Smashwords rating system

gmw · 07-16-2015, 09:13 AM

While I'm on the subject of Smashwords rating (Was I? Well I sort of was on another thread) ...

Does anyone actually use the Smashwords "Highest Rated" feature?

Currently, top of the list is 5.00 from 96 reviews. At approx. 15460 down the list you hit 4.98 from 209 reviews. In between are more than 12000 books with 2 or less 5 star reviews. How is that helpful to readers trying to find something possibly good amidst the mire?

Currently, the only way that a book will ever get anywhere near the top of the "Highest Rated" list is by having consistently 5 stars - which is an automatic: "Huh? That's suspicious, no one ever writes a book that everyone likes that much." And worse than that, this current system means that anything less than a five star review, even a single four among 99 fives, is going to drop the book into obscurity when viewed in ratings order.

Of course any more complex algorithm is immediately going to hit the sort of controversy that Amazon sees every time they fiddle with theirs, but the existing system seems ... pointless.

Yes, yes, I know that ratings is a dubious way to choose a book. But surely if they're going to offer a sort by rating there must be some way to make it vaguely helpful. Maybe a user selectable minimum number of ratings or something?

At the moment I'm one of those lucky sods with a single 5 star review sitting above that unlucky sod with 4.98 from 209 reviews, but even I can see it's not helpful to readers trying to find something good.

I guess, on the plus side - sort of - is that authors can effectively ignore their books' cumulative rating on Smashwords because it is useless. Yes, once you get a viewer onto your book's page the rating (in combination with review content) may count for something, but the ranking by rating is not something to worry our already distracted minds.

cromag · 07-16-2015, 03:57 PM

I do use the ratings to help discover titles I might be interested in -- during the semi-annual sales, mostly. It has its limitations, but it's another tool.

First, I narrow it down by individual genres, since I'm not really interested in some areas no matter how highly the titles might be rated. I also check some of the ratings to try to screen out titles that might be "gaming the system" (as noted in another thread).

And, I don't spend all that much energy on the job. I rank them in order and scan down for something that attracts my attention.

gmw · 07-17-2015, 01:02 AM

cromag, yes, I suppose in that respect it's a bit like the sort by "Newest". In some genres you get to see something useful over just a couple of pages. ... But in more general genres like Fantasy->Contemporary the filters don't help very much. And it's just going to get worse as Smashwords keeps growing.

mrmarlowe · 07-17-2015, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cromag

I do use the ratings to help discover titles I might be interested in -- during the semi-annual sales, mostly. It has its limitations, but it's another tool.

First, I narrow it down by individual genres, since I'm not really interested in some areas no matter how highly the titles might be rated. I also check some of the ratings to try to screen out titles that might be "gaming the system" (as noted in another thread).

And, I don't spend all that much energy on the job. I rank them in order and scan down for something that attracts my attention.

I personally trust Google mostly as far as getting me quality books is concerned. I dunno how, but 7-8 times out of 10 Google is right

Treesong · 07-22-2015, 12:15 AM

I do use ratings and reviews to help decide what books to read next. Recommendations from friends takes precedence, but I also look at the ratings and reviews.

Yes, I suppose it's suspicious if a book has a bunch of 5 star reviews and absolutely no 1-4 star reviews. But there's not much that you can do about it.

As for making it easier to find some decent 3-4 star books, I'm not sure what can be done about that either. It might be good to have a "randomize/shuffle" feature so that you can place limits on the quality but not always end up seeing a bunch of bestselling authors. As an independent author myself, I like the idea of reading some books that have a few good ratings, but not many ratings total. These books can be hard to find because they're crowded out by the 5.0 books you describe.

07-16-2015, 09:13 AM	#1
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Smashwords rating system While I'm on the subject of Smashwords rating (Was I? Well I sort of was on another thread) ... Does anyone actually use the Smashwords "Highest Rated" feature? Currently, top of the list is 5.00 from 96 reviews. At approx. 15460 down the list you hit 4.98 from 209 reviews. In between are more than 12000 books with 2 or less 5 star reviews. How is that helpful to readers trying to find something possibly good amidst the mire? Currently, the only way that a book will ever get anywhere near the top of the "Highest Rated" list is by having consistently 5 stars - which is an automatic: "Huh? That's suspicious, no one ever writes a book that everyone likes that much." And worse than that, this current system means that anything less than a five star review, even a single four among 99 fives, is going to drop the book into obscurity when viewed in ratings order. Of course any more complex algorithm is immediately going to hit the sort of controversy that Amazon sees every time they fiddle with theirs, but the existing system seems ... pointless. Yes, yes, I know that ratings is a dubious way to choose a book. But surely if they're going to offer a sort by rating there must be some way to make it vaguely helpful. Maybe a user selectable minimum number of ratings or something? At the moment I'm one of those lucky sods with a single 5 star review sitting above that unlucky sod with 4.98 from 209 reviews, but even I can see it's not helpful to readers trying to find something good. I guess, on the plus side - sort of - is that authors can effectively ignore their books' cumulative rating on Smashwords because it is useless. Yes, once you get a viewer onto your book's page the rating (in combination with review content) may count for something, but the ranking by rating is not something to worry our already distracted minds.

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07-16-2015, 03:57 PM	#2
cromag Surfin the alpha waves ~~ Posts: 26,046 Karma: 459735575 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Jersey Device: Jetbook Lite & Mini, Nook STR, Kobo, Hanvon N516, Kindle 2, Androids	I do use the ratings to help discover titles I might be interested in -- during the semi-annual sales, mostly. It has its limitations, but it's another tool. First, I narrow it down by individual genres, since I'm not really interested in some areas no matter how highly the titles might be rated. I also check some of the ratings to try to screen out titles that might be "gaming the system" (as noted in another thread). And, I don't spend all that much energy on the job. I rank them in order and scan down for something that attracts my attention.

07-17-2015, 01:02 AM	#3
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	cromag, yes, I suppose in that respect it's a bit like the sort by "Newest". In some genres you get to see something useful over just a couple of pages. ... But in more general genres like Fantasy->Contemporary the filters don't help very much. And it's just going to get worse as Smashwords keeps growing.

07-22-2015, 12:15 AM	#5
Treesong Author Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Carbondale, Southern Illinois Device: Dell Venue	I do use ratings and reviews to help decide what books to read next. Recommendations from friends takes precedence, but I also look at the ratings and reviews. Yes, I suppose it's suspicious if a book has a bunch of 5 star reviews and absolutely no 1-4 star reviews. But there's not much that you can do about it. As for making it easier to find some decent 3-4 star books, I'm not sure what can be done about that either. It might be good to have a "randomize/shuffle" feature so that you can place limits on the quality but not always end up seeing a bunch of bestselling authors. As an independent author myself, I like the idea of reading some books that have a few good ratings, but not many ratings total. These books can be hard to find because they're crowded out by the 5.0 books you describe.