As always, I perused the book section. These days, I'm reading on my Kindle pretty much exclusively. I do most of my reading in the dark you see, while nursing the baby or right before bed under the covers like a kid so as not to wake up Mr. Sierra. So I took pictures with my phone of the books I was interested in at Costco and later when I got home, I went and checked them out on Amazon with the view of downloading them to my Kindle.
I don't know what came over me.
I clicked on the 1-star reviews for all four books and read them. And even though the 1-star reviews were poisonous and mostly ridiculous ("this author knows nothing about plot!" -- right, and who are you?), they started to affect my buying decision.
This was bad.
Few people write perfect books, but for the most part, books are good. I went through all four books thinking, wow, each one looked good at the store, but now they're terrible! With the exception of one that had universal reviews on its poor ending, I knew this couldn't be true. So I went and read all the 5 and 4 star reviews.
It didn't help.
The poison had set in and was gnawing away at me. I fought valiantly in my usual defiant way--I vowed to purchase the books anyway and read them, just to spite the hard-hearted 1-star reviewers (with the exception of the one with the shite ending). And I will do it, too.
But I understood truly the negative effect those awful reviews have. I always have a hard time trusting people whose credentials haven't been verified--for example, one of them complained, "The plot, what I could get of it once I trudged past lots of descriptive details, could be gook [sic].. but overall I felt the book was mostly filler." I assume "gook" means "good" here, because if not, that's not only a mean review but a really rude one.
Another complaint went, "The plot is boring and the characters are shallow." These two comments are ridiculous and I question the reviewer's capacity to understand what plot and story is. Have they studied plot? If they had, they probably would have made a more constructive comment like "The plot meandered in the middle and sagged"-- that kind of thing.
So these are obviously silly (including the wonderfully stupid one I found saying "I can't believe someone can write worst [sic] than Stephenie [sic] Meyer."). But yet, their poison seeded.
I knew then that my future self will never, ever read the bad reviews. They are heinous. And yet, the temptation to read them must be insanely strong. You must not! They will bring only pain and tears and massive chocolate requirements that no one will be able to fulfill unless they wheel you into a chocolate factory and let set up camp there for two weeks. And even then! You will have to discover a magic spell that turns everyone and everything into chocolate so you can eat it all!
And as for me, I will resist reading the bad reviews for books I want to buy, because I don't think I can actually trust them. And anyway, a bad book isn't a bad read--it's an educational read.
There's a postscript to this. After I read all the 1-star reviews for books I wanted to buy, I checked all my published friends' books and read their 1-star reviews--or whatever came closest to them (I have friends who don't have a lot of 1-star reviews!!). And I read with outrage and righteous indignation (a specialty of mine), and then realized how stupid those reviews are.
Don't read them.
What about you? Do you read these little missives of crap? If published, have you read yours or have you managed to stay away from them?
16 comments:
Unfortunately, I have read my one-star reviews and went spiraling into a vat of chocolate and outrage. One reviewer compared my writing to Mary Balogh, which, I write nothing like Mary Balogh, so why the comparison. Duh? I've learned to take all reviews with a grain of salt. And for other writers, I don't read reviews before I buy, I just buy because I found, like you, it would affect my buying and even my reading experience.
I will gloss over them when I want to buy a book, but I don't read them too closely because usually that person is a bit extreme or the things they point out I know wouldn't bother me. Now the three star reviews, I usually look at more closely. :)
I purchase or not purchase based heavily on reviews. but not the 1 or 2 star ones. I go right to the 3 star ones. If I see an overriding theme I might hold off purchasing. But it depends on what they're all saying. sometimes I've bought books based on the 3 star ones b/c what someone didn't like - I knew I'd love!
I never read reviews before buying fiction. I read the first chapter of the book instead. If it grabs me, I buy the book. It's a far faster method than wading through reviews and deciding on their validity.
Non-fiction reviews are more helpful, but I use a couple of basic guidelines:
I ignore any review that's full of spelling, typing, or grammatical errors. If the reviewer takes a slapdash approach to those details, their opinion on a book is likely formed with equally slapdash reasoning. Harsh but true.
I also give less weight to reviews that don't itemize why the reviewer liked/disliked the book. If they can't articulate their reasons, chances are their opinion isn't worth much.
Thanks for all your comments--and I'm so interested that Jennifer and Laura concentrate on the 3 star reviews.
Also, I apologize for the amount of blathering this post had. Can someone say "overwritten"?
I think I shall have to take your advice, since I sort of already have that kind of chocolate obsession... *grins* No need to make it worse!
I have the feeling that when I'm published I will probably look at some of my low reviews, and then eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's icce cream...
I think concentrating on teh 3 stars reviews makes sense. That's where I often feel my rating would go (unless I truely loved a book) and you can bet those people are more likely to be the ones who itemize out what they liked and didn't.
I like your idea of taking pictures and then finding the e-book version. I'm still getting used to my Kindle though and figuring out how to translate my ability to flip to the section I want in a paper book... If only people would use chapter titles instead of number! That would make it easier I think. :}
I did have to stop reading the negative reviews after the first few weeks after my debut. I could have ten 4 and 5 star reviews, and that one crappy one would ruin my day. All that bull about developing thick skin? Yeah, screw it, I'm all for avoidance.
But I agree with those above who mentioned the 3 star reviews. As a reader, I look at reviews in the 3-4 star range, sometimes the twos. One stars are almost always too extreme and don't provide helpful information because the person is hung up on one point or the other.
When I read a review, I'm looking for what the person liked and didn't like regardless of the stars to help me make my decision. For instance, if someone says, I couldn't stand this book because the heroine was whiny - well, I'll pause because I don't like a whiny heroine either. But if someones says, "This hero was way too broody and tortured." Then that actually may make me buy it because I love a broody hero.
I always picture the people who wrote the book being crushed by the dread 1 star review. Reviews are just a person's opinion and we know what they say about opinions. I read them but then I look at how they apply to my tastes. For instance if they say it was too violent (do I like violence in my reads?) or too sexy (do I like sex in my reads?) etc. I have read many a GREAT book that has gotten 1 stars, so go with your gut I say :)
It's totally within your rights as a reader and an author never to read reviews, or to restrict your reading to ones with certain stars. Of course!
However... I find your dismissal of all one-star reviews based on a few bad ones to be calloused. You ask "Have they studied plot?" but I fail to see how that is relevant. Reviews are a reader's domain. Readers are not expected to study plot - that's our job!
When she says "the plot is boring", I know very well what she means: she was bored. When she says "the characters are shallow", she means the characters didn't have depth. I don't need her to put it into formal terminology or to make it "constructive". She is not the critique partner or even the editor. She is a reader - a consumer - and she was not pleased.
And while you denounce 1-star reviews for being written by people without "credentials", it seems that 5-star reviews have escaped your displeasure. But they have no requirements either. I have read plenty of 4 and 5 star the same types of grammar and word choice mistakes you pointed out to us.
I spend a lot of money on books, but I don't want an "educational" experience. I want a good book. I suspect most readers want the same, although this is subjective.
Reviews are for people who want to share their reading experience (in both the writing of them and the reading of them). If you don't want to participate, you don't have to, but I admit I'm offended by the thinly veiled insults. Well, if you're calling it "stupid", is it really thinly veiled?
I will say that since you've called the reviews stupid, you've definitely given reviewers license to call the books stupid. And don't say they started it, because we are (supposed to be) the professionals here.
And in case it matters, yes, I've received PLENTY of scathing reviews (I write dark erotica, so it comes with the territory) I do not care what those readers' credentials are or think that their reviews are stupid, and I would encourage all my readers to write honest reviews for my books.
Thanks for your comment, Skye. This is a good example of the other side of the story, so to speak.
I think what disturbed me most about the 1 star reviews is that the reviewers seemed to dismiss the books vehemently--and I didn't understand why. I got that they didn't like the book, and that's fine--it is, as you pointed out, their right and opinion. And fair do's-- the 5 star reviews can be the same in the opposite direction--an easy willingness to accept the book as flawless. (I generally ignore the 5 star reviews too, or a better way to say that is that 5 star reviews do not influence my buying decisions. I have come to see from the comments on this post why the 3 star ones are more valuable. Only thing though is that the 5 star reviews aren't mean.)
I went and checked a 1-star review for one of your books (Keep Me Safe) and I was really bummed by the review. I haven't read the book, but I just really have a hard time believing what the review said. Yes, maybe the reader really didn't like the book and that's fine, but when the reviewer specifically gives critiques *without examples*, then I can't give any credit to the points they make in defense of their poor review. The way that particular 1 star review is written, in fact, makes me really wonder what the reader wanted, because they point out a bunch of structural and mechanical elements. And quite frankly, I didn't believe the reviewer when they said things about the writing and the characters. I found the review flawed (as I would a glowing 5 star review without any examples of why they liked the book), and I found it mean. And yet, it influences buying decisions. For an author, surely it stinks to have to read that and go, well, you didn't TRY to do any of that, and others say the opposite, so what exactly WAS wrong with the book?
I love reading all the reviews of any book I am thinking of purchasing. If you read with a skeptical eye(and the proverbial pinch of salt) you'll find the best judge of reviews is the 3-4 mark. Five stars are fans with starry-eyed opinions. Ones and twos may have a good point, but for some reason the book did not grab them. Maybe they don't like flashbacks/inner dialogue/letters and diaries to convey info/whatever. However,I think when the ones and twos outweigh the others, then the book is awful. Melville House publishers just posted a great article on plagiarism on Amazon. The book they cited was "I Am the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (I kid you not) by Karen Peebles. She has LOADS of books on Amazon, and most of them have one star reviews. Uh Oh! Reader alert. Here is a good example of the benefits of reading those lower rated reviews from readers who loved the original book and were lured into buying a pale, poorly written copy. I review for an accredited book review site. Occasionally I have had to contact the site to say a book is so badly written I can only give it a one or a two. It breaks my heart. Strangely, I find the story line is usually good, but the writer is like a five-year old let loose in the kitchen, trying to bake a cake. I have also given five stars for a flawed book that had a wonderful story and just swept me along. It's all about opinion. I love Alistair McCall Smith's The Number One Lady Detective Agency series (wonderful books and made into a BBC series). I read a scathing review which I disagreed with strongly. At the end of the review (a newspaper book section) the reviewer said he did not know why he had been asked to review this kind of book because he hated the genre. 'Nuff said. It's all about taste. For anyone who has ever received a one or a two star rating, please look at some of the top sellers such Twilight series. One hilarious review (2-star) began with "The whining starts on page one." (Talking about Bella)The film and book series has made the author gazillions! Be philosophical...
I stopped reading reviews once I saw glowing five star review of terrible, awful, badly written books. My eyes about fell out of my head. Now I read the sample and if that doesn't get me, the rest of the book won't either.
I actually usually wait to read them until after I have read the book, when I am in that "wishing I was still reading the book" glow. The exception being self-published books, which I usually just look to see the ratio of good to terrible reviews before I decide whether to impulse buy or not. If there are WAY more 1 star reviews than 4 and 5s, I will skip the download, EVEN if the book is free. But if there are only a handful, I won't even bother reading them. And I usually prefer to read the 2-3-4 star reviews over the 1s or 5s, generally, anyway, because I feel like those are the people who are going to be more reasonable in their discussion. I kind of mistrust glowing 5 star reviews just as much as I do the horrible 1 stars. Even books I really love I can't usually validate giving 5 stars to -- I guess I'm just one of those impossible to please people ha.
I look at some reviews just to see what people are saying about the book in general. I also prefer to read the first chapter or an excerpt to see if it's interesting to me. I really dislike 1 star reviews that are rude & insulting to the author.
Life's too short to read bad books. By 'bad' I mean a book you won't get anything out of, except frustration. I agree that 1 star reviews tend to be pretty awful but they don't make me spiral into a chocolate-stuffing-spree. They have a use - they tell you what type of book it is and in this way can inspire me to read a book more than a 5 star review because I don't trust those (few books are perfect). Say, for example, the 1 star reviewer complains of a boring plot or not much happening or immoral characters - all of these things tell me it's a book I'm likely to enjoy, so I'm then more likely to read that book.
I read 1 star reviews after I have read a book that I fell in love with. This is because I have a tendency to not come up with any constructive criticism and when I genuinely enjoyed the story I want to help the author. The 1-star reviews are often silly, but they usually point me in a direction to say something helpful to either improvement or overturning the 1-star. (aka, OMG THE CHARACTERS WERE SO SHALLOW!! turns into "It's true, the characters can be mistaken for shallow, but that's mostly because they fit their niche")
I still don't know what I'm going to do when my books come out. >.> My husband will have to restrain my curious, outraged mind.
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