Authors would sell their grandmothers for a review. Without reviews, no one will buy their books. In my experience, friends and family rarely post any. I don’t know what Amazon is so paranoid about. If you want to buy fake ones, you still can, but of course that’s cheating. Just in case, Amazon are now banning reviews from readers you spent months establishing relationships with, because they ‘know you.’ Don’t rely on beta readers either. Even the ordinary buyer/reader most likely won’t review your book.
But after months of relentless begging, you see the first signs of success. One by one a handful of reviews trickle in. Then, sooner or later, you receive your first three-star review. Oh no!
The toughest thing about writing? Accepting criticism.
It’s easy to criticize authors, isn’t it? Reviewers’ opinions go unchallenged. Worse, they are vital to an author’s career. Yet while authors spend years perfecting their craft, readers believe having an opinion gives them the necessary qualifications to assess an author’s work.
In a way that’s true. Reviews are meant to be subjective. This, after all, is the strength of the review system. Everyone is free to state their case, and new readers may decide for themselves.
Sadly, this lack of objectivity is also its weakness.
When did the seller’s delivery speed become a reason to downgrade a book’s rating? How about awarding one star for a not-yet-released novel because the reader didn’t enjoy the last book? Yes, many novels are rated poorly because of weird things. How about this one: “I wouldn’t call it a romance, so I’ve taken off some stars.”
Now imagine baking the perfect caramel slice. It’s moist, sweet, sticky, but not too sickly. Five people love it very much, and one even gave you, the baker, five stars. Now another buyer says it sucked, because they don’t like caramel. As a result, they give you two or three stars. The seller, on seeing this negative review, will no longer offer the slice to his other customers. Along comes another customer who would love a nice caramel slice, but unless he knows to ask for it, it won’t be offered to him.
But hang on. Those who’ve had the slice before and those who’ve never even heard of it can “like” the reviews, and these ‘likes’ will now decide whether the caramel slice reclaims its spot alongside the other cakes. Oh yes. By reviewing the reviews you can affect the caramel slice’s future.
This is what’s happening in the world of books.
And yes, too many readers still believe three stars means, ‘hey, the book was ok.’ Another example where some readers have power over an author’s career without the necessary education. Amazon treats three stars as a negative rating!
Before I became a writer, I never gave thought to these things, but now I’m now terrified of awarding books less than five stars. The reviews I still post are genuine. I just keep anything less than five stars to myself.
Sadly I can think of no alternative system. How can readers give their honest opinions without risking an author’s future? Perhaps we need to lose star ratings. Let readers read the full reviews, without offering them an unnecessary and inaccurate star count. Any other ideas?
What do you think?
