My friend Anya got an email from Amazon telling about new releases in Vampire Romance. I got it, too, but didn’t read it. LOL. Anyway, she scrolled through the pages and found Guardian Vampire on page 5. So the question is…do people look that far? Do they scroll through that many pages, or do they stop at the first couple? I’m a scroller because I don’t want to miss anything. But people are kind of impatient these days. So are they too impatient to browse a lot?
Just a side note concerning the bad Amazon review I got the other day. Since that day, my rank has been steadily declining. It may be that bad reviews mean more than I thought. I’m still at 900, but I had gotten up to 563. Or maybe it had just run its course.
Another word concerning ratings and reviews. B & N gives people the ability to just rate something without having to review or without letting anyone know who they are. I think this is making people more likely to rate, since they don’t have to actually think or write down anything. Because I have 3 reviews on Amazon for GV, but on B & N I have 26 ratings (4 of which are reviews). I don’t know if this is good or bad for authors, but it definitely makes it easier for readers to give an opinion…just click a star.
lauralynnelliott.com 
I personally would rather they remove the ability to rate without reviewing from BN. Because there’s nothing worse than having a single or two star rating without knowing WHY. Yes, the review accompanying it could be hurtful, but it could also prove that the person is a crackpot who was smoking something when they wrote it.
Per the Amazon thing, you might consider posting a brief snippet sample in your description as a sample of the writing to sort of counteract it. Something that’s catchy, doesn’t give too much away, and will show it in a good light. Sure it’s in the sample, but a lot of people are too lazy to view the sample.
With the ratings, it’s hard to tell if you’re consistently getting 3 and 4 star reviews, or if you’re getting 1 and 5 stars. LOL You just see the average. I did have a steady 5 stars going for awhile, but it went to 3 1/2 quickly, so my guess is that a 1 star brought it down. But, you just don’t know.
I do have an excerpt of the book in my description. It still amazes me that people won’t read samples. I don’t buy books anymore without doing that unless I know the author.
I wish B & N would get their sales reporting fixed! Grrrrr
I think the ease of rating on BN absolutely makes people more likely to do it. I don’t have a Nook, but I was also thinking it might be one of those things where they’re kind of rating their own libraries. I have 43 reviews on Amazon, but over 170 ratings on BN (and only 24 reviews). Even on Goodreads I think I usually have more than twice as many ratings as text reviews, even though sharing opinions on books is more what Goodreads is about.
I’m especially sorry about your Amazon review because it was lousy timing what with there being so few reviews there in the beginning that it’s really visible. You’ve been selling a ton lately, so I really hope some of those people who enjoyed the book will come leave reviews and bump that one down.
Grr.
And I keep telling myself that I’ll stop reading reviews and looking at ratings, but like an addict, I keep doing it. Like last night, I went to B & N and saw that I had lost another 1/2 star. But then I saw a new review that said she had to finish it that night, but it was worth being tired the next morning. I’m still amazed at how the same books can be all over the place when it comes to stars.
Happy birthday!!!!
Thanks, Kait!
Happy birthday to you!! Please eat cake on my behalf.
Thank you, Stacey. There was much cake to be had. :0)
Susan told us it’s your birthday, so Happy Birthday!!!
I also just published a vampire romance.
I watch for my ratings and reviews on amazon, but forgot to check out B&N! Sometimes I’m not too bright! 🙂
Although I wonder if just rating a book with stars without a review makes less of an impact on potential readers. Just a thought.
Thanks for the birthday wish! :0)
I’m trying not to look at reviews too often. Although, I checked B & N yesterday and was pleasantly suprised at a new 5 star review that used the words “loved”, “sensational”, and “spectacular”. This was good for me after getting such an awful, nasty review on Amazon. :0)
I don’t know the answer about the ratings situation. I tend to check out a book by reading samples rather than depending on someone else’s opinion. I’ve seen opinions vary way too much to rely on that.