Amazon Reviews, Stars, and When do you start trusting a book's rating?
A new book by a new author pops-up on Amazon. Rated: * * * * * Total ratings: ten. Okay, so the author's Mom, his wife, and his drinking buddies all think his latest work is shear, unadulterated genius. That's to be expected and perfectly understandable, right? Nothing really wrong with that. It's... kind of a given that a certain impartiality just isn't present in those first few reviews.
So... How many Amazon reviews are necessary before you think a true average rating is achieved? 20? 50? 100?
I personally take with a very small grain of salt any rating with less than, say 25 ratings, and I totally discount any reviews - as well as ratings, blurbs, etc. - by other authors. Quid pro quo is S.O.P. in the land of authorship - "You review mine, and I'll review yours." The mutual "Let's give each other 5-stars" is unstated but implicit, particularly in new writers trying to make a name for themselves.
At what point do you trust a rating? Do you look at them at all? Thoughts?
edit: I'm not calling *anyone* out; I just got to thinking about this in general.
This is why we can't have nice things.
i would say goodreads is better, but i read one of the worst graphic novels ive ever seen a couple weeks ago, and it had a solid four... so its probably just as full of fanboys as amazon.
www.triplebeard.com
http://darkroomreview.blogspot.com
“...There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one's head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people's pain. You ought to have some apprehension that the man you see before you was once even younger than you are now and arrived at his present wretchedness by imperceptible degrees.”
-James Baldwin
The thing is, so many complete idiots review stuff on there it messes it up. People buy something and expect it to be one thing (the thing they like) and when it turns out to be different they give it a one star review like, "This was violent and had too much swearing. Stopped reading halfway through."
Sometimes I look at reviews for books I like and I can't believe the way some people interpreted them. Sometimes their opinions are so shit that they are simply invalid, they get everything wrong! I remember someone talking about this David Sedaris short story in his Christmas book and their review was 1 star and, "David Sedaris thinks it's funny to kill babies. This is so VILE and DISGUSTING! I was really upset and won't be wasting my time again." i mean, ugh!
I will look at reviews but I'll read a selection of the best and worst reviews, the way someone writes and discusses their opinion of the book can sway me to buy or not.
I'm very apprehensive to buy anything that has all 5 star reviews and will check the publisher out because if it's self published it's even more likely to just be friends and other self published authors reviewing for reviews. Perhaps this is unfair, I would still buy a book with all 5 star reviews if it sounded good enough and the reviews were intelligent.
Really though, so many morons rush to review things and slam them and so often I can tell they aren't worth listening to.
It doesn't seem like there's an option to review a book prior to its release unless the reviewer is a member of Amazon's Vine program, which is basically a program where the members receive free advanced copies so they can review things early, although the advanced copies may be limited to books published by the big traditional NYC publishers rather than small press books. I think Vine program members can also receive advanced products that aren't only books.
Also, Amazon often deletes reviews when it's obvious the reviewer hasn't read the book. I think that happens after a bunch of people click the "report abuse" button.
I generally don't pay any attention to reviews of books or music on Amazon. If I'm looking for reccommendations I will usually seek the opinions of those people that I know to have good taste. Which is why I like Goodreads, because I can see what my friends are reading and how they are rating things. Amazon is a crapshoot.
I completely agree with this. Goodreads definitely seems to be more accurate. The reviews are more in-depth. Unlike Amazon, I think the Goodreads community takes things a little bit more seriously.
I definitely prefer Goodreads as well when it comes to reviews, but it seems like people are more likely to write reviews that are less expansive on it. Although a lot of people also write long, detailed reviews that you don't usually see on Amazon. As for myself, I'm ok with just writing a short sentence or two while the idea of doing that on Amazon seems kind of weird. It may have something to do with how people are able to buy books directly through the Amazon pages while you can't buy a book through Goodreads.
Goodreads rocks because I'm looking at a tight cluster of reviews from my own circle of friends and acquaintances, who tend to be highly literate people. There is some overlap in tastes and preferences, of course, but even more importantly, my circle shows an effort to be conscientious in writing a review and the capacity for a mindful approach. The selectivity makes it.
Amazon's reviewing, as noted, is too wide open to quid pro quo fluff reviews on the one hand and ignorant hatchet jobs on the other. When you've got time, you can scan for substantial and thoughtful reviews on Amazon and find them, for sure, but the collective ratings are too full of noise to be meaningful.
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I'm after downloading the Goodreads app and comparing one book on there with the same on Amazon and the difference in results is staggering.
It's not that I don't agree with everyone in general, but I kind of like Some amazon reviews. It's one of the few places where I find reviews from people who can cut through the bullshit, and who aren't afraid to call it like they see it.
Not saying it's perfect there -not by any means -and it definitely shouldn't be your primary source for reviews, but if you know what's what there, you can weed through the crap and get some good general info. about whatever book you're checking out. Just from a common reading perspective. For example, even that "This is so vile and disgusting" review helps me see that the author isn't one to hold back, or that the book leaves an impact and might be worth my time. Shit like that. Sometimes I like to get right to it.
Visit me at Solarcide—A Writer’s Hideout: http://solarcide.com/fiction/nathan-pettigrew/
I don't think I've ever looked at a rating or review before I've bought a book. Maybe, years later, I'll look at them for a laugh, and see what people did have to say about them.
I get my books at about a 50/50 rate, from someone on here on in real life that I respect, saying they liked a book. Or myself looking at a synopsis and thinking that sounds interesting enough.
So far it works, I've never read a book terrible enough to not bother finishing and I'm ass deep in books still to be read.
Amazon ratings are bullshit.
A week before the new Dan Brown book came out there were already 20 ratings for it. I thought they might have gotten their hands on an early copy but nope, people were rating it before they had it read. Fans were giving it 5 stars and everyone else 1.
I don't think I've ever been blown away by a book that recorded all impeccable ratings.
Brb gonna check and see what my favourite book of all time got. Leaving Las Vegas.