I try not to read reviews anymore. It doesn’t help the sanity of most authors to do that. I fully intended to work on my website during lunch, but since I had to go to my book pages on Amazon, etc. for links, I caught myself reading the reviews.
Here’s what I found. Many people don’t like my novellas. Club Blood (which is probably my least favorite anyway) has less than a 3 star average. See Me and Guardian Vampire have 3 star averages. (Guardian Vampire has 11 five star and 10 one star, and very little in between, so that must be an either love it or hate it book.) These were some of my earliest books. A Rocky Path, which was my very first novel, has a 4 star average, but there aren’t that many reviews. It’s not a good seller, and Anya and I are talking about revamping the cover. Most of my full length (although fairly short) novels have 4 star averages.
Okay, here’s the most important thing. My favorite of all my books is Haunted Lake. It’s always carried a 4 star or more average and it has quite a few reviews. Then, back in April, I got a 1 star review that said, “I only read a couple of chapters. Too much filthy talk which I do not like at all. Not recommended for my Christian readers.” Now most of you that know me, know I don’t do “filthy talk” in my personal life OR my books. There’s a little heat in some of my books, but it’s very mild (except maybe for Starfane, which has more heat). And this person only read a couple of chapters, and even if there had been “filthy talk”, it wouldn’t have happened in the first couple of chapters. A couple of people commented on the review and asked if she even reviewed the right book, because obviously either she didn’t or she was lying. This whole thing still upset me because it brought my average stars down. But…when I looked today, I noticed I had gotten 3 reviews this summer, 2 five stars and 1 four star. That made me very happy. 🙂 And it brought my average back up to a solid 4. Out of 44 reviews, I have 20 five stars and 10 four stars. So maybe reading reviews isn’t all that bad.
One thing I want to say to those of you who review. Be kind. I don’t mean you shouldn’t give low stars if that’s how you really feel. But please don’t be nasty about it. That makes the reviewer look vindictive. Be helpful. Don’t say “This book sucks!”. Say, “I really disliked this book because ____”. I had one review that said “The main character was written in third person.” What? And it was a 1 star review that brought the average down for no reason other than the reviewer was either ignorant or just mean. MOST books are written in third person. They said something about the vocabulary, too, but that didn’t make sense either. Anyway, please understand that authors have feelings and when a review is written in a sarcastic, mean, ugly way, it hurts the author and doesn’t help anyone. Please write a well thought out review that explains your feelings about the book. Most reviewers who write ugly things seem to actually enjoy it. Honestly, I probably shouldn’t even have to ask any of you to be kind. All my blog followers are great people, and I can’t imagine ANY of you writing ugly reviews.
So that’s how I feel about reviews. 🙂
lauralynnelliott.com 
When I read reviews that are written in a spiteful way, I don’t trust what the reviewer says. I think readers can figure out the intent of the reviewer. But, I also see what it does to the average star rating, and when you’re glimpsing through books, it does impact whether or not a reader is likely to take a closer look if they see the star rating is averaged at a 1-3, especially if it’s 3.
I usually click on 1-2 star averages to see why people didn’t like it, and many times it’ll be the length of the book. It’s weird that how long a story is leads people to vote less on it. Would they really rather have a bunch of filler that bogs down the story? Sometimes there really isn’t more to write.
I never pay attention to ugly sounding reviews on a book. I totally ignore those, although sometimes they are funny enough to get a laugh from. Reviews that say there are multiple errors will sometimes give me pause because that drives me crazy to see those. But, if the book looks good, I’ll always look at a sample. I’ve caught reviewers actually lying about the errors. One said there were errors on every page, and there were only about 4-5 in the whole book. I just don’t trust reviews much anymore because so many reviewers DO lie. I don’t understand why, unless they are jealous authors. I had a 1 star review on one of my books (don’t remember which one) that didn’t sound exactly right, and I looked, and that was the ONLY review that person had done on anything. That makes me wonder sometimes when there’s only that one review.
The multiple error review gets under my skin, too. I’d like to know what some people think “error” means. One person sent me a list of errors she found in my book, and it turned out to be she wasn’t familiar with comma rules. She wanted me to put a comma between an independent clause and a dependent clause like this:
I went to the store, and got some soda.
You and I both know unless there’s a subject following the word “and”, we wouldn’t put a comma there. There is a good number of people who believe this is the correct way to use a comma, and some of them are with publishing houses. So you have to wonder if a lot of these “riddled with errors” reviews are from people who truly don’t know their grammar.
Or, as you pointed out, there might be a couple typos in the entire book, but somehow this gets elevated to a “this book is riddled with errors” review, too. I don’t understand it. I see a couple typos in some traditional books I read, but those somehow manage a free pass.
Yep, the comma rules are like this:
I went to the store and got some soda.
I went to the store, and I got some soda.
Like you said, if the second sentence doesn’t have a subject, you don’t need the comma. HOWEVER…I will admit that every once in awhile, I’ll break a comma rule on purpose to make it sound better. Not often, though. LOL.
Reviewers can be brutal about some very minor things sometimes.
Hi Lauralynn. I try to discount reviewers who give really poor reviews. After all…they chose to read your book because it sounded interesting and if they finished it they got several hours of entertainment out of it whether they “liked” it or not. Some people just enjoy being anonymously cruel and will dish that darkness out wherever they can to feel better about themselves.
Michelle! You haven’t dropped off the planet! 🙂
I think you’re correct about those reviews. You can just feel the enjoyment some of them get out of the nasty things they say. I, personally, won’t give a bad review because I know it’s just my opinion, and I know how it makes people feel.
I read reviews for my own books and short stories with one eye closed. 😉
Maybe I should close BOTH eyes. LOL