When are people going to start reviewing?

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by Native

I suspect a lot of people connect with that.

Well, it certainly does expand my possible reading material! You're on that list, of course...

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

But speaking of you (I am now...)-- how do you do it?? What you have accomplished in such a short time is fantastic. Where do you find the time? Is there a drug or a time machine? Please share!

Naw, I just have a lot more time on my hands since I'm not taking a full load of courses in university. You review more books than I do, I just do a measly one book a week. I think I've been getting pretty decent site traffic because I like to hang out on the internet where the other SF/F geeks are at (Twitter, Goodreads, etc.) and my target audience pops into my review blog as a side-effect. I really do nothing beyond continuing on as a loudmouthed geek, which should be obvious on Mobileread.

[melaniejaxn]

I only review books that I like-- too busy to spend time trying to think up something to say about books that left me indifferent. I didn't used to review, but since I do use reviews at Amazon, Goodreads etc to help choose my own books, it seems fair I return the favor.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by Frida Fantastic

Naw, I just have a lot more time on my hands since I'm not taking a full load of courses in university. You review more books than I do, I just do a measly one book a week. I think I've been getting pretty decent site traffic because I like to hang out on the internet where the other SF/F geeks are at (Twitter, Goodreads, etc.) and my target audience pops into my review blog as a side-effect. I really do nothing beyond continuing on as a loudmouthed geek, which should be obvious on Mobileread.

you come off as.. well.. FANTASTIC

Yeah, I'm not much of a networker. And I actually don't really like to discuss books much *gasp*. I don't know why, it sounds contradictory to the whole review thing. Reading is just a personal activity to me, so it's tricky for me to get all social with it.

I'm an enigma, what can I say?

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

And I actually don't really like to discuss books much *gasp*. I don't know why, it sounds contradictory to the whole review thing. Reading is just a personal activity to me, so it's tricky for me to get all social with it.

Heh, that is contradictory. I can't stop yammering about my opinions. Whenever read something, I just have to type something in response or link to it, which I guess why Twitter works well for me. And sometimes I even get retweeted.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Frida Fantastic

Heh, that is contradictory. I can't stop yammering about my opinions. Whenever read something, I just have to type something in response or link to it, which I guess why Twitter works well for me. And sometimes I even get retweeted.

I should send my book in for your list... I saw submission directions on your site... and I should lookup your twitter it sounds like... but back on topic...

I have recently read a few books that I have wanted to review but then I look at the other reviews and I see...

Author has 5,987,923,234,134 reviews already... so whats the point of one more? So I dont.

Author has exactly 1 (our just a couple) 5 star review... this means even a 4 star review would have a powerful impact on their standing, and I hate to do that to another author... so I dont.

So really, I guess I only review when I think my review wont have high penalties against the author, my review seems like it will actually have an impact, and i feel strongly about what I think at the time. I read a lot of free books from indy authors lately and most are mediocre... which just does not drive me to want to review.

Net result... I do not write many reviews. I am however re-considering that and re-considering adding a section to one of my existing blogs or starting a new one to write more professional reviews, probably only of free e-books by little known indy authors. I think I could do a good job, but then I have yet another website to keep up LOL

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Author has exactly 1 (our just a couple) 5 star review... this means even a 4 star review would have a powerful impact on their standing, and I hate to do that to another author... so I dont.

As a reader/buyer, I would be more likely to buy a book with one 5-star and one 4-star (or even one 3-star!) than a book with JUST one 5-star.

In the former case, one suspects that at least one of the reviewers kinda liked the book. In the later case, one fears that the only review is a shill.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

As a reader/buyer, I would be more likely to buy a book with one 5-star and one 4-star (or even one 3-star!) than a book with JUST one 5-star.

In the former case, one suspects that at least one of the reviewers kinda liked the book. In the later case, one fears that the only review is a shill.

Or an honest opinion--from the writer's best friend, who loves all their work. Any work with only a couple of 5-star reviews looks to me like the writer asked family & friends to review; even if those are honest, they're not the same as reviews from strangers.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

As a reader/buyer, I would be more likely to buy a book with one 5-star and one 4-star (or even one 3-star!) than a book with JUST one 5-star.

In the former case, one suspects that at least one of the reviewers kinda liked the book. In the later case, one fears that the only review is a shill.

Right... but when you pull up book lists they often sort by rating.. so if there are 100 books with 5 star reviews, and you take that 1 book that has 1 5 star review and give it a four... then not only does it drop out of the top 100, it also goes to the bottom of the 4.5 star reviews since they sort by number of reviews often when reviews are equal.

So that means there is a MAJOR impact to your likelihood of even seeing the book, ever, just because I gave it a 4 star review. I have a hard time doing that to an author.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Right... but when you pull up book lists they often sort by rating.. so if there are 100 books with 5 star reviews, and you take that 1 book that has 1 5 star review and give it a four... then not only does it drop out of the top 100, it also goes to the bottom of the 4.5 star reviews since they sort by number of reviews often when reviews are equal.

So that means there is a MAJOR impact to your likelihood of even seeing the book, ever, just because I gave it a 4 star review. I have a hard time doing that to an author.

Reviews aren't for the authors; they're for other readers. If you honestly think it's a 4-star book, not a 5-star book, why leave it on the top of the list for other people to waste their time on? (Why not give dozens of single-review books 3-star reviews based on the covers & blurbs, and bump them off the top of the charts?)

It's not your fault that Amazon's system punishes authors who have honest readers, but refusing to be honest won't get them to fix it.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Right... but when you pull up book lists they often sort by rating.. so if there are 100 books with 5 star reviews, and you take that 1 book that has 1 5 star review and give it a four... then not only does it drop out of the top 100, it also goes to the bottom of the 4.5 star reviews since they sort by number of reviews often when reviews are equal.

So that means there is a MAJOR impact to your likelihood of even seeing the book, ever, just because I gave it a 4 star review. I have a hard time doing that to an author.

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.

If there is more than 6 people on MR who buy their indie books purely based on a simple rating list, I'll eat my hat.

[VydorScope]

Well this thread is causing to rethink my stance that is for sure. Maybe I wont change my mind, but am considering int.

No, I doubt ppl read SOLELY based on reviews, but I would bet that most people's buying decisions are impacted to varying degree by reviews/rating.

[Frida Fantastic]

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.

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.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Frida Fantastic

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.

Please name drop this book, because I think that would be VERY fun to read.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Please name drop this book, because I think that would be VERY fun to read.

Heh, if you so insist! The Sable City by M. Edward McNally. I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review, and you can read it here: http://fridafantastic.wordpress.com/...-mcnally-2011/

Two paragraphs of my review are dedicated to its faults (it could benefit from more editing IMHO), but all the good stuff about it pushed all the right buttons for me to overcome whatever I didn't like as much about it. I like it so much I'm reading the sequel.

Even with these pretty critical comments, I've recommended this book to some people, and they've still taken an interest in it and bought it for themselves. So I think in the end, I think honest reviews help promote books, even if they're not glowing 5 star reviews.