# Anyone use Reviews in selecting books?



## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Anyone read the Reviews when selecting a books to purchase?

How about the value of a review? Do you follow reviewers, blogger reviews or even Kirkus reviews?

thanx


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Yes, I check reviews. PW, Kirkus etc. can be off target but I'm still interested in what they have to say. Reader reviews matter too, but also have to be taken with a grain of salt, both positive and negative. The most valauable reviews IMHO come from friends I respect who praise a colleague or his/her work.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

I'm curious about Kirkus. 

There was a post not long ago that had web stats and the Kirkus site was quite high.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

I don't read Kirkus and haven't since they started doing "paid for" reviews.  PW now does some paid reviews, so I find them less valuable (whether they are less valuable or not, I perceive them as less valuable.)  

Most readers have no idea that these organizations started doing paid for reviews.  My librarians are aware of it and value/use Libraray Journal pretty highly because they don't do paid reviews (yet??)

I find the reviews on GR pretty good and some on Amazon (but I do check to see if the reviewer has done more than a single review and also if they only review books or have a few other things on there.)    I do follow several reviews mainly through twitter and goodreads.


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## Eliza Baum (Jul 16, 2011)

Unless a book has been highly recommended by someone whose opinion I trust, I _always_ read the reviews (mostly goodreads and amazon). I'm especially fond of detailed 3-star and below reviews, because they tend to point out a book's faults and then allow me to decide if those things would annoy me, too, or if they wouldn't faze me.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Yep. I use reviews on most books.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I had never even heard of Kirkus until this board recently. I prefer reviews by "real" readers over sites like that. And also a small selected group of respected reviewers/blob/sites. Usually they are in my preferred genre. 

But I always take a normal non writer, non review site review, at higher value. If a review reads like a newspaper article or a book report, I just can't relate as much. 

Sometimes a short, misspelled review tells me more about a passion than a long super perfect report. Just me probably. 

First though are always other readers of my preferred genre. Their opinion means most. Goodreads is great for that as I can follow people and compare the star ratings to mine and see their reviews, comments etc. 

Recently I have found most books through Goodreads.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

I don't necessarily use reviews to pick books, but I will occasionally use them to unpick a book.  Usually a book draws me in through its genre, title, cover, and blurb.  Those are what really make the sale for me.

If there are reader reviews, I'm mostly looking for a high percentage of negatives.  If there are, I'll check them out to see if they're well written and making what seem like valid points.  If so, that could turn me off.  If they're just angry rants or poorly thought out ("this book sucks" and thats it), then they won't really factor in.


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## thwaters (Dec 12, 2011)

Oh yeah... I'm definitely influenced by reviews when selecting books, but not always.  I have many different ways of selecting books (Goodreads friend recommendations, follow book blogs, books friends have given me, relationship to the author, specific topics of interest, heard/read author interview, browse book stores and book fairs).  If it's a book that I've never heard of, yet the topic interests me, I'll track down the reviews on Goodreads/Amazon and look at the overall score as well as read the description in detail.  One nice thing about reviews is that they also reveal more information about the book than the description does and that may influence my decision as well.  The main way in which reviews influence me is this:  If they are thoroughly thought out and well written (both positive points & negative), then I will embrace them.  If they point out perceived "flaws" in the book that smack of pettiness, I disregard them.  Overall, I feel reviews are a valuable tool.


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## Guest (Feb 25, 2012)

I do not buy books without reading reviews with the exception of Terry Pratchett, Elizabeth Moon, Julia Quinn, and maybe half a dozen others.


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## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

I definitely look at the customer reviews when deciding whether to read a book by an unknown author, but the final clincher for me is the blurb and the "Look inside" feature, which I always check out first on Amazon. I don't usually read Kirkus, PW, etc. unless the review is already provided on the Amazon page. If the book received a starred review from Kirkus, that might sway my opinion of it, but it's not a deciding factor or anything.

Gushing reviews (or ranting ones) usually don't sway me one way or the other. I like reading reviews that dissect the book's strengths and weaknesses in a fair, non-snarky manner, and I really like reviews that recommend what type of reader will enjoy the book ("You may like this book if you enjoyed _____, since they are both _______). Those are the most helpful to me personally.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I read Amazon and Goodreads reviews - though I am cautious of Amazon reviews because of shills. When I am suspicious of a review, I will click "see all my reviews" and sure enough, 9 times out of 10, it's either the only review the user has posted or the user has reviewed books from only that one author or publisher.


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

Rick Gualtieri said:


> I don't necessarily use reviews to pick books, but I will occasionally use them to unpick a book. Usually a book draws me in through its genre, title, cover, and blurb. Those are what really make the sale for me.
> 
> If there are reader reviews, I'm mostly looking for a high percentage of negatives. If there are, I'll check them out to see if they're well written and making what seem like valid points. If so, that could turn me off. If they're just angry rants or poorly thought out ("this book sucks" and thats it), then they won't really factor in.


This is my method also.

Mike


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I don't follow any review blogs, so the only reviews I see are the ones regular readers leave on Amazon. I'm usually more interested in the thoughts of ordinary people anyway than those of professional reviewers. I'm the same with movies, I rarely like what the critics like. As to how much they influence my buying choices it depends. There are some books I know right away I'm going to buy, so I don't read the reviews. But if I'm on the fence I may read a couple of the best and worst reviews and compare them to see which reviewer's tastes sound like the closest match to mine.


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## Katie Salidas (Mar 21, 2010)

I read the reviews on most of the books I buy. I don't pay attention to professional reviews, I like to see what a regular reader thinks of the story. I tend to look at the 2-4 star reviews to get the balanced view on the book. The 1 and 5 star reviews are either too positive or too negative. The "middle ground" tends to offer the most genuine view of a book. That can sway me toward purchasing a book or just sampling.


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## KathyLynnHarris (Feb 2, 2012)

I rely heavily on reader reviews to decide whether or not to buy a book. It's the same kind of thing as reading movie reviews before deciding to stream or go to a movie. There's some truth in consensus sometimes.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Katie Salidas said:


> I read the reviews on most of the books I buy. I don't pay attention to professional reviews, I like to see what a regular reader thinks of the story. I tend to look at the 2-4 star reviews to get the balanced view on the book. The 1 and 5 star reviews are either too positive or too negative. The "middle ground" tends to offer the most genuine view of a book. That can sway me toward purchasing a book or just sampling.


I find I tend to do the same. Lately I find I've been hitting the 1 and 2 star to read first. Not sure why I do that - but I tend to think I'm not alone


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

I pay very little attention to professional reviews and especially pay for reviews. I usually buy on Amazon so I will take a look at customer reviews to get a balance on what readers think and this can be dangerous. I tend to dismiss most 5 star and 1 star reviews for being too extreme yet I will quickly skim them. The 3 and 4 star reviews are more accurate usually.

If the 1 or 5 star review points out why they rated it so low/high and tells me why I might add more weight to that review. Usually these are the well written 1 star reviews that dissect the problems with the story. The ones that just trash/rave it I ignore. If you are going to give a 1 or 5 star the review should really describe why...not "best book I read this decade." 

More than reviews I think a sample is the best indicator of whether I should buy the book or not. If the sample doesn't interest me I can be pretty sure the book won't interest. Usually writers can write a good beginning, if they can't I am reasonably sure the middle and end will be lacking.


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## Anjasa (Feb 4, 2012)

I look up reviews on Goodreads or Amazon, and I look for reviews that tend to start with "I usually love this type of book, and this is how I feel about this one" or "I usually hate this type of book, but I loved this one"

Those tend to be the most helpful for me if I'm looking for something thematically. For instance, if I love Scifi/fantasy, I want to know how other people feel about scifi/fantasy before I learn what they think about the book. This adds much needed context for me in how I judge the book.

I then look for words such as 'connection' and 'emotion' and 'writing style' to find out if they felt that the book was able to draw them in, keep them interested, and written in a style that was pleasurable.

I don't like reviews that talk about the themes of the book and their thoughts on it (such as a book about a prostitute where the reviewer goes on overlong about how they feel prostitution should be legal / illegal / etc.), I don't like reviews that try to be too arty or talk too much about the reviews (reviews that start out with 'I haven't been reviewing a lot lately because my cat has been ill').

Talk to me about the things that are important to me when choosing a book.

That said, I don't pay much credit to 'official' reviews done by professional companies. If a blogger has a blog review site, and their past reviews have lined up with my interpretations of books I've read, then I'll give higher credit to their reviews. Mostly, though, I like getting a variety of inputs, which is where Goodreads and Amazon really comes in handy.


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## tmando (Jul 18, 2010)

Review are one of several items I consider along with author, cost, and genre. I look at bad reviews more than good though to make sure there isn't something I wouldn't like first(a lot of swearing). If it sounds interesting after that I usually download the sample before buying


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

jljarvis said:


> I look at reviews just to take a pulse of the overall reader reaction, but the "Look Inside" sample tells me what I really need to know.


Same here! I personally don't pay a ton of attention to reviews. I'll give them a quick look, but I mostly trust myself and my personal taste and go for the sample.


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## Sean Patrick Fox (Dec 3, 2011)

I don't follow any reviewers or review bloggers, but I will look at reviews on Amazon to get an idea of the general reception of the book I'm perusing. But, I don't usually let reviews sway me either way.


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## gemini dream (Feb 27, 2012)

I use reviews. Like many others here, I put more stock in personal recommendations from people whose opinions I trust than I put in reviews from strangers, but I do find the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads very useful, particularly when there is a fair amount of detail about why someone liked or disliked a particular book.


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## Stan R Mitchell (Feb 26, 2012)

If it's an author I don't know, I generally go by the rating and the ranking. Maybe scan the most recommended review, and as said above, will scan the most negative review. Usually by that point, I feel comfortable with my decision.


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## Borislava Borissova (Sep 9, 2011)

Sometimes I read reviews before to buy a book. More interesting is that I love reading them after I close the last page of a loving manuscript. It happens because I do not want to bid farewell to it. I would like to know how other people perceived the same story, characters which have found “home” in my soul and mind. I enjoy spending some extra time with them because the reviews appear as a kind of sequel


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## lea_owens (Dec 5, 2011)

I like to check out the reviews and I seem to have become methodical about it. First up, I see the range of reviews and, if there are any one star reviews, I look at those first to see if they have warranted criticism or if they just like a different type of book (I've seen a good romance get some one star reviews because the readers didn't realise there was a sex scene in it and another romance the same because a reader thought there should have been sex scenes in it). If they are well written one star reviews, indicating the reviewers are intelligent and literate, and they slam the poor writing style, bad grammar, shocking spelling, weak story line, etc. then I do really take note of them; if they just sound like someone who doesn't like the author taking the opportunity to stick the boot in, I ignore it/them. Then I look at the three star reviews... what did these people see as 'ordinary' about the book? Lastly, I look at some of the five star reviews. I'm fairly sceptical of a lot of reviews so, ultimately, my decision is based on the first few pages of the 'look inside' feature - if they are well written and pleasing to read, I'll often go with that and buy the book.


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## 4eyesbooks (Jan 9, 2012)

I always purchase books either recommended by someone or I read the reviews.  Same with movies, I listen to word of mouth and then I look at the reviews.  The reviews can certainly influence my decision.


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## AnitaBartholomew (Jun 27, 2011)

I always rely on reader reviews when selecting books, but I don't just go by the star ratings. First, I want to see what the reviewer says about the plot, the characters, the settings--something to show the reviewer really thought about the book (for that matter, to be sure the reader actually read the book and isn't the author's great aunt. Or in the case of a bad review, to be sure it isn't someone with a grudge against the author, which I've also seen).

I check the number of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 star ratings on a book that has numerous reviews. If it's mostly 4s and 5s but there's an outlier 1 or 2, I'll see what the low ratings are about. Often, the outlier bad reviews aren't about the plot, characters, or anything that matters to me. For example, I found one book where earlier readers had complained about formatting and given the book 1-star ratings because of that. Since later reviewers raved about the book, I assume the author fixed those. I downloaded the book and so far, formatting is fine. There ought to be a way to erase reviews that aren't about the book, itself.

Finally, I put more stock in reviews if the reviewer uses his or her real name. If he or she is hiding behind a pen name, I wonder what else he/she isn't telling us. And I check the reviewer's other reviews to see if he/she has the same taste as I do.

Anita


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## AnitaBartholomew (Jun 27, 2011)

KathyLynnHarris said:


> I rely heavily on reader reviews to decide whether or not to buy a book. It's the same kind of thing as reading movie reviews before deciding to stream or go to a movie. There's some truth in consensus sometimes.


I agree with this. When picking a movie, I always check Rotten Tomatoes. If the critics' consensus is higher than the ordinary viewer consensus, it usually means that I'll find the film overrated.

Anita


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## flipside (Dec 7, 2011)

I do read some reviews, but it's mostly word-of-mouth (which isn't necessarily a review) for me, whether it's praise for a book in a podcast, on Twitter, etc.


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

Always. Actually, for just about everything I buy I use reviews as a deciding factor. Doesn't mean I always buy the 5 star though. It really depends on what is being said. The reviews that carry the most weight for me are typically the 3 stars. Means they were middle of the road about the product and will tell both pros and cons.


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## Neil Ostroff (Mar 25, 2011)

As I said in another thread, read the first chapter (usually free) to decide a good book. Amazon reviews can be written by anyone, even friends.


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## WillCorcoran (Feb 28, 2012)

Definitely use reviews, but to varying degrees depending on the genre and where it is.  I love the Amazon Reviews.  Top Reviewers (at least if there are multiples with the same opinion) haven't steered me wrong.  (Watch, I'm going to eat my words for typing that!)


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## Paul Dennett (Feb 29, 2012)

I never read reviews and I wish they didn't exist.  

If someone knows of a way to hide them on my kindle I'd be grateful.  

If I'm at the movies and a trailer comes on for a movie I might want to see, I shut my eyes and cover my ears and hum.  I hate books with chapter headings too.  What's the point of having a chapter heading like 'Caught!' You're desperate for the characters to get free but you know that they won't!


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## mscottwriter (Nov 5, 2010)

I do read the reviews, but I'm more likely to read based on recommendations from GR groups.  Since I'm on GR a lot, I get to know other readers' tastes, and I can decide who likes similar books to me.

I also use the 'look inside' feature when deciding.


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

Something else has to catch my attention, but once I go to Amazon considering buying, reviews influence me - not so much any individual review as the overall average.

While generally I dislike reviews that summarize the plot, I've occasionally found them handy for traditionally published books where there is no description, just a bunch of review quotes or the like.


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

I read the Amazon reviews but take them with a grain of salt.  I also look at the distribution of ratings instead of just the overall rating.  I like the indie bookstores' reviews too.  I have found that the NYTimes Book Reviews are almost always something I don't enjoy reading.  I keep trying, but so far no luck there.


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## Ruth (Jan 7, 2012)

I read the reviews. If it's an author I'm familiar with sometimes I bypass it.  I find the reviews help, but I also like to make up my own mind.


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## Rebecca Burke (May 9, 2011)

I do read reviews: usually, they're how I find out about the books in the first place, e.g. from the NYT book review section. So many city newspapers have dropped book reviews that there aren't a lot of non-online places to find out about books anymore. Libraries are probably more important than ever for putting books in the hands of readers who aren't savvy about review publications. I used to write book reviews for our state newspaper, but that gig dried up with the consolidation of newspaper owners and subsequent streamlining of pages, focus on lifestyle issues, etc. Sad!!! 

I agree with the commenter who said she uses Rotten Tomatoes to figure out whether or not she'll like a given movie: if the average viewer likes a movie less than most pro reviewers, she tends to think it is probably overrated. It's the same with books. I want to gag at some of the hype found in the book reviews, and after years of reading them, I can usually read between the lines and guess how much I'd like something. I want a good, juicy read with great characters, pacy plot, wit, and some provocative ideas. Is that so hard?


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## Denise DeSio (Dec 9, 2011)

I read the bad reviews first to see if the reviewer sounds like an illiterate jerk. If they have spelling and grammar errors galore and/or don't provide a thoughtful reasons for not liking the book, I ignore them. I also ignore reviews that are only a couple of lines long. 

If the review is positive and so interesting that I want to read a book by the reviewer, I'm usually sold, especially if I like the cover.


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## Derek Clendening (Mar 1, 2012)

jackz4000 said:


> I pay very little attention to professional reviews and especially pay for reviews. I usually buy on Amazon so I will take a look at customer reviews to get a balance on what readers think and this can be dangerous. I tend to dismiss most 5 star and 1 star reviews for being too extreme yet I will quickly skim them. The 3 and 4 star reviews are more accurate usually.
> 
> If the 1 or 5 star review points out why they rated it so low/high and tells me why I might add more weight to that review. Usually these are the well written 1 star reviews that dissect the problems with the story. The ones that just trash/rave it I ignore. If you are going to give a 1 or 5 star the review should really describe why...not "best book I read this decade."
> 
> More than reviews I think a sample is the best indicator of whether I should buy the book or not. If the sample doesn't interest me I can be pretty sure the book won't interest. Usually writers can write a good beginning, if they can't I am reasonably sure the middle and end will be lacking.


That's a really good outlook, IMO.

I'm probably in the minority, but I seldom rely on reviews at all. I've occasionally been cautious about a book, but I download free samples or check the 'Look Inside' feature to make sure the writing is respectable.

I tend to know what I like by description. Really, a good description explaining exactly what the book is an the type of reader it will appeal to is the best thing a writer/publisher can do.


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## alan_annand (Mar 3, 2012)

Among other magazines, I'm an avid reader of THE ECONOMIST. Every three months they do a fiction review in their ARTS section, and I always pay close attention to their reviews. I love mysteries and thrillers (because that's what I write) so I take note of whatever they rate highly or recommend. Over the course of the year I build my list of "The Economist recommends" and then use it to select books for gifts at Christmas and on birthdays, because all of my immediate family and many of my best friends are avid readers.


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## alan_annand (Mar 3, 2012)

Reviews matter a lot to me, not for writers I already know, but to discover writers I don't know. My family are all omnivorous readers and I'm always looking for new authors to engage them. I use Twitter quite selectively, and only follow a maximum of 30 sources, eg, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, NY Review of Books, The Penguin Press, nytimesbooks, Publishing Talk, plus a few literary agents and a few writers, the sum output of which is a great source of new titles by new authors in the mystery/thriller genre which is what I also write.


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## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

history_lover said:


> When I am suspicious of a review, I will click "see all my reviews"


I do that too if I'm suspicious. 

I usually check Amazon reviews for new authors I want to try. For authors I know, I might check out reviews, just out of curiosity, but they don't really influence my buying decision.


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