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Originally Posted by Harper Kingsley
I don't expect people to "review" in that context, I was just wondering when people really start to give some kind of feedback, you know?
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In general: they don't. They won't. Ebooks are not blog posts; there's no sense of "I need to say something to convince the author to keep writing." After all, if I *paid* for it, that's supposed to be persuasive enough.
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If someone was like "I totally hate this," it would probably hurt my feelings and I'd spend the day in a teen-style depressive funk  ... But if someone was like "This part here didn't seem so well put together" or "This would have been better if..."
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And that's one of the reasons people don't review--because authors only want *some kinds* of reviews. A basic "I loved this" or "I hated this" isn't enough; they want to know why, and which parts, and other bits of literary analysis rather than (or in addition to) personal reactions. (Which is understandable, but can still be intimidating.)
The idea that readers, especially of low-cost ebooks, can be participants in the writer's development, is a new one, and sites don't encourage it with the current setup--there's no easy back-and-forth for comments, and calling the feedback "reviews" implies that a formal approach is wanted, rather than random thoughts.
It's also unclear whether the "reviews" on ebook sites are intended for the authors or for other readers/potential buyers; the target audience changes what gets written.