# Amazon Reviews... how do you know?



## NightGoat (Feb 2, 2011)

How do you gauge the sincerity of AZ's reviews? 

I get a bit leery when a book has four-five stars across the board with only 10-15 reviews. When I look at the five-star reviewer's other reviews, they have page after page of five star reviews.  

I've heard rumour of publishers hiring "Amazon Claquers" to raise ratings. 

Also, when a reviewer gives a book a low(er) score I sometimes see acrimonious comments aimed at that reviewer, unwarranted.

How do you know what books truly deserve their reviews?


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

The only ones I find suspicious are ones for indie books which only have one to a few (very positive) reviews from people who have only ever reviewed that book or that author. Really? We're supposed to believe that someone who has never reviewed a book before and hasn't done so again since decided to review this ONE indie book/author? Yeah right! One time, a review even used the same words/phrases right from the summery of the book! I don't know whether it's Amazon or the publisher or the author but someone has obviously recruited people to post fake reviews. This is why I prefer Goodreads - they don't seem to get these fake reviews.


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## StevenSavile (Jun 23, 2010)

i always find it interesting that people are willing to take the negative reviews at face value - and yet I know of SEVERAL major writers who have gone around 1-2-3 starring books in direct competition to their own releases, including a 'world expert' in his particular field, and a ghostwriter for a *very* famous thriller series who has published recently under his own name and has basically one-starred the 'opposition'. Equally in my time doing games writing and stuff like that I've had people threaten to 'slash my face' and 'ruin my career single-handedly' and they've gone on crusades against my work. I recall when Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert signed the deal for the first of the Dune prequels it received 63 one star reviews BEFORE Brian and Kevin had finished writing the book let alone it was published (leading to Amazon changing the rules slightly on reviews). The sad fact is there as many people skewing the results low as their are high... your only real way of judging is the sample, and word of mouth from people you trust.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

StevenSavile said:


> i always find it interesting that people are willing to take the negative reviews at face value - and yet I know of SEVERAL major writers who have gone around 1-2-3 starring books in direct competition to their own releases, including a 'world expert' in his particular field, and a ghostwriter for a *very* famous thriller series who has published recently under his own name and has basically one-starred the 'opposition'. Equally in my time doing games writing and stuff like that I've had people threaten to 'slash my face' and 'ruin my career single-handedly' and they've gone on crusades against my work. I recall when Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert signed the deal for the first of the Dune prequels it received 63 one star reviews BEFORE Brian and Kevin had finished writing the book let alone it was published (leading to Amazon changing the rules slightly on reviews). The sad fact is there as many people skewing the results low as their are high... your only real way of judging is the sample, and word of mouth from people you trust.


Wow! That's crazy.

I guess you just read all of the reviews for the general tone and what they say about the book, but, ultimately, if it looks like something you would like to read, sample it first.


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## StevenSavile (Jun 23, 2010)

Karen, exactly. And yes it is crazy... but I know of lots of curious stuff. There's a company out there that will provide you with 5 star amazon reviews for a price - I think it's something like 299 for 25... I know a literary agency that has admitted in the Guardian newspaper that they 'buy' 5 star amazon reviews for their writers as part of the package promotion budget - basically meaning they've set up accounts with various names and legitimately bought products (one of their client's books, no doubt) and then over the first week/month of pub will use all of those shell accounts to post good reviews and downgrade poor reviews etc. 

It's a system, which means people will be out there looking for ways to game it.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

I just read through a few of the reviews, check the reviewers' history and make a guess.  I pretty much always read samples now.  That saves me more than the reviews--time and money.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

sibelhodge said:


> I guess you can never truly know. Someone brought this up a while back and it made me think about it...what about one star reviews where the reviewer has only ever reviewed that book? Should these be considered suspicious as well?


I suppose so - I hadn't thought of it before but StevenSavile pointed out that some authors do this to their competition. But sometimes a person can just be so irritated by something that they are motivated to rant about it in a review even though they don't normally give reviews. I've done that, not with books (because I do regularly review books on Goodreads) but with other products. Whereas in my experience, I have found people are less likely to go out of their way to review something they really loved if they aren't a regular reviewer. It's possible some are genuine but I imagine most are not.

But to be honest, if a book only has a few reviews, I tend to take them all with a grain of salt regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Even if they are genuine reviewers, they are only opinions and as we all know, opinions can greatly vary. Just because a few people didn't like a book doesn't mean I won't. So until a book has more than a handful of reviews, I tend to almost ignore the average rating anyway. Once there are enough reviews to accurately represent a variety of opinions will I take notice.


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## Neo (Mar 30, 2009)

history_lover said:


> The only ones I find suspicious are ones for indie books which only have one to a few (very positive) reviews from people who have only ever reviewed that book or that author. Really? We're supposed to believe that someone who has never reviewed a book before and hasn't done so again since decided to review this ONE indie book/author? Yeah right!


Actually, I did that! I reviewed an Indie book that I really liked and enjoyed and did it just that once, because I saw that the book didn't have ANY review whatsoever, and I thought it sad and undeserved. So for once, I took the time to actually post a review, and because I actually liked the book, it happened to be positive. Apart from that, I only reviewed Kindle covers on Amazon. So it CAN happen and be genuine


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## NightGoat (Feb 2, 2011)

Wow, thank you everyone and Steven Savile for opening my eyes to how 'cut-throat' the business is.

In my naivety I didn't even consider the negative review to be an attempt to deride the competition. I'll stick to goodreads, but sadly my reading habits aren't of the NYT's bestseller sort so often I find that the books I'm interested in are not always reviewed there.

Datline could do a piece on this.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Personally, if a book has a fair number of reviews (for some undefined value of "fair number") and looks interesting to me at first glance (maybe including the top 4-/5-star reviews on the main page), I like to jump to the 2- and 3-star reviews. I'm curious to see if there is a consistent pattern of things that turned these readers off, and if those issues jibe with the sorts of things that can make me not like a book. (1-star ratings are generally too negative and often based on ulterior motives or ideological differences with the author.)


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Neo said:


> Actually, I did that! I reviewed an Indie book that I really liked and enjoyed and did it just that once, because I saw that the book didn't have ANY review whatsoever, and I thought it sad and undeserved. So for once, I took the time to actually post a review, and because I actually liked the book, it happened to be positive. Apart from that, I only reviewed Kindle covers on Amazon. So it CAN happen and be genuine


Yeah, like I said in my last post, it is possible some are genuine but I think most are not.


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

I think that if it's an "amazon verified purchase" it is a safe bet. Although, that might mean very little to some people. If someone just wanted to post a troll review--either to slam the author or to rave about how awesome the author is--would they have actually bought the book? From amazon?

But, all that aside--I have always learned to make my purchasing decisions based on the sample more so than reviews.



sibelhodge said:


> I guess you can never truly know. Someone brought this up a while back and it made me think about it...what about one star reviews where the reviewer has only ever reviewed that book? Should these be considered suspicious as well?


Oh, absolutely! I've seen it happen with some friends' books. Trolls are everywhere.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I think you can usually tell. If the review is spectacularly gushy, and especially when it mentions the author by name repeatedly, it's suspect. You know -- "WOW!!! Joe Blow has truly crafted an amazing story I couldn't put down. I think I've just discovered the great writers of the 21st Century! I fell in love with the characters and Joe Blow's amazing storytelling. Please, Joe Blow, write some more so I can read them!"

And trolling negative reviews tend to sound particularly venemous, and to contain personal attacks on the author. In both cases, the reviewer either hasn't written other reviews, or has written equally glowing or nasty reviews for other indie/small-press writers.


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## Julie Christensen (Oct 13, 2010)

history_lover said:


> The only ones I find suspicious are ones for indie books which only have one to a few (very positive) reviews from people who have only ever reviewed that book or that author. Really? We're supposed to believe that someone who has never reviewed a book before and hasn't done so again since decided to review this ONE indie book/author? Yeah right! One time, a review even used the same words/phrases right from the summery of the book! I don't know whether it's Amazon or the publisher or the author but someone has obviously recruited people to post fake reviews. This is why I prefer Goodreads - they don't seem to get these fake reviews.


I'm an indie author, and I can say, with complete truth, that I have many real reviewers who reviewed my book but no others. I can see why you might think that these reviews are staged, but maybe the fact that several of them are one star reviews will make you reconsider. At the end of my books, I ask people to consider posting a review. I don't know if that's why they did, but many of my reviewers say they've never reviewed a book before. It doesn't mean that they don't have an important opinion. Even with the one star reviews I have, they disliked my book enough to write a review! I think it's wonderful. And I wouldn't be more suspicious of indies over regularly published authors - publishing houses have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves to pump up their sales and get press coverage. At the end of the day, what readers like is very subjective, and I think that the 5 stars and 1 stars all serve a roll in helping people decide if a book is right for them.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

For me, it's all about the content of the review. If it's states 'this book is the greatest ever' or 'this book is the worst ever' without any type of reason for the assessment then the reivew doesn't hold any sway for me. I find that a lot of 5 and 1 star reviews are that way. I also discount any 1 or 2 star review where the biggest complaint is about the price of the book or that it's a Christian book and the reader doesn't like that type of story and didn't know the book had a religious angle.

I always take a look at the 3 star and then the 2 and 4 star reviews. I've found that the 3 star reviews usually have more detailed explanations of why the reviewer liked and disliked certain aspects of the book. But like others, the sample more than anything convinces me if I want to buy the book or not.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

The overall star rankings only have any validity if there are a lot of reviews.  I don't care much about any one review as that's just one person's opinion and we know what they say about opinions.  But if it has 50+ reviews and is 4 stars or up it's probably worth at least checking out the Kindle sample if it's a genre I like.  Lower and I'll likely pass as I just don't have time to check out everything that remotely interests me.

I'm the same with movies, 75-80% or above on Rotten Tomatoes with a lot of reviews, and it's probably worth seeing.  Lower and I probably won't bother unless it's from a director I really enjoy etc.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

history_lover said:


> I suppose so - I hadn't thought of it before but StevenSavile pointed out that some authors do this to their competition. But sometimes a person can just be so irritated by something that they are motivated to rant about it in a review even though they don't normally give reviews. I've done that, not with books (because I do regularly review books on Goodreads) but with other products. Whereas in my experience, I have found people are less likely to go out of their way to review something they really loved if they aren't a regular reviewer. It's possible some are genuine but I imagine most are not.
> 
> But to be honest, if a book only has a few reviews, I tend to take them all with a grain of salt regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Even if they are genuine reviewers, they are only opinions and as we all know, opinions can greatly vary. Just because a few people didn't like a book doesn't mean I won't. So until a book has more than a handful of reviews, I tend to almost ignore the average rating anyway. Once there are enough reviews to accurately represent a variety of opinions will I take notice.


Well, everyone has to do their first review at some point, but to a large extent I agree. On the other hand, my novel _Talon of the Raptor Clan_ (which is a finalist for the Epic Award this year in spite of its lack of reviews) had a review from a person that it LOOKED like had done only one review. Later she did another review for the same novel, saying something along the lines of, "That was not my only review. For some reason, it never connected to my other reviews" and if you look you can see that she's done quite a few. Weird, but I guess stranger things have happened.

I think the only thing you can do is look at the reviewer's history and try to judge by that but if the review gives what sounds like honest reasons for the opinion that show they've really read it, I still might believe them. As far as having bought it, my Kindle purchases go through my husband's account so they wouldn't show if I reviewed. That's another kink, so you can't even necessarily judge by that.

Being a writer, I don't review. It just seems to look a bit hinky to me coming from writers.

Edit: Of course, a review is only one person's opinion. However, if it says this novel is so full of grammatical errors that it's unreadable, I might pay attention to that. It kind of depends on what the review says as well. I don't pay much attention to star rankings though. Some of the worst novels I've ever read had high star rankings.


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## bashfulreader (Jan 29, 2011)

I must confess that I probably look like one of those questionable Amazon reviewers, because I usually only take the time to review something there if it made a big impact on me.  I've reviewed maybe half a dozen books, either because I really loved them, really hated them, or once or twice because something didn't have very many reviews, so I thought it might be helpful to add one.  I just sort of feel like there are SO MANY reviews on Amazon already, that they really don't need mine, too... which is probably silly.

I do, however, review almost everything I read on Goodreads - good, bad and in-between.  And I also much prefer reading reviews on Goodreads.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

To the question "how do you know?" my answer as a reader is that you don't know. I've read books with hundreds of glowing reviews that left me absolutely cold. Conversely, I've read books with only a few highly suspicious reviews, many of which were written by other authors, that were truly wonderful. A book endorsed by a best selling author means far less to me than one recommended by a reader on this forum.

The other side of that coin is that review writing is very hard for me. I often agonize over a review for hours, then don't post. The books that I feel obligated to review are _good_ self-published books simply because I know that there's no stable of authors from the publishing house that's going to rally for them. And, yes, I admit to having favorite self published authors, many of whom I've gotten to know on Kindleboards. Are the reviews that I write honest? Yes. Am I always honest? No. I rarely write a negative review; it makes me feel too bad.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

NightGoat said:


> How do you gauge the sincerity of AZ's reviews?
> 
> I get a bit leery when a book has four-five stars across the board with only 10-15 reviews. When I look at the five-star reviewer's other reviews, they have page after page of five star reviews.
> 
> ...


I'm not a suspicious book buyer. If the reviews for a book were overwhelmingly negative, I probably wouldn't bother looking at the description on the assumption that it was well and truly awful.

I also assume that most positive reviews are genuine fans who took three seconds to click a star and write, "Awesome book!" because they really did like it.

When push comes to shove, I only carefully read the negative reviews to see what might be wrong with the book, or what might offend me, etc. If the worst of the bad comments is something like, "I didn't like the slang" or "Too many people died in this war epic" then I feel more confident about the purchase.


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## Tina Folsom (Sep 22, 2010)

If I'm really suspicious of "too good to be true", I go to places like Goodreads and also over to Barnes & Noble to see how many reviews are there for a particular book. With B&N I've experienced people leave a lot more star-rating (no review needed, ie. they don't have to write anything, just give it a rating), and therefore there are a lot more ratings that give you a better idea how good or bad a book is. For example, while a book might have 30 reviews on Amazon, it might have 150 on B&N. It gives you a much better sample size.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Until I published a book myself, I was one of the dummies who knew nothing about the suspicions so many have of Amazon reviews. For me it was always a matter of the average of reviews more than anything else. I might read a couple of the raves and a couple of the pans, but the world is full of books others love that I wouldn't read and vice versa.

Not long ago I got pretty peeved over the accusations of this kind of stuff. For my own books I know it's not true. I've never asked anyone for a review. My mystery has 3 out of 51 reviews by people I know, but they're people I know from the dog world who bought the book, read it, and left a review because they genuinely liked the book (a Rottweiler owner who didn't would be rare). I didn't know about those reviews until they appeared; the people didn't consult me first.

Anyway, I got revved up and went through every single review for both of my romances and looked to see if the person who had left the review had reviewed other books before or any books except mine. You can see the details of what I found on my blog under the post, Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics. To summarize, I found that if you eliminated every single review by a person who only reviewed one of my books (or only my books), the star average for those books would be exactly the same as it was with those reviews. My guess is if I went through the reviews for the mystery, the result would be the same, but I ran out of steam and had proved my point to my own satisfaction with just the 2 romances.

Yes, I concede that there is a lot of manipulation going on with the reviews, but I think the level of suspicion some people have is way too high, although I know I'm never going to convince those who believe otherwise. And in the end we all get to act on our own feelings about things like this. I'm one of those who believes anything over $9.99 is too much for an ebook and won't buy those with the high prices, so I've sure got my own built-in restrictions.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

I've actually grown to love three-star reviews. Five-star reviews are nice, as are four star, but too often they seem overly glowing and not very useful. One- and two-star reviews often seem just as useless and overly hateful.

But three stars ... I've found them helpful more often than not. In my experience, three-star reviews tend to show a seriousness by the reviewer, that they've actually read the work and have good and bad things to say.

As a writer, some favorite reviews of my own work are three stars. They showed the readers "got it," though they didn't always care for "it" or for how it was "got."


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

xandy3 said:


> I think that if it's an "amazon verified purpose" it is a safe bet.
> 
> I have always learned to make my purchasing decisions based on the sample more so than reviews.


I agree with these comments. For a lot of authors, reviews take a while to build up on Amazon so I don't think it's all that common to find a new indie author with tons of 4 and 5 star reviews until their book has been out a while. Anytime someone tells me they enjoyed my book, I ask them to post a quick review. Some do but many never get around to it. Reviews do influence me to an extent, but I always download the sample first and make my final decision based on that.


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## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

With Amazon reviews you don't know what's real and what isn't. You may think you can figure it out, but in the end you really don't know. And, with the ease of sampling on the Kindle, if I like what I see in the blurb, I skip the reviews, download a sample and make up my own mind.


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## Mel Comley (Oct 13, 2010)

I agree as a reader I quickly scan the reviews and then sample the book, if it doesn't grab my attention in the first few pages I steer clear of it completely.

I love the sample option and I think it is saving me a lot of money as I buy and read an awful lot of books.

Mel


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## Mrs. K. (Dec 31, 2010)

You can't possibly know for certain based on Amazon reviews if a book will be good. I don't even pay attention to them unless there are quite a few for a product. If I am going to purchase based on a few reviews, I will at least look to see what else they have reviewed to see if the person has similar tastes to mine, and as a check for obvious shills (who get away with little, since they're so easily spotted.) Then I'll read the one- and two-star reviews to see what specifically was disliked about the book. They're much more telling than glowing, five-star "best book ever, should be made into a movie, I read it five times this week" reviews anyway. 

One of the things I love most about my Kindle is the ability to read samples. I put MUCH more weight on the sample than on hundreds of reviews. Once in a while the sample will be great and then the book will fall into an abyss of stupidity, but it doesn't happen as much as a Book Fail solely based on Amazon reviews.


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## bashfulreader (Jan 29, 2011)

Jeff said:


> The other side of that coin is that review writing is very hard for me. I often agonize over a review for hours, then don't post. The books that I feel obligated to review are _good_ self-published books simply because I know that there's no stable of authors from the publishing house that's going to rally for them. And, yes, I admit to having favorite self published authors, many of whom I've gotten to know on Kindleboards. Are the reviews that I write honest? Yes. Am I always honest? No. I rarely write a negative review; it makes me feel too bad.


I wondered if I was the only one who felt this way. Reviews are getting harder for me to write, as the gap between writers and readers seems to be shrinking. I read all these posts from authors, here and on other book forums, and suddenly I realize that it's not just other readers reading my reviews - it's the authors who wrote the books. I want to help other readers find books they would like, and I think I can best do that by writing honest reviews - both positive and negative. But I am a lot more hesitant to write a negative review now, in fear of hurting an author's feelings.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

bashfulreader said:


> I wondered if I was the only one who felt this way. Reviews are getting harder for me to write, as the gap between writers and readers seems to be shrinking. I read all these posts from authors, here and on other book forums, and suddenly I realize that it's not just other readers reading my reviews - it's the authors who wrote the books. I want to help other readers find books they would like, and I think I can best do that by writing honest reviews - both positive and negative. But I am a lot more hesitant to write a negative review now, in fear of hurting an author's feelings.


I don't think we should tip toe around authors though. Anyone who publishes creative works has to accept the fact that they will get criticism. If they can't handle it, they shouldn't publish or at least they shouldn't read the reviews. As long as the criticism is constructive and not just "This sucked!", you shouldn't be afraid to say what you have to say.

I guess maybe it's because I'm a photographer and I went to a photography school where our work was critiqued by teachers and fellow students every single week right in front of us in a group discussion. Of course the setting is different because we were there to learn and the only way to learn is to be told what you're doing wrong as well as right. But none the less, the critiques also taught us how to take constructive criticism graciously and how to not hold back your true feelings on something even when the creator is standing right in front of you.


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## StevenSavile (Jun 23, 2010)

If you're writing a negative review, you don't actually owe the writer anything by way of explanation as to why it didn't work for you, but I will be honest, I read every review, I think about what is said, why it didn't work or did work for each individual reader- but I most likely won't act on even a mass consensus of 20 reviews saying something similar because in terms of voice that book has probably sold 20,000 copies give or take and it's still a tiny drop in the ocean... I say most likely, because it could be very astute and I might find myself thinking sheesh... of COURSE... the thing is I appreciate people taking the time to write reviews on Amazon because in general people just don't. And yes if can be hard reading 13 1 star reviews, just like it can be great to read 10 5 star reviews, but by the time you guys are reading it the book in question is usually a long long way away as far as I am concerned. It's very rare for it to be even the next but last, or next next but last thing that I wrote, because I write for a living, that's all day every day. A brand new book might still have been written almost 3 years ago...


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2011)

xandy3 said:


> I think that if it's an "amazon verified purpose" it is a safe bet.


You'd be surprised. If someone is writing fake reviews, they probably won't hesitate to cough up that extra dollar or whatever to dig a little deeper into those who are skeptical.


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

I sample, sample, sample, sample, sample and then sample.  

Amazon reviews are necessary but often borderline worthless. There are too many one star reviews handed out as some kind of odd cyber-punishment (many posted by people who have put up one review in their Amazon history) but on the other hand, five star reviews can mean either a great book...or a just wide group of friends. Personally, I trust threes and fours more, even of my own novels, and then only if the reviewer has talked about a lot of other books as well. However, that's a lot of research to have to do, since I buy and read A LOT. 

So most often, I believe people who also read constantly, i.e. book sellers, experienced authors and loyal fans who rave about a book. That's how I found the last couple of authors. And as Steven said, any "new" novel could actually be five or ten years old, so one book is rarely everything one needs to know about an author. Their next one could be killer or a dud.

In the end, word of mouth sells books best, always has and probably always will.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

history_lover said:


> I don't think we should tip toe around authors though. Anyone who publishes creative works has to accept the fact that they will get criticism. If they can't handle it, they shouldn't publish or at least they shouldn't read the reviews. As long as the criticism is constructive and not just "This sucked!", you shouldn't be afraid to say what you have to say.
> 
> I guess maybe it's because I'm a photographer and I went to a photography school where our work was critiqued by teachers and fellow students every single week right in front of us in a group discussion. Of course the setting is different because we were there to learn and the only way to learn is to be told what you're doing wrong as well as right. But none the less, the critiques also taught us how to take constructive criticism graciously and how to not hold back your true feelings on something even when the creator is standing right in front of you.


While I agree with your "tip-toe" comment intellectually, I'd like to point out that there's a significant difference between constructive criticism within a peer group and a public review that can seriously damage an author's reputation. There's also a drawback in the current Amazon review process whereby books receive one or two star reviews for typographical or formatting errors. I have personally reformatted many books for authors and publishers who were responding to a bad review. Sadly, after the corrected file has been uploaded, in most cases, the review still stands.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

Steven:

I had no idea all this unethical activity was possible. I never thought about it before, and it always astounds me the 'ideas' people have. I'm nowhere remotely as crafty as all that. It boggles the mind...


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Jeff said:


> While I agree with your "tip-toe" comment intellectually, I'd like to point out that there's a significant difference between constructive criticism within a peer group and a public review that can seriously damage an author's reputation.


I'm not sure how so - anything someone has to say about the book (apart from formatting) is just their opinion and I find it hard to believe one person's opinion can do that much damage unless maybe it's from an established and respected professional critic or something.



> There's also a drawback in the current Amazon review process whereby books receive one or two star reviews for typographical or formatting errors. I have personally reformatted many books for authors and publishers who were responding to a bad review. Sadly, after the corrected file has been uploaded, in most cases, the review still stands.


Can't the author or publisher edit the product description to mention the formatting has been improved? It won't change the average rating of course but it will let people know the reviews are outdated. This is one of the reasons I review on Goodreads and not Amazon though - at Goodreads you can comment/review the book without rating it and rate it without reviewing it.

But personally, I think it's only fair for readers to review the formatting - by your own admission, it brings it to the attention of the authors and publishers so it can be resolved. If reviewers didn't do this, it may never get resolved. And frankly, if the authors and publishers don't want this happening, they should have made sure the formatting was acceptable BEFORE publishing it. They have only themselves to blame if they do not take quality control seriously.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

You win.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I have been going to goodreads more often now to read reviews on books. What concerns me more even than the obviously "planted" reviews are the reluctance to write anything remotely critical. Not sure if that is more prevalent with indy's. I read that a lot where people say they only review if they have a positive review. 

If they didn't like a book, they won't bother. Or they wont even bother if they have anything critical to say because they don't want to hurt feelings. To me that practice is much more damaging to the review system as a whole. That leaves you with nothing but praise and bla bla bla. 

Then I also sense a more defensive reaction by some authors about critical reviews. Maybe that is why some don't bother anymore other than praise. I see a lot of over sensitivity over reviews. One that really gets me is if a 3 star is suddenly considered a negative review. Since when. Its a GOOD review, period. Some reviewers don't bother at all anymore, good or bad. 

The need to get nothing but golden stars of the biggest variety takes away from honesty. 

For some reason on goodreads people are more blunt and I appreciate that.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

I've read many times that reviewers and readers who leave reviews have decided not to review books if they don't like them because they don't want to hurt authors feelings. I think in the long run those type of policies by reviewers and readers who review will hurt writers even more. I've wondered what does that say about the books that have no reviews or only a couple after they've been out for a while? Is it that the buyers of that book don't usually review ... or are there no reviews because the book is so bad that no one has liked it?

I wouldn't like to receive a 1 or 2 star review but if that is the honest opinion of a reader, then they should do so. To me, the review is an opinion about that particular book ... not an opinion about the author. For me, the only thing that will hurt an author's reputation is how they react to the review not the review in itself ... and most people can figure out when someone is posting a negative review to attack the author rather than to help the reader find a book they will enjoy.


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## VondaZ (Apr 21, 2009)

Honestly, I've stopped reading the reviews. My tastes aren't always mainstream and I have sometimes hated books that are well-reviewed by many. When I buy based on reviews - what others like - I frequently am disappointed. And sometimes I have let myself be dissuaded by negative reviews when I later realize that I just need to read what I find interesting and judge for myself. I'd rather just take a chance on something that sounds interesting to me - especially if it is quirky or unique in some way.

When I do look at reviews, I have found that I am attracted to polarizing books. Books that have high number of five star reviews but also equivalent numbers of one star reviews, with less so in the middle, so that they average out to around 3 stars. Books like these tend to generate a passionate reaction to them and you either love them or hate them, but you are less likely to forget them and shrug them off. A Reliable Wife was one of these, and I loved it. But it has more one star reviews than any other rating. Sometimes I hate these books. But I would rather read something like that and either love it or hate it then read something thats just okay but doesn't inspire anything in me and ends up just being a middle of the road waste of time.

I never leave reviews on Amazon. I feel like those reviews are meant to influence buying decisions and I don't think my opinion will apply to anyone else. I do sometimes post reviews on social sites (Facebook or Shelfari) but those are mainly meant to be shared with my friends if I think they may be interested in something I have read - not to influence strangers to buy or not buy something. Also, there are some books that I recognize are great achievements in literature, but they are not my cup of tea as far as enjoyment goes - those are hard to review because I never know whether I should credit the work or my reaction to it.


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## StaceyHH (Sep 13, 2010)

Atunah said:


> If they didn't like a book, they won't bother. Or they wont even bother if they have anything critical to say because they don't want to hurt feelings. To me that practice is *much more damaging* to the review system as a whole. That leaves you with nothing but praise and bla bla bla.
> 
> Then I also sense a more defensive reaction by some authors about critical reviews. Maybe that is why some don't bother anymore other than praise. I see a lot of over sensitivity over reviews. One that really gets me is *if a 3 star is suddenly considered a negative review*. Since when. Its a GOOD review, period. Some reviewers don't bother at all anymore, good or bad.
> 
> The need to get nothing but golden stars of the biggest variety takes away from honesty.


I so agree with this post. I've read LOTS of books that had negative reviews, and when it comes time to leave my own review, I feel like I can be a little more objective because I didn't feel "tricked." OTOH, I've picked up books (especially indies,) that had ONLY 4- and 5- star reviews, and when I read through the errors, anachronisms, stilted dialogue, POV issues, etc... I feel tricked, and I feel irritated and angry, because I feel like the reviews have been loaded. Whether or not they were, is irrelevant. You can be sure that my irritation will surface in my review (which ironically, will help other review checkers.) A few 2- and 3- star reviews can make a big difference in my perception of the novel - usually in a positive way.

Also, I agree with the assessment of 3- star reviews. These are still decent reviews. In fact, on GR, even a 2- star review doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad book, just that it needs work.

I once had a traditionally published author tell me and her cover artist that she felt her book was a solid 3- to 4- stars, and she's thrilled if someone gives her a 5- star, but she knows her book is not "great literature," even though she does feel it was well written, and a great story. I agree with her, and would personally rate the book 3.5 - 4 stars, as I thoroughly enjoyed it.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I agree with you about feeling tricked *StaceyHH*. I think this practice also as a cumulative effect. At some point there are only 4 and 5 stars for a book. So you want to leave your opinion and it is a 2 star for example. So now suddenly, because nobody else wanted to hurt feelings, that one review sticks out like a sore thumb.

The author suddenly feels like its unfair, cause all their other reviews are so glowing the reviewer must be somehow at fault, or an idiot, that seems to be a favorite term. Be ware if there are any spell errors in that one lonely 2 star, the wolfs and lions come out.

At that point that reviewer says, to heck with that, I won't review at all anymore and we are right back at "happy happy showered in glowing 5 star reviews" books and authors. The losers are the readers.

I look at my goodreads where I am storing all my books, those I read and those I still want to read before I die. The average rating on those I liked is usually in the 3. somethings.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

As a writer, I would be happy for 2 or 3 star reviews. They give a balanced view of the novel. There is always someone who doesn't like any novel out there, after all. I don't like _Moby Dick_ and would give it a pretty darn bad review, if you see what I mean.

I think one problem with the system is the whole "do you agree with this review" thing in which friends or fans of the novelist can vote down the reviewer if they don't like what the reviewer says. It has always seemed to me that that discourages honestly negative reviews. And there are a lot of people out there who feel that if you can't say something nice then you shouldn't say anything at all.

I can understand that, but I'd rather have honest feedback on what people like or, yes, what they don't like.

Edit: A one-star review would really sting, but heck, if someone disliked one of my novels that much I think they should post that too.

However, let me amend that to say that I don't think a three-star review should be considered negative. That is really just "medium" and everything in the world isn't glowing top-shelf. There isn't anything bad, in my opinion, about a three-star review.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I think it's patronizing to refrain from posting an honest negative review -- we're talking about someone's professional work, not whether their new Easter hat is flattering.


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

How do you know if reviews _anywhere_ are sincere?


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

personally, I feel a 3 star review is still a good review, but so many are stuck in the star system and forget the text of the review. i'd love to see the stars just go the way of the dodo and just leave text.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

If you hover the cursor over the reviewer's name, a flyout box shows how many reviews the reviewer has posted, and what their helpful percentage is. I usually disregard any review where it's the first Amazon review the person has ever posted. In all likelihood, it's a family member or friend doing a sweetheart review.


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## Will Write for Gruel (Oct 16, 2010)

NightGoat said:


> How do you gauge the sincerity of AZ's reviews?
> 
> I get a bit leery when a book has four-five stars across the board with only 10-15 reviews. When I look at the five-star reviewer's other reviews, they have page after page of five star reviews.
> 
> ...


I don't know if you ever really know, but when I see only 4 and 5 star reviews, I discount the reviews. I don't even bother to read them.

I might still sample the book, but it's not because of the reviews.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

melcom said:


> I love the sample option and I think it is saving me a lot of money as I buy and read an awful lot of books.
> 
> Mel


I love the sample option, too. I've made the majority of my Kindle purchases after reading the sample.


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## Brianna (Feb 4, 2011)

I think the problem with Amazon reviews are that the people that want to take the time to go back and review these books are the ones that loved it and are very excited about it, or are angry that they purchased it because the book was a waste of their time, hence a lot of 5 star and 1 star ratings. (at least this is how I am when it comes to doing reviews on Amazon, call me crazy I guess)
It was also mentioned that some people find it suspicious when customers have only reviewed one book (particularly and Indie book) and that was all. I am an Indie author and only have 6 ratings for my book on Amazon, all of which are 5 stars. I can honestly say that I only know one of the reviewers and did not pay or hire anyone to leave a review. But, I did post on my website that I needed some reviews on Amazon right after I had hit the 200 mark in sales. However I stated that I did not care what the reviews were, I was open to any rating no matter what it was. To my surprise all the reviews were 5 stars. With that said, I do think that if a reader wants a broader range of reviews Goodreads.com is the place to go. I have always found this site helpful when looking for book recommendations. For instance on Goodreads my book has not received 5 stars across the board like it has on Amazon. And really to tell you the truth I disregard most Amazon reviews and just go off of the samples and synopsis.


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## Autumn Jordon (Jul 21, 2010)

I look at reviews, but I don't necessarily look at the number of stars. I read what the reviewers say. Did they love plot or/and characters. I love to fall in love with characters.  I've read books where it was all about the writer's voice. Couldn't get into them.


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## Teagan Rand (Feb 17, 2011)

Autumn Jordon said:


> I look at reviews, but I don't necessarily look at the number of stars. I read what the reviewers say. Did they love plot or/and characters. I love to fall in love with characters. I've read books where it was all about the writer's voice. Couldn't get into them.


I do this too. I don't want reviews to just tell me that a book was wonderful or that it was terrible, I want them to tell me why. The best reviews are those that do some analysis of the book. They may be one star or five stars or anywhere in between.


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

history_lover said:


> But sometimes a person can just be so irritated by something that they are motivated to rant about it in a review even though they don't normally give reviews. I've done that, not with books (because I do regularly review books on Goodreads) but with other products. Whereas in my experience, I have found people are less likely to go out of their way to review something they really loved if they aren't a regular reviewer. It's possible some are genuine but I imagine most are not.


^^ This.

I admit to being guilty about this when it comes to travel websites. I rarely review hotels, cruises, etc that I loved or liked but will always be so moved to post a scathing review for the ones I hated.

As for people who seem to only give glowing reviews, I've found that if I don't care for a book or don't absolutely love a book, I don't review it or rate it. I just ignore it and pretend I didn't read it. It's only when I love, love, love something that I take the time to leave a rating and feedback.


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

JRTomlin said:


> As far as having bought it, my Kindle purchases go through my husband's account so they wouldn't show if I reviewed. That's another kink, so you can't even necessarily judge by that.


And what about those of us who are new to ebooks but have read the print edition that we bought at a brick-and-mortar store and now want to do a review?


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## StaceyHH (Sep 13, 2010)

JimC1946 said:


> I usually disregard any review where it's the first Amazon review the person has ever posted. In all likelihood, it's a family member or friend doing a sweetheart review.


In all likelihood it's NOT a family member or friend doing a review. It's most likely somebody who just doesn't review on Amazon. I've done around 200 reviews on GR and elsewhere. I've reviews ONE book on Amazon, and decided I don't like their format. I suspect there are far more single review posters who are just like me, than sweetheart reviews.

I see this claim over and over on this board - if they've only posted one review, disregard it. Whatever helps you sleep at night, but I'm disinclined to think that most of those are any less legit than somebody who has reviewed 2 or 10 or 100 books on Amazon.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Amanda Brice said:


> And what about those of us who are new to ebooks but have read the print edition that we bought at a brick-and-mortar store and now want to do a review?


I wouldn't have a problem with that if it were stated plainly that it was for the print edition. One of the things I look for in a Kindle book review is any formatting problems that the reviewer had run across. This is valuable information that a review of the printed work would not have, and it plays a big part in my decision on whether to buy. So if someone has not actually read the e-book version, they had better say so up front, especially if it is a site for reviews of Kindle books.

Mike


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

jmiked said:


> So if someone has not actually read the e-book version, they had better say so up front, especially if it is a site for reviews of Kindle books.


Except that Amazon does not distinguish whether it's for the print verson or the e-book version when you write the review. I've reviewed books on Amazon that I read as a print version that I bought at B&N. I loved the book and was surprised to see so few reviews on Amazon, so I decided to write one.

I clicked on the print version of the book and wrote my review, but my review was auto-populated to the Kindle listing, too. So do you really expect all people writing reviews to say "I read this as a Kindle book" or "I read the print edition" at the start of every review? With e-books only comprising 10% of the market share at the moment, the overwhelming majority of the population is still reading the print edition, and isn't going to think they should include this tidbit in their review...


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

I think sampling was one of the more brilliant innovations of the last few years. It means you can experience the book in same way as if you were in a store handling a paper copy. And I think it gives readers more confidence to try (and buy!) more books than they otherwise would.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Sampling has become the way I buy and read books now. I send the samples in the books I plan on reading next and put them in a collection. And I start with the sample and then on the end of the book I go to the store to buy it. Because I do all my research and picking of books long before I send those samples, I have bought every one so far that I read the sample that way. 

I also have a collection of maybe's or check it out stuff and those are samples that I won't buy all off. Those aren't super researched and I have come across some other way. I don't use those very much though.


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

I agree that sampling is the way to go. It's useful not just for e-books but also in the print market. When I'm browsing in a bookstore, I don't generally have time to truly sample. I just browse the covers and the blurbs and might flip through a couple of pages, but nothing in-depth.

With sampling, I can read until I get hooked, which means I then HAVE to read more!


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

There is no sense, to my mind, in buying a book that _someone else_ liked. I wouldn't buy a painting someone else liked; or a car; or anything, really. "Hmmm, this chair is really comfortable, buy it." Er, no, get out of it and let me sit there a second and then _I'll_ decide. This is a metaphorical chair, clearly, and for the purposes of this thesis we are assuming I want a chair. 

No sample available? Not buying. Even if it's a writer I usually like (this just happened). Even if it's recommended by a writer I like (Spider Robinson in this case). From a sample you can tell if the writing is good, get a feel for some of the characters, the setting; from a small sample you can tell loads about _that_ book and decide if you are likely to like it. From a review, Que? Nada.

A review is a sales pitch; makes no difference if the salesman is on a commission (or has a vested interest) or not. I still ain't buying till I check it out. I don't care if other people liked it or didn't; I care if I will.

Just sayin'.

Good reviews, in my limited experience, make absolutely no difference to sales as far as I can tell. No point in a writer/publisher/bookseller posting fake reviews to try and boost sales because it doesn't work. We know that. There are plenty of examples of great books by great writers with lots of great reviews that aren't selling. Friends and family do write and post reviews unasked, and nothing can be done to stop them short of nailing their hands to the ground, which seems excessive. But here's the thing, if they didn't really like the book (or even didn't/couldn't read it) it shows, mostly.

Negative reviews don't seem to make any difference either. Just raises the question, why did the reviewer hate it? Which I feel compelled to find out; so I read a sample. Isn't this what everyone does?

Lots and lots of reviews/comments [How many!?!] don't work either; but they may make me pause long enough to read a sample.

You probably got bored and skipped onto the next comment but, if not, just one more thought. I suspect that reviews are not for potential readers at all. Is suspect they are a round of applause for the writer (or, sadly, booing). Nothing more.


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## Shelia A. Huggins (Jan 20, 2011)

I definitely go more for the sample. If I was walking around in a bookstore I might notice the "employee recommendations," etc. but generally I pick up the book, read the description, and check out the first chapter. A recommendation might interest me only because it would have some of the teaser words for the genre I'm looking for. But in the end, a book is not a toaster.


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## VondaZ (Apr 21, 2009)

Chris Northern said:


> From a sample you can tell if the writing is good, get a feel for some of the characters, the setting; from a small sample you can tell loads about _that_ book and decide if you are likely to like it. From a review, Que? Nada.


I agree that you can tell something about the writing style from the sample and I frequently have chosen not to buy a book from the sample if I do not like the writer's style. However, the sample is otherwise not a deciding factor to me. A sample will not encourage me to buy a book, just discourage me from buying it. Whether or not I will like a book is dependent on how well developed the characters are, how complex thematically the story is, and how well the book is brought to resolution - things you cannot tell from a sample. Buying a book is a risk. The reviews and a sample may help to manage that risk, but ultimately, it is still a risk. I don't put much stock in reviews from other authors as I am suspicious that they are doing more networking here (scratching some backs hoping to have it repaid when the time comes). I do put stock in reviews from people I know whose opinions I respect.



Chris Northern said:


> Good reviews, in my limited experience, make absolutely no difference to sales as far as I can tell.


I suspect good reviews make a difference in sales when one does a search on something and then sorts the results by best reviewed. There are frequently a large number of results to any given search on Amazon and poorly reviewed books vanish at the bottom of the list and are never even seen by most people.


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

VondaZ said:


> I suspect good reviews make a difference in sales when one does a search on something and then sorts the results by best reviewed. There are frequently a large number of results to any given search on Amazon and poorly reviewed books vanish at the bottom of the list and are never even seen by most people.


Good point, Vonda. I hadn't thought about that. And I'm not sure what to think about it now. I've seen one star reviews which say "well written but it didn't grab me," which is entirely subjective. A few of those and the book might never surface again, as you point out. All the power is with the readers; all the risk is with the writers; the middlemen can't lose once they have recouped any initial investment. As a reader the worst that can happen is that I buy a pup and lose a buck. As a writer the worst that can happen is I lose a years income; sometimes more. If I thought too much about what I am risking, right now, by spending time writing the third in a series that isn't yet selling enough to cover time already spent then I would stop and go make some money instead. Well, a free market is a harsh environment.

I'll do some more thinking about this whole subject, but in the end I doubt I can offer any great insight and certainly no solution to the initial question. How can you tell? Well, you can't. Neither can I. I just accept that reviews are not a reliable indicator and pretty much ignore them when buying. Are there great books out there that I'll never see? Absolutely. Is there anything to be done about that? Not much that I can see.


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## CaraMarsi27 (Aug 7, 2010)

I basically believe most reviews are legit. I am more suspicious of the one and two-star reviews. I've written reviews for books I like. If I don't like a book, I won't write a review rather than write a bad one. I've heard of authors who write one-star reviews of their competitions' works even though they haven't read the books. I've heard of family members who will deliberately sabotage their relative's competitors by writing bad reviews. I like to think all reviews are honest, but I guess they're not.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

This is a very interesting topic.  Like others have already said, reviews might provide a few clues that a book might be a "yes" or a "no" to buy, but the great thing about ebooks is the free sample.  The hardest thing for any writer to do is to hook somebody from a cold start.  I know I'm a tough audience.  A bunch of good reviews can get my attention, but those samples are plenty for me to know if I want to keep reading or not.  

But that said, I don't think there is that much to be suspicious of with reader reviews.  I have no doubt that there might be a pay service (as an earlier poster said) to flood a book with reviews, but let's not discount real people with real feelings toward something because of that.   

My books, for example - a new series with the final chapter out since mid January - have been getting reviews slowly but steadily.  And yes, one of the earliest was from my mother, but I don't feel bad about that because all of the ones that have followed have been 5 stars.  And a lot of them are the kind that sent up a red flag in earlier comments too, where the reviewer doesn't have other reviews,  or begin with "I don't usually review books, but..."   But I don't find that so suspicious.   Because, speaking as a reader, I don't think I would review a book (on it's product page) unless I liked it enough to give it 4-5 stars and wanted to let others know.  Because what people like to read is so subjective.  If I thought a book was just "okay," I don't think I'd go out of my way to return to the product page to tell people that.   I suppose if I felt like I had been deceived or ripped off in someway, maybe I'd put up a 1 star review to warn people (though I've never had reason to do that).   But whatever I think is "just okay" might be exactly what somebody else loves.  Let that person review it, give it five stars, and hopefully, if they say "why" they liked it, their review will help it find the right audience.  And everyone will be happy.  Personally, I take my reviews as the highest praise, because there is genuine emotion behind them.  And that's what I'm writing for in the first place, to connect with people who might like to hear what I have to say.  So,  I'm very proud and grateful for those reactions.


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## ZombieEater (Nov 2, 2010)

I pay no attention to the star-ranking system and just read a few of the reviews. I do the same thing when I'm looking for a movie to watch. The stars are meaningless, really. I want to know WHAT people did or did not like about a particular title. And even then, it's taken with a grain of salt.


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## Nell Gavin (Jul 3, 2010)

To identify phony five-star reviews, note the book's sales rank. If the sales rank indicates low sales, there should be very few reviews. These reviews should always be spaced weeks or months (or even years) apart. If you see low sales and a cluster of five-star reviews within a short span of time, those reviews are probably "scratch my back/your back" reviews, or friends and family. However, if the book has higher sales and you see a cluster of five-star reviews, they are probably legitimate. 

It used to be that the one-review reviewer was writing a phony review. That isn't really the case anymore. Since Amazon made it necessary to tie a login to a credit card, you no longer have authors creating dozens of logins. People don't have as many credit cards as they had in the 90s and 00s, so it's difficult to pull off. You also have to make a purchase from every login, so that complicates things for people who are trying to nudge the system. Even anonymous reviewers are usually legitimate because they have to go through the same vetting process to post. Someone who is trying to fudge the system will NOT post as "A customer". That person will make up a name.

To identify phony one-star reviews, gauge the level of anger in that review. Expect angry reviews for controversial books, but do NOT believe them if the book is not controversial, or if you do not see anger in any of the other reviews. It's very likely an author attack - this happens very frequently. Author attacks will not be "real name" customers (they're probably other authors). They will express disdain and anger that seems disproportionate by comparison to other reviews.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

The Amazon (and other) reader/user reviews for all products is an interesting phenomena of our electronic age.  

I am influenced by them quite a lot, but considered them similar to a spontaneous conversation in a Bar.  

            ~Someone will always like it. 
            ~Someone will always hate it. 
            ~Someone will need to talk and talk, and talk just to hear himself.

...but in the end you have a fairly good cross-section of opinion and can make a somewhat informed decision.


I rarely write reviews, but will make a comment on a specialty forum for a product that really impressed me (either good or bad).


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## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

How Should Authors Deal With Reviews?

Don't read them.

I should end the blog there, but I suppose more explanation is needed.

"Asking a writer what he thinks about criticism is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs." John Osborne

A review is the subjective opinion of the person doing the review. As a writer, we understand point of view. A review is the point of view of the reviewer. Thus, unless you know the reviewer and respect their point of view, their review should mean little to you.

If you read your reviews hoping they will be good and give you validation, you might want to get another job. Firemen get pretty good validation when they save someone's life or house or get a kitty out of a tree. Being an author is not a job for people who need validation. One thing I like about publishing on Kindle, PubIt, iBookstore, etc. is that I can check actual sales data at any moment. Ka-ching-just sold a copy of Atlantis on PubIt since starting this post, ie in the last minute. That's validation because it allows me to keep writing, which I love. I also love readers. Our motto at Who Dares Wins Publishing is co-opted from my Infantry days: Lead, Follow, Or Get The Hell Out Of The Way. Writers produce the product, readers consume the product, everyone else, including reviewers, are in between. There are plenty of great leaders all along the line of publishing, from writers to agent to editors to publishers to reviewers to bookstores to readers. For the rest . . .

Reviewers are not a representative sample of the reading population. This is why Amazon reviews are skewed. Only a certain segment of the reading population posts reviews on Amazon. One thing I learned doing radio talk shows: rarely did anyone call in to really ask a question. They called in to give their opinion. How many people write letters to the editor saying they need to stop doing something they're doing? They always write to tell someone else to stop doing something the other person is doing. So someone who feels compelled to write a review of a book is not in the center of the bell curve of readers, although most profess to be. I'm not saying they're on the bad end. They could be the sharpest, most careful readers in the world. But in the end, it's still just their opinion, which they feel a compulsion to post for the world to see. There is nothing wrong with that and I too post reviews on places like Goodreads. It should not be viewed as anything other than my personal opinion as a professional writer and lover of books.

I've had diametrically opposing reviews on the same book from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus and NY Times and yada yada yada, No, I mentioned the bisque. Sort of like you'll get diametrically opposing opinions from two agents reading your manuscript. And editors. And readers. I had a reader send me an email that he hated my book so much he burned it. You know what my reaction was? I smiled. Because that's a real strong emotional reaction.

We're in the entertainment business. Entertainment is emotion. Business is rational (supposedly, though it really isn't, read Predictably Irrational.). That's why ka-ching means more than "It was so wonderful, it made me think the author was saintly in her devotion to her writing". Whatever.

I almost view a review, whether good or bad, in the NY Times to be a kiss of death. Since the NY Times rarely reviews those scummy, 'popular' books. You know, books people actually buy and read in great amounts. When was the last time the NY Times reviewed Nora Roberts? She's written one or two books and has a couple dozen fans here and there. Seems to be a pretty good entertainer. BTW she sells 27 books every minute, making her the #1 ka-chinger around. Which means she's sold over two hundred books since I started writing this. Hold on. Let me check. d*mn, no ka-ching on PubIt but I bet a few on Kindle. You know, you could scream NORA much like STELLA. Hmm. Might be something to try in the hallways at Nationals.

"This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." Dorothy Parker.

The #1 book of the last century according to the 'experts' was Ulysses by James Joyce. Shoot me now. And I'm half Irish, aka my pen name Robert Doherty. So much for the 'experts'. Ever notice in Esquire when they ask someone what's on their nightstand, no one says: I've got the book version of Porky's? It's Sean Penn saying: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Well, ok, maybe he does have that on his nightstand. I had to read it three times to understand.

All right. You're going to read them anyway, aren't you? After all, you might get some good publicity blurbs from them. I use blurbs from PW, Kirkus, NY Times, and other places to promote my books. That's when they're good blurbs. Bad reviews, dump 'em and move on. Or edit them: This book was the greatest waste of my time, it produced such a guttural reaction, I vomited fourteen times before I was done with page one, and it left me quivering with illness. Can easily become: This book was the greatest. It produced such a guttural reaction; page one left me quivering.

Joking.
Not.

Sort of like author photos. Ever meet some of these people in the flesh? Geez.

Along with the tidal wave of self-published eBook authors, there has been a swell of self-anointed book reviewers. All you have to do is have a web site. I pretty much view the efficacy of both the same way.

If a reviewer has advertising, sponsorship, whatever you want to call it-money coming in from authors, publicists, publishers, whatever, their objectivity is called into question even further. It's not wrong; we all need ka-ching. But you also open yourself up to having your reviews questioned on other grounds. Sort of like authors are open to criticism because they are selling their writing.

On the flip side, reviewers should not get upset about authors who take offense at their reviews and write something about it. After all, the response is the subjective opinion of the author to your writing. Sort of like, hmm, a review.

Don't read them.

_--- edited... no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar forum. please read our Forum Decorum thread._


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## jhendereson (Oct 22, 2010)

Dang it, Bob! Everything you just written is exactly what I was going to say. Good job!


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Bob_Mayer said:


> If a reviewer has advertising, sponsorship, whatever you want to call it-money coming in from authors, publicists, publishers, whatever, their objectivity is called into question even further.


I honestly don't get this viewpoint. Almost all publications that write reviews sell ads. They canNOT shill to the publishers / developers, though, or they'll lose their readership, and then their ads are worthless. If you pick up a copy of PC Gamer, for instance, about 1/4 of the magazine is reviews, 1/4 previews, 1/4 articles about gaming and the remaining quarter is... ads. They aren't shy about panning a sucky game, though - they can't be. Any periodical or web site that features reviews HAS to have readers, and in order to retain readers, you MUST be honest with your reviews. Once you lose your readers, you lose everything else.


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## Guest (Feb 21, 2011)

Bob_Mayer said:


> A review is the subjective opinion of the person doing the review. As a writer, we understand point of view. A review is the point of view of the reviewer. Thus, unless you know the reviewer and respect their point of view, their review should mean little to you.
> 
> If you read your reviews hoping they will be good and give you validation, you might want to get another job. Firemen get pretty good validation when they save someone's life or house or get a kitty out of a tree. Being an author is not a job for people who need validation. One thing I like about publishing on Kindle, PubIt, iBookstore, etc. is that I can check actual sales data at any moment. Ka-ching-just sold a copy of Atlantis on PubIt since starting this post, ie in the last minute. That's validation because it allows me to keep writing, which I love.


Lots of good thoughts here, Bob, but it seems to me your argument rests under the assumption that reviews have no impact on sales. I'm sure the validity/vanity end is big for a lot of people, but the eventual or continued success of a book has a lot to do with the reviews it gets. I'd get a much better ka-ching moment out of learning of a satisfied reader than just from a sale. Isn't that what lets us know we did a good job?

Reviewers are a representative sample, though it's those who are vocal who have the most sway.


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## tsrapp (Jan 3, 2011)

bashfulreader said:


> I must confess that I probably look like one of those questionable Amazon reviewers, because I usually only take the time to review something there if it made a big impact on me. I've reviewed maybe half a dozen books, either because I really loved them, really hated them, or once or twice because something didn't have very many reviews, so I thought it might be helpful to add one.


I'm the same way. That, and if I don't really like something, I don't take the time to finish reading it, let alone review it. So all of mine are 4 or 5 star reviews.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

tsrapp said:


> "I must confess that I probably look like one of those questionable Amazon reviewers, because I usually only take the time to review something there if it made a big impact on me. I've reviewed maybe half a dozen books, either because I really loved them, really hated them, or once or twice because something didn't have very many reviews, so I thought it might be helpful to add one."
> 
> "I'm the same way. That, and if I don't really like something, I don't take the time to finish reading it, let alone review it. So all of mine are 4 or 5 star reviews.


Exactly. I've started a few 3 star or less (imo) books, but I don't know how many I've finished. I mean, if it's a mediocre movie, you can fall asleep on the couch "watching" it, and no harm done. But books take hours of concentration. And there are too many excellent ones out there. My wife will read any book she starts all the way through, whether she likes it or not. I think that's kind of crazy. A good kind of crazy, I guess, but still. For me, if I'm moved enough to review a book on it's Amazon page, it's a damn good book.


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## Shelia A. Huggins (Jan 20, 2011)

Amazon reviews...you don't know. I check out the samples. I can only think of two books that I started reading and did not finish. Note, though, that there were several others that I started and kept thinking...surely, this will get better. I even gave one author another chance. His second book still didn't work for me. This is not to say that they were bad books. They just weren't for me.


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