Sunday, March 17, 2013

That's What Chey Said: How Low Ratings Help


As bloggers, sometimes it is extremely difficult to write a review for a book you didn't enjoy.  Of course, everyone is different, but for the most part, we don’t want to hurt the feelings others, especially authors we admire.  I've come to realize that a lot of times, low ratings can help just as much as high ones do.


I’m not talking about the people who go into a book looking for something to bash it for, or the snarky comments made to draw attention.  There are some one star reviews that truly help other readers and yes, even the authors.  The helpful reviews are filled with constructive criticism.  Often, many people find lower ratings more useful than higher ones when deciding on which book to buy.  In these reviews, you should find both good and bad qualities of the book and an explanation of why that reader didn't enjoy it as much as they thought they would. 

That being said, I’m tired of reading about authors who attack bloggers for sharing their honest opinions.  We hear about it far too often, and while I understand that it’s hard not to take those judgments of your book personally, I think that the true professionals handle the tough critics and rude comments with politeness and grace, not resorting to verbal attacks or threats over social media sites.  Half the time, we find that the reviewer was simply being honest, and honesty is always the best policy, no matter how amazing, mediocre, or simply awful the book was.

Do you look at lower rated reviews when trying to decide on a book to buy/read next?

24 comments:

  1. I totally agree! Whenever I write low-rated reviews, I always give constructive criticism and keep the snark down to a minimum. We're reading the books to give our honest opinion, yet the authors only want to hear good things. There's always improvement to be made, and as authors they should know that. But I also think that reviews that just bash the book the whole time with nothing constructive to say aren't right either.

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    1. Definitely! I only give low ratings when I really didn't feel a connection to the book, but I often find good things about the story to balance out the bad. It upsets me when people read books knowing that they won't enjoy it, just to tear it apart. What's the point? Some people do it for the attention I guess.

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  2. I try to keep the snark down to a minimum but it still slips by sometimes. I actually have a harder time writing reviews of 5 star books than the lower ones, cause I just simply liked everything about the book and just don't know how to strip it down. But those are actually very few and far apart.

    And yes I actually do scroll most of the reviews till I find a low rating one that explains their views, they are usually the most honest ones.

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    1. See, I have no problem sharing all of the things I loved about a book. What I find most difficult is giving a lower rating to an author I've either worked with and loved in the past or someone I've already bonded with based on their personality. I try to read a mixture of reviews myself, just to get an idea of what I'll be diving into.

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  3. +JMJ+

    I rely greatly on low-rated reviews. People tend to go into more detail when explaining why they didn't like a book. And just as often as I decide not to read a book because I share a deal-breaker with a reviewer, I decide to try a book because what the reviewer couldn't stand is actually something I really love!

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    1. Very interesting how so many of us rely on the lower ratings more than the higher ones! I love comparing my thoughts to someone else's because they often differ, so it's really difficult for me to know if I'll like the book or not unless I try it.

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  4. I agree. Ratings are always based on personal taste. I always like to see why they gave the book such a low rating and sometimes they hated aspects I actually like. It's a great way to find out more about a book :) As an author, you should keep in mind that there are ALWAYS people who are going to dislike your book. That's just the way it is going to be, so you have to learn to deal with it. As long as someone is honest and respectful, there is no need to attack them.

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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    1. I've definitely seen my share of rude reviews, though, so I can understand why the author can take it personally. Still, it looks unprofessional no matter what and I hope some will learn from the mistakes of others.

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  5. I do look at the lower reviews when deciding whether or not to read a book but, honestly I don't rely completely on reviews to decide whether or not I want to read a book because everybody's taste is different. I do agree with Enbrethilel's comment above that sometimes people who do a lower rated book tend to put lots of details of why they didn't like the book in their review.

    Kristin @ Young Adult Book Haven

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    1. Honestly, most times I just go into a book without knowing much about it other than the summary. If it sounds interesting to me, I'll go for it and look at reviews once I'm finished to compare thoughts.

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  6. I am a middle school librarian, and I am actually planning to do a book talk of all the books we have in our library that I read and could not stand. My theory is that the kids will flock to them just to see if they agree with me. We'll see how it goes...

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  7. I look right at the low rated reviews first when deciding what to read. I felt like I was the only one who did this! I read the high ones too but mostly ones that bloggers post. I don't trust the public too much. Sorry, I just don't.

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    1. I know what you mean. I've come to know which bloggers have a similar taste in books as me, so I tend to rely on their reviews more than others.

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  8. I don't trust books without any 1 or at least 2 star reviews when I'm shopping on Amazon. Sometimes I joke around about bad reviews I've received, but only on my FaceBook page and only when the reviewer was being outrageously nasty. I never mention who they are or link to them.

    Twice now I've had an author ask me to down vote her bad reviews. I think it's completely unprofessional of her to ask. I'm not even going to answer her email.

    Readers have every right to rate a book however they chose. Besides, if someone is being out and out nasty people will notice without the writer having to spell it out.

    I liked my writing professors' advice to reviewing a writer's work: Start out with something you liked then ease into what didn't work for you. (Which might be just about everything if you really didn't enjoy the piece.) Refer to the book, not the author so they don't feel attacked. End on a positive note.

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    1. No worries, Nikki, I understand that there are some readers who don't always take reviewing very seriously, especially when reviewing books for indie authors. I've heard of various authors asking their friends to down vote on lower reviews and I think that's definitely going too far. Also, that advice is perfect, and I think all bloggers should go by that. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  9. I've seen a couple of authors have a go at people who gave their books low star ratings but like you said . . . it's all about honest opinions and that's all that should matter because not everyone is going to love every single book out there.

    I mean, one time I gave a two star rating to a book and a particular author posted it on her blog and actually PRAISED me for my honest opinion whereas others . . . thought otherwise. They thought the author was being smug or something. Still, it's all about honest opinions here and most days I go by book ratings before I buy an actual book so low star ratings mean a lot to me. They give me some warning about a book and have saved me countless of times with buying books that didn't turn out well for me when I only borrowed them at the library.

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    1. That's wonderful that author praised you for giving your honest opinion! We definitely need more people who are willing to do that, because I think some bloggers are afraid of sharing what they truly feel!

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    2. Honestly, Chey, I'm afraid to share what I really feel when I don't like a book. I've heard horror stories of authors turning on other authors who didn't love their work and going out of their way to rate all their books 1-star at Goodreads even though they didn't read them. It's messed up.

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  10. I actually think it's kind of tragic when an author bashes someone for posting a bad review of their book. I mean come on, if you can't take criticism, then why did you get published? And what did you expect? that everyone would like it? That to me is complete lack of sense of reality, and something that would make me think twice before i read something from that particular author.
    Even if someone goes out and trash-talk the author's work, i'm still going to go with "what did you expect?". It's something that you have published in thousands of copies that thousands are going to read, and you don't think even one of them are going to be mean about it? Again, serious lack of sense of reality. Sure, it's not a nice thing for people to do, but .. There's not much you can do about it, and when you whine about it as an author it just doesn't make you look good either.
    I mean, the author must have put some sort of thought into something like that before being published, and i really think it should be handled with more grace.

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  11. I find that my reviews for lower ratings tend to be longer, because I feel like I go out of my way to describe why I didn't like it, what didn't work for me, etc. Saying "I didn't like it, it sucked" isn't helpful; we all know that. But taking the time to explain why does help, I think.

    I know some blogs only post positive reviews, but for me, if a blogger posts all 5 star reviews, it's not a blog I keep reading, because I know our tastes don't line up.

    There have been a few times I've been on a blog tour, and didn't like the book as much as I thought I would. If I am going to low rate a book I've received for a promotion like that, I email the blog tour host and change what I'm doing for a post.

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  12. I agree! I really appreciate two star reviews in particular because most often they're the reviews that someone takes the time to recognize what they did like or the merits of the plot/characters/writing etc. but take the time to explain why they still didn't like the book or that the flaws outweighed the positives.

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  13. Well said!! You are SO right, low ratings should be a mix of what you liked & what you didn't & the best ones are helpful for readers & authors alike! Just because I see a low rating from a trusted blogger doesn't mean I won't read the book. Maybe what they didn't like will turn out to be a HUGE selling point for me (this has happened!) Sure they are those who will go into books looking to bash it for whatever reason but it does suck that now authors are starting to bash bloggers for not liking their book or cover or whatever. Anyways, again - great discussion Chey!

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  14. I completely agree! I honestly don't care about how my review will be taken by the author or publisher. As long as I am respectful and write my review in a way that explains exactly what I didn't enjoy in the book without bashing any authors, then I am ok. I actually recently wrote a 1 star review and had to email it to the publisher since it is a review book & the publicist was very sweet and said that maybe this book isn't for me but if I ever want to read another book from the publisher to not hesitate and contact her.

    Those authors that take it personally and bash at a blogger who wrote a very fair review are in the wrong.

    great post!
    - Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

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