT.
I can get free books elsewhere, at the sites recommended here, but not at the kindle store.
Thanks again

troykm · 12-30-2009, 03:24 PM

i have learnt in life that reviews are subjective and should not be taken notice of. what i don't like you may love and vice versa. thats the best part of the free sample option.

one only has to look at movies, 2012 got great reviews, but i thought it was the biggest load of horse droppings i have seen in a long time...... but thats just my opinion

neilmarr · 12-31-2009, 04:51 AM

Like everything else in the game, Troy, from acquisition editing through to actual reading, subjectivity rules. But careful reading of a soundly thought out review -- pro or con -- can provide a rough guide and help whittle down the huge field of reading options. Like LatinandGreek, for instance, I've often bought a book based on my disagreement with negative aspects in a review -- "too much historical detail", "too much time is spent developing minor characters" ... thanks a lot, reviewer; that's one for me. Cheers. Neil

nollagkind · 12-31-2009, 07:07 AM

What I do is try to "calibrate" the reviewer.

If a reviewer regularly rates something close to how I would rate it, then I will be happy to rely on that reviewer's opinions.

If I find that I regularly disagree with a reviewer then I conclude we have different tastes.

I am new to the kindle and I was trying to calibrate the reviews on the kindle store for new or kindle only books.

At this point, my conclusion is that they are not reliable.

When I see an author posting a 5-star review for their own book then I strongly suspect they're boosting the ratings.
see here http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...ight_in_Madrid
and here http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...Takes_the_Cake

The other point is that if the download is $0.0 then I can't rely on the download numbers as there's no risk for the downloader.

I am not saying the books referenced are necessarily bad books but if the author lacks confidence that others will give them good reviews that can't be a good sign.

Latinandgreek · 12-31-2009, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nollagkind

I am new to the kindle and I was trying to calibrate the reviews on the kindle store for new or kindle only books.

I like your method, I think I will try that out next time I buy something off of Amazon. I hadn't realised that the reviews at the Kindle store were different from the reviews from the pbooks, I thought they used the same reviews (much like you can find some amazon.com reviews on the amazon.ca page)

eboyhan · 01-06-2010, 12:50 AM

Hi,
The question of reviews is of course broader than just Amazon.com. Anywhere you go on the Internet to make a purchase you're going to run into "customer generated" reviews. The reliability of these is (in general) unknown.I have developed a couple of rules of thumb which I have found to be helpful. First, go to the non-Kindle page for the book at Amazon.com -- there will often be "editorial" reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. These are written by publishing industry "insiders", and are not necessarily objective, but they are a good first place to get an impression of a book. Next I turn to the customer reviews (still sticking with the printed version of the book). I tend to give greater credence to books with a lot of reviews than books with only one or two reviews. I tend to read three or four of the most positive reviews, and one or two of the most negative reviews; and from this and make a general purchasing decision. Then I go back to the Kindle page, and see if there are any reviews there (particularly negative ones) -- and check that there are no complaints about the formatting or structuring of the Kindle edition. There are situations where Amazon will sell you many titles as a single book (these are usually older, out of copyright, public domain books). It is important to check (if you can) if there are any problems with how the multiple titles are included in the single book -- many times you can be 10 books in to a 30 book series, want to go back to the second title in the series, and if there is not a good table of contents (often there is not), this can be difficult to do. By and large, I personally, know pretty much what I like in a book and don't need to rely much on reviews -- I have my favorite authors, and genres, and pretty much stick to them with few exceptions. However, when I am buying something more tangible from Amazon (or any other e-commerce site for that matter), I find that customer reviews (using the protocols described above) can be quite helpful.

This is been a bit long-winded, but I hope it helps.

neilmarr · 01-06-2010, 08:47 AM

And beware 'review mills' -- a new internet-based business model that charges authors and publishers for writing positive reviews and circulating them on line (including to Amazom). Shady to say the least. Neil

12-30-2009, 10:31 AM	#1
nollagkind Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle 2	How reliable are amazon's ebook reviews Hi, I, like many others here, am a new kindle owner. I have been looking at the kindle store and some of the books are getting fantastic reviews. I searched to see if this is matched any where else but could not find any supporting reviews. This only seems to be happening with free or low price ebooks. The reviews for mainstream stuff seem to be genuine. I know, that in the past, authors/publishers have orchestrated campaigns to have books up there are best sellers or up there with 5 star reviews. On one or two of the books I have looked at the author has posted one 5 star, albeit declaring themselves as the author. So for books like Midnight in Madrid or Regression are the reviews representative of a wider reading public or could it be just family and friends helping out.

12-31-2009, 07:07 AM	#12
nollagkind Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle 2	What I do is try to "calibrate" the reviewer. If a reviewer regularly rates something close to how I would rate it, then I will be happy to rely on that reviewer's opinions. If I find that I regularly disagree with a reviewer then I conclude we have different tastes. I am new to the kindle and I was trying to calibrate the reviews on the kindle store for new or kindle only books. At this point, my conclusion is that they are not reliable. When I see an author posting a 5-star review for their own book then I strongly suspect they're boosting the ratings. see here http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...ight_in_Madrid and here http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...Takes_the_Cake The other point is that if the download is $0.0 then I can't rely on the download numbers as there's no risk for the downloader. I am not saying the books referenced are necessarily bad books but if the author lacks confidence that others will give them good reviews that can't be a good sign. Last edited by nollagkind; 12-31-2009 at 07:53 AM. Reason: typo

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12-30-2009, 10:45 AM	#2
lilac_jive Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,870 Karma: 27376 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Device: PRS-505	It's hard to tell these days. You can also check out goodreads, which has a strong reviewer presence (and you don't have to type up a review to give it a star rating), but of course you might see the same thing.

12-30-2009, 10:55 AM	#3
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Well, I tend to go with the consensus, but will read a few of the positive reviews and a few of the negative and decide whether it's for me or not. If there is only one or two reviews I wouldn't necessarily trust them...

12-30-2009, 11:06 AM	#4
animedude01 Addict Posts: 254 Karma: 1200 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Los Angeles Device: DR1000S, ILIAD2, Nokia n900, Kindle for PC, Astak EZReader Pro	With reviews, you're always taking a chance. If there are lots of reviews, it's most likely that the reviews haven't been orchestrated. However, you're also assuming that all the reviewers have the same opinion as you do. There really is no magic way of finding the perfect book. Over time, you'll likely find individuals who's reviews tend to work best for you. You should probably check with various sources if you can. Other than that, you're always taking a chance with any reviews Any book that only has one or two reviews are always risky as they could be rigged. However, there have been very few books that I've disliked so much I regret buying them

12-30-2009, 11:14 AM	#5
crutnacker Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 850 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: None	With nothing to back it up (except a friend who wrote some books that were published by a major publisher a few years back), I'd say that in some of these cases these are self published works and/or friends of the author trying to drum up some readership. Heck, if you can make the Kindle best seller list, at least you can put that on your resume!

12-30-2009, 11:28 AM	#6
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Amazon reviews of self-published work and from smaller publishers are often 'author circle' and a tad partisan. One thing you can do to check the value of a critique, Nollagkind, is to click on the reviewer and see what else s/he's posted to be sure that you're reading a truly independent view of a book. Cheers. Neil

12-30-2009, 12:11 PM	#7
krazy4katz Addict Posts: 367 Karma: 1552656 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: [Kindle 1, Kindle 3 (KK)], Kindle Voyage, iPad Pro	Another good place to look for reviews is Librarything: http://www.librarything.com The nice thing is that you don't have to sign in or create a password to read reviews. k4k

12-30-2009, 02:14 PM	#9
nollagkind Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle 2	OK, thanks for the replies. I think its just a case of tread warily. Some of the books I have been looking at have no other reviews that I could find. So I expect they are being hyped. By the way, for international kindlers there is no such thing as a completely free book in the kindle store. The cheapest, for me seems to be $2.30. This seems to reflect the charge international roaming and VAT. I can get free books elsewhere, at the sites recommended here, but not at the kindle store. Thanks again

12-30-2009, 03:24 PM	#10
troykm Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 516 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne Device: Kindle 2	i have learnt in life that reviews are subjective and should not be taken notice of. what i don't like you may love and vice versa. thats the best part of the free sample option. one only has to look at movies, 2012 got great reviews, but i thought it was the biggest load of horse droppings i have seen in a long time...... but thats just my opinion

12-31-2009, 04:51 AM	#11
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Like everything else in the game, Troy, from acquisition editing through to actual reading, subjectivity rules. But careful reading of a soundly thought out review -- pro or con -- can provide a rough guide and help whittle down the huge field of reading options. Like LatinandGreek, for instance, I've often bought a book based on my disagreement with negative aspects in a review -- "too much historical detail", "too much time is spent developing minor characters" ... thanks a lot, reviewer; that's one for me. Cheers. Neil

01-06-2010, 12:50 AM	#14
eboyhan PandaMuse Posts: 104 Karma: 104 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Device: kindle dx, kindle touch SO, kindle fire, kindle fire hd8.9	Hi, The question of reviews is of course broader than just Amazon.com. Anywhere you go on the Internet to make a purchase you're going to run into "customer generated" reviews. The reliability of these is (in general) unknown.I have developed a couple of rules of thumb which I have found to be helpful. First, go to the non-Kindle page for the book at Amazon.com -- there will often be "editorial" reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. These are written by publishing industry "insiders", and are not necessarily objective, but they are a good first place to get an impression of a book. Next I turn to the customer reviews (still sticking with the printed version of the book). I tend to give greater credence to books with a lot of reviews than books with only one or two reviews. I tend to read three or four of the most positive reviews, and one or two of the most negative reviews; and from this and make a general purchasing decision. Then I go back to the Kindle page, and see if there are any reviews there (particularly negative ones) -- and check that there are no complaints about the formatting or structuring of the Kindle edition. There are situations where Amazon will sell you many titles as a single book (these are usually older, out of copyright, public domain books). It is important to check (if you can) if there are any problems with how the multiple titles are included in the single book -- many times you can be 10 books in to a 30 book series, want to go back to the second title in the series, and if there is not a good table of contents (often there is not), this can be difficult to do. By and large, I personally, know pretty much what I like in a book and don't need to rely much on reviews -- I have my favorite authors, and genres, and pretty much stick to them with few exceptions. However, when I am buying something more tangible from Amazon (or any other e-commerce site for that matter), I find that customer reviews (using the protocols described above) can be quite helpful. This is been a bit long-winded, but I hope it helps.

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01-06-2010, 08:47 AM	#15
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	And beware 'review mills' -- a new internet-based business model that charges authors and publishers for writing positive reviews and circulating them on line (including to Amazom). Shady to say the least. Neil