Readers, Authors, & Book Reviews
Wednesday Writing Weekly #96: Readers, Authors, and Book Review Ratings Discourse
On social media, I follow many authors from both traditionally published to indie authors. A couple of weeks ago a post caught my eye where an indie author was complaining that their book had just launched, and they were getting multiple three-star reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads. They were understandably frustrated at getting those reviews but at the same time they decided to say that all readers who read their books and any indie author books should wait to hold back reviews that are under four or five stars until a few weeks or up to a month after publication to not effect that book’s launch with potentially negative reviews.
If that post has already riled you up whether you are shouting for the readers’ rights or are feeling bad for the author... this is the article for you! I understand the author’s pain as a writer but as a reader, this is not the way to go about this.
Let's talk about readers, authors, and book review ratings.
The Challenges of Launching a New Book
After seeing the above complaints online and a plethora of indie authors in the comments agreeing with this author, I had to figure out what was going on. No matter how you choose to publish a book it is an incredibly hard process. No one way is easier, and no one way can guarantee success. When your book is published and the launch day happens, all reviews leading up to that time and within the first month of that book’s publication are crucial. How many reviews you get, what kind of reviews, and how many purchases of said book can have a big impact on how much your book is shown across the internet to consumers, how boosted it is on the distributors’ websites, and how many readers you might get from the initial launch.
Knowing all that, this author is upset they received many three-star reviews early in their launch and have come out to say how it is hurting their sales, visibility, and marketability of their books but they summarized that this the “readers’ faults.”
While bad reviews can impact your book’s performance, do you know what else is true? You, the author, cannot control or impact those reviews! This is a hard topic to talk about, but I had to say something when I saw these posts going around. When self-publishing, you can truly publish whatever you want but if your book is not performing well, there needs to be a moment of accountability taken with your story. Take it into account, improve, and try again. But do not—and I repeat—do NOT blame your readers!
Can a Three-star Review Hurt a Book’s Launch?
Rating and reviewing books have always been a space meant for readers. It is a way to keep track of what you have read and recommend those books to other people. Obviously, this also plays into how good a book looks to a potential buyer.
Ever since I joined the book world on Instagram and TikTok, I see all too often readers and writers arguing about how to rate different works. To keep this article simple I will say, everyone has their own system. As an example, here is mine and know that it will probably be very different from your own system!
Five out of five stars: Life changing or incredible!
Four out of five stars: Great!
Three out of five stars: Good!
Two out of five stars: Needs some work/ is just fine.
One out of five stars: DNF, did not finish and really did not enjoy it.
In my own personal system, three stars is still good but to a distributor like Amazon, that is not quite as good. So, to put it in perspective, that is what authors are battling against but again, reviews are the readers’ way to communicate how they think a book is.
Three stars on Goodreads is going to be different than Amazon where you are trying to sell a product but honest three-star reviews with a mix of positives and negatives will do a whole lot more for your book than fake reviews or overly positive reviews that do not feel authentic. And, as we transition into the next part of this article, there is a lot to consider as the author if you are getting three-star reviews or less across the board. You are not getting these reviews because the readers simply do not understand your work or because they are doing this in spite of you... (of course, that happens! But it is better to look at this objectively).
Authors and Bad Ratings
In this next section, I want to talk about a ton of different topics. These are all ideas that came to mind when I read the original post this article is based on. I want to make these into a list to give you a plethora of thoughts and resources when it comes to learning how to approach receiving negative or three-star reviews and as a way to compare your own reactions and initial sentiments to your work while getting such feedback. Art is absolutely subjective and always will be. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but we cannot stifle others’ opinions of our own art, especially when we rely on our readers and their feedback to communicate the success of our stories.
Are you saying you only deserve five stars?:
My heart hurts to point this out but sometimes when I read these posts I stop and think, “Do you think your work is perfect?” I know they probably don't but this sometimes comes off as an inability to stop and reflect on your work. If you are self-publishing, know that the first couple of books you come out with, maybe even the first several, might not be your best work yet. Every single book is a lesson learned. You are polishing your craft and you're getting better and better with each one. That also means your earliest work might need some improvement. I think it is important to mitigate your expectations and of course to take all reviews with a bucket load of salt but do not write them off if they are not only singing your praises.
Reviews are important for readers and buyers:
In a world where I am happy to say publishing has gotten more accessible, it certainly is not easier but truly anyone can write a book nowadays. I can go onto Amazon and buy a book not knowing if it will be truly terrible or amazing unless I look at the reviews and put together the pieces myself. Reviews are essential for people who want to buy your book. This will tell them if it’s worth their money, if it aligns their interests, or maybe if it is something they might want to pass up on if it sounds like the book still needs some work. Ratings are just numbers so the comments and reviews themselves are very important to read when purchasing. But as a reader, if I bought a five-star rated book (with controlled/ filtered reviews, as the author above is requesting) only to find out it was a mess, would make me quite angry and unlikely to read that author again.
Are your emotions getting in the way? (Check yourself!):
If you find yourself getting overwhelmed by negative reviews or feel your emotions taking over, it is important to process and allow room for those emotions but not by lashing out at your readers. I say all this knowing that your work is your baby. Even if your book is amazing you are going to get those negative reviews. And if you do find yourself in this position and you are getting very worked up and upset about the reviews, I strongly recommend taking a deep breath and stepping away from your computer or your phone where you might type a nasty reply to a reader. Try to think if the review is actually helpful or if it is something you can just put away and ignore. I do recommend not reading all the reviews. I don't think it's worth it to put yourself through that torture because even the best works in the world have one-star reviews saying the book is awful. You are in charge of only you and if you feel like you are getting incredibly emotional, focus on taking care of yourself in the moment.
“Work wasted?” No, a lesson learned!:
The author's post I was reading said that she felt her book was a complete waste of work now that it wasn't getting five star reviews. I can sympathize with this because of course we want our books to do amazing. But I also want to say that it is never a waste of work. She put her work out there and obviously put a lot of time into it. Every book we write is practice for our next one. It would only be a waste if she deleted it and erased all that work. Learn from this one and prepare your next.
Be self-aware and take accountability for your work:
From all these posts in the rabbit hole I fell down, I definitely did find a few works that needed editing and read more like rough drafts that were being published and sold online. Again, anyone can publish, and I think it is great to put your work out there! We are always constantly improving and that's why writing is important. Keep on writing and you will continue to grow but again, there needs to be a level of self-awareness to recognize when your work needs improvement. Again, I don't want you to listen to the trolls and think your work is terrible. I want you to instead think, “How can I improve? What can I do differently next time?” If your book is bad, that is fine! Learn from your mistakes and move forward. This is hard but view it objectively and do not blame your readers. A book can only truly sell itself. The worst book in the world can have the best marketing strategy but it still does not make up for the quality of the book.
Conclusion
Something else that irks me when I see posts like this is that there is an assumption here. The assumption is that readers should follow your directions and only post certain kinds of reviews at certain times as if they were team members on your personal, unpaid marketing team. As a reader, if I ever see an author I love do any of this, I could never pick up their work again. It would feel so slimy to me because I honestly want to love their work but if readers are viewed as obligatory promoters... that's just not how this works. In the same vein, it would be wrong if someone read your book, and you screamed at them for not writing you a review. No one is obligated to do any of this.
Each of these topics can be an article on their own but I really wanted to cover everything in one place as briefly as possible. A huge struggle with writing is viewing it objectively and trying not to get emotionally attached to your work because, how could you not? When I see posts like this it very often comes from a place of expecting to be praised and celebrated as an incredible artist when your work just might not be up to par yet. We all have to start somewhere and it's going to take a lot of writing to get there but I know we all can do it, and I of course always wish these authors the best. No one likes bad reviews but at the end of the day, we can all keep trying to do better.