The thrust of your query is somewhat insulting to those who have five star reviews. You imply by your "how do these 5 star reviews continue to exist" that these people have not earned a genuine rating. This is not so.James_Alexander said:
All about reviews
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Ah well - it was good to vent.
I did find a similar post here - all about paid reviews: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,128344.0.html
Big publishers do it all the time and I can't say it upsets me since I'll never do it. I'll just keep going the road I'm going and build a following over time. Cheaper is better.
I did find a similar post here - all about paid reviews: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,128344.0.html
Big publishers do it all the time and I can't say it upsets me since I'll never do it. I'll just keep going the road I'm going and build a following over time. Cheaper is better.
Like book sales, legitimate reviews - good, bad, or otherwise - are largely beyond your control. Only a small percentage of readers leave them under the best of circumstances, and what Amazon does with them afterward is out of your hands.
But what you *can* do to help yourself out is - kindly and gently - ask your readers to consider leaving reviews. Ask for what you want. I periodically send out a tweet to my followers on Twitter that's just a generic, "Hey, if you read a book you enjoyed, do the author a huge favor and write a quick review." That plants the seed in the minds of those who've read my books, and I know from feedback I've gotten from folks that just saying something like that prompted them to write a review (in most cases, it was the first time they ever did one).
If someone tells me they enjoyed one of my books, I say, "Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and remember that reader reviews are always welcome!" I also remind folks now and again that a review doesn't have to be a big synopsis of the book, because a lot of folks are put off by the misconception that they have to spend a lot of time on it. But they're a lot more amenable when they learn that just a few words about what they thought is great.
Whether the reviews are good or bad...well, that's up to the reader, as it should be. Good books are going to get (mostly) good reviews, although they'll always get some bad ones, too. After you get over the initial shock and learn to hang your ego up at the door, the 1- and 2-star reviews are actually quite entertaining. Regardless, just keep writing!
But what you *can* do to help yourself out is - kindly and gently - ask your readers to consider leaving reviews. Ask for what you want. I periodically send out a tweet to my followers on Twitter that's just a generic, "Hey, if you read a book you enjoyed, do the author a huge favor and write a quick review." That plants the seed in the minds of those who've read my books, and I know from feedback I've gotten from folks that just saying something like that prompted them to write a review (in most cases, it was the first time they ever did one).
If someone tells me they enjoyed one of my books, I say, "Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and remember that reader reviews are always welcome!" I also remind folks now and again that a review doesn't have to be a big synopsis of the book, because a lot of folks are put off by the misconception that they have to spend a lot of time on it. But they're a lot more amenable when they learn that just a few words about what they thought is great.
Whether the reviews are good or bad...well, that's up to the reader, as it should be. Good books are going to get (mostly) good reviews, although they'll always get some bad ones, too. After you get over the initial shock and learn to hang your ego up at the door, the 1- and 2-star reviews are actually quite entertaining. Regardless, just keep writing!
Well, if you offer your book for free there is a higher chance of getting 1 star reviews because quite a few people download every free book they can and then give 1 star to a book because they don't even like the genre, someone used a dirty word, they didn't like how sad it was, they didn't like that someone hit someone, etc. I guess the plus of going free or .99 is you get a lot more downloading your books. THe negative is that some of those people don't care for the type of book you wrote but dlowloaded it anyway.
If you charge more for a book you don't get as many people buying it at one time, but the people who do buy it want it. They paid a little more attention to what the book is about, at least usually. So, they tend to like the book more, or at least not leave dumb 1 stars because "it was a romance" (when if they looked instead of just downloading "Free" they would have seen that, or "it had gay people in it" or "they swore".
Please don't assume when a book only has higher reviews something dishonest went on. My first book in the series has 27 reviews (not a ton, but a decent amount). 10 or 11 are 5 star, 12 or so 4 star and the rest 3 star. I didn't buy reviews or someone bribe peole to write them. I found book bloggers and book reviewers who review for FREE, and other readers who bought my book for 4.99 left them.
Not saying I won't get 1 and 2 star eventually. Like you say, even Steven King gets them. (And I don have 3 of the 2 stars on Goodreads.) Not everyone can like any book.
Do the work of finding honest reviewers who don't charge or wait until readers review your work. But, if you are free or .99 you can expect some 1 stars for the reasons I listed above. Only you can decide if the benefits of being free or .99 outweigh that.
Many feel they do.
If you charge more for a book you don't get as many people buying it at one time, but the people who do buy it want it. They paid a little more attention to what the book is about, at least usually. So, they tend to like the book more, or at least not leave dumb 1 stars because "it was a romance" (when if they looked instead of just downloading "Free" they would have seen that, or "it had gay people in it" or "they swore".
Please don't assume when a book only has higher reviews something dishonest went on. My first book in the series has 27 reviews (not a ton, but a decent amount). 10 or 11 are 5 star, 12 or so 4 star and the rest 3 star. I didn't buy reviews or someone bribe peole to write them. I found book bloggers and book reviewers who review for FREE, and other readers who bought my book for 4.99 left them.
Not saying I won't get 1 and 2 star eventually. Like you say, even Steven King gets them. (And I don have 3 of the 2 stars on Goodreads.) Not everyone can like any book.
Do the work of finding honest reviewers who don't charge or wait until readers review your work. But, if you are free or .99 you can expect some 1 stars for the reasons I listed above. Only you can decide if the benefits of being free or .99 outweigh that.
Many feel they do.
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