Quote:
Originally Posted by anamardoll
I never browse by rating lists, though, and I imagine 90% of readers don't either. We look by price and popularity. A 4-star review will boost popularity in a way that a single 5-star will not. And price, well, you have no control over.
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I don't use lists either. For a reader, I think sales rank and price are more powerful, and reviews that have specific praise and criticism. The best indie books I've read so far have some pretty sane ratings along the 3-4 stars mark. I nearly always ignore 5 star reviews for indie books unless it says something specific about the book. I'm not an author, but I don't think the star average is a big deal for me as a reader. It's the specific comments in the review. "Do I see these quirks as faults? Yes, don't buy. Do I see these quirks as faults? No? Then buy." It's putting everything into context.
There's an indie fantasy book I reviewed where everyone mentioned that sometimes it feels more like an RPG than a novel at times, and some readers thought it was awesome (me in this camp, gave it 4 stars), while some readers didn't find that right up their alley (gave it 3 stars), but all praised the characters, the author's skill in handling tones, and a lot of other elements, and some said they were interested in reading the next book. Those reviews are more effective than the super nice but uninformative 5 stars you see, because these reviews tell who the target audience is.
I think having informative and honest reviews are much stronger than "5 stars! I recommend this everyone who likes science fiction and fantasy!" Uh, I don't believe that. There's a lot of SF/F out there, and a lot of people like to stick to certain genres. Terry Prachett and George R. R. Martin are both fantasy writers, but do they have the same audience? Not all the time. They're really different. I read a lot of SF/F, but it's more important for me to know *when* I'd want a book. I don't want to read all kinds of books all the time. Saying that "If you're an SF/F fan, read this book" says nothing to me. Is it a light hearted fantasy adventure romp? Is it creepy cosmic horror? Is it an introspective character-driven science fiction book? I need other readers to validate this for me, because I don't always trust the blurb, because a lot of indies like comparing themselves to big shots like George R. R. Martin, William Gibson, Tolkien, etc. and I have to raise my eyebrow at that.
Back on how I don't think average star ratings are that important... I've bought a legacy-pubbed non-fiction book for $9.99 that had an average rating of 3 stars, it gave me realistic expectations about the writing, but I ended up buying it for the content and I don't regret it. I still sample books with an average rating of 3 stars if I liked the elements that the reviewer was complaining about. "Too disgusting and gorey, need to edit out these descriptions." I'd investigate that. Why? Because I like body horror and I'm a splatter girl, and I look for that in books sometimes. Maybe that book's been getting three stars so far because it hasn't been reaching its target audience.