Goodreads ratings- how many buy the book first?

1178 Views 15 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Kia Zi Shiru, Jan 21, 2013

T.P. Grish

Discussion Starter · Jan 13, 2013

Goodreads is a great site, but I noticed that the paperback version of one of my books got a couple of ratings on goodreads, and one of the members also has the paperback book on their shelfari 'owned' shelf? The problem? I have never, according to Createspace, or Author Central, sold a single paperback version of the book, only ebooks.

It has been almost a month since the ratings, and I figure they must have ordered the book at least a week before they rated it. I messaged CS to make sure I had no sales, and they said I do not.

Do people really rate a book without reading it? What would they base their review on, the sample? Or is it just late reporting on CS's part?

It's only a couple of paperback sales, but it has me wondering.

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Cherise

· #2 · Jan 13, 2013

The only option to show you own the book is the paperback. There is no eBook option.

56139

· #3 · Jan 13, 2013

Cherise Kelley said:
The only option to show you own the book is the paperback. There is no eBook option.

There is an ebook option but the default option is paperback I think. All my books have two editions at GR because they merge the two (ebook and paperback).

As far as the sales go - GR is not Amazon and they won't police your reviews, even if the person who rates the book never read it. There are a LOT of reviews for books that aren't out yet. I even got one and I know for a fact this person never read my book because no one had a copy at the time.

You have to let the GR community run its course.

Zelah Meyer

· #4 · Jan 13, 2013

When I add my own, I add all the versions (paperback, Kindle & epub) and merge them into one. When rating books I've read, I just search by the title and author and select the edition I have if it's there, or an alternate cover if the one I own isn't on there. If it's a book I've read & don't own, I'll happily add whichever edition I come across (unless it's non-fiction and the edition can cause the contents to differ considerably.) If it's not on there, I'll create a new listing for the exact edition that I happen to own.

I'm sure I'm not unusual in that regard. So, I'd guess that it's people who've bought your e-book version just selecting the first version of the book that they come across.

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T.P. Grish

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 13, 2013

Thanks Janne and Zelah, it's probably one of those explanations.

The book I'm talking about has a kindle and paperback edition rolled into one entry on GR, but you can still choose which edition you want. The Kindle edition is the default option. It is possible to set the kindle edition as default, you just have to edit the book entry on GR. People can add ebooks to their to-read list, as well as review/rate them.

However, I am having a giveaway for the book's physical edition, so they could have clicked on the physical edition because of that. However, when they followed the purchase link from the paperback edition on Amazon, they would have noticed it was a paperback. Of course, they could have just clicked on the kindle button on the Amazon page and purchased that, then went back to GR and added the physical edition to their to-read list.

I guess it's most likely either rating without reading, or a misplaced ebook review. The paperback version is the only version that shows up on shelfari when searched, although the ebook version is up and linked to my author name. Before the paperback version was there, the ebook edition would show up when searched.

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britrocker

· #6 · Jan 13, 2013

T.P. Grish said:
Goodreads is a great site, but I noticed that the paperback version of one of my books got a couple of ratings on goodreads, and one of the members also has the paperback book on their shelfari 'owned' shelf? The problem? I have never, according to Createspace, or Author Central, sold a single paperback version of the book, only ebooks.

It has been almost a month since the ratings, and I figure they must have ordered the book at least a week before they rated it. I messaged CS to make sure I had no sales, and they said I do not.

Do people really rate a book without reading it? What would they base their review on, the sample? Or is it just late reporting on CS's part?

It's only a couple of paperback sales, but it has me wondering.

I think they do, it's odd but weirder things have happened

T.P. Grish

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 21, 2013

Got my first two star rating on Goodreads, for a book on giveaway. Nothing wrong with that, except the guy seems to have given hundreds of books ratings today, mostly one or two stars. Must be a heck of a reader!

One particular of his two star ratings was for a book on giveaway, and he had entered into the giveaway several minutes before posting the 2 star rating. Also, the giveaway had not ended yet.

Very strange behaviour. Obviously he hasn't read any of these books, and is arbitrarily giving ratings.

Atunah

· #8 · Jan 21, 2013

I have over 3000 books shelved on Goodreads and almost all are shelved as paperback, even though I read mostly ebooks. Why is that? Because when I added all the books I wanted to add at goodreads I just searched and added what came up and it is usually the default paperback.
So now all my ratings and reviews are listed for paperback.

I would have to go through, one by one to change that. I just don't feel like it. I even have a shelf called kindle-own. These are obviously books I bought in Kindle format. Yet when one would click on that book through my profile, chances are great that it would show the paperback version.

I don't care enough about the format to worry about my database of books, I gather many other readers and reviews don't either.

Atunah

· #9 · Jan 21, 2013

Caitie Quinn said:
So, I feel dumb not knowing this, but do the format ratings combine?

Yes, its all combined. Lets say I have friends I follow on Goodreads and I read the kindle book and they read the paperbook, when I click on the version I have shelved, it will just say so and so reviewed another version. But its all together. That is why I haven't bothered with organizing. Its just too much work for me for no reason really.

Atunah

· #10 · Jan 21, 2013

Caitie Quinn said:
Thanks, that's what I figured. But this thread made me wonder.

Its one of the things I love about Goodreads. Its like a big database for books. All formats and in a lot of cases I get to see the covers of the international versions.

I think, but I am not 100 percent sure, that goodreads defaults to the version that is most shelved on the site. I could be wrong though, but when I search for books, I usually get the paper version popping up. Unless there is no paper version of course.

T.P. Grish

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 21, 2013

Atunah said:
I have over 3000 books shelved on Goodreads and almost all are shelved as paperback, even though I read mostly ebooks. Why is that? Because when I added all the books I wanted to add at goodreads I just searched and added what came up and it is usually the default paperback.
So now all my ratings and reviews are listed for paperback.

I would have to go through, one by one to change that. I just don't feel like it. I even have a shelf called kindle-own. These are obviously books I bought in Kindle format. Yet when one would click on that book through my profile, chances are great that it would show the paperback version.

I don't care enough about the format to worry about my database of books, I gather many other readers and reviews don't either.

That is cool, I don't mind people rating or shelving a different edition that they purchased.

The first post was me wondering whether the raters had bought the book, I was excited about the possibility that someone bought my hardcover edition, and whether Createspace had reported the sales. Also, I was wondering if they bought the book before reading it.

I do have an issue with people rating books without reading them, and the member who rated hundreds of books today only seems to be doing that. I think people should have bought a book and made a good attempt to read all of it, before they rate. I understand it would he hard to enforce though.

Betsy the Quilter

· #12 · Jan 21, 2013

It could be someone like me, who is trying to get the books I've just added to Shelfari rated. I'm adding ratings to a whole bunch of books today, but I obviously didn't finish them all today.

And when I was on Goodreads, I would frequently update my shelves in batches. A couple times I uploaded a whole bunch of books I had on shelves at home.

Betsy

T.P. Grish

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 21, 2013

Betsy the Quilter said:
It could be someone like me, who is trying to get the books I've just added to Shelfari rated. I'm adding ratings to a whole bunch of books today, but I obviously didn't finish them all today.

And when I was on Goodreads, I would frequently update my shelves in batches. A couple times I uploaded a whole bunch of books I had on shelves at home.

Betsy

True, that could explain many of the cases. I hadn't considered that.

Annette_g

· #14 · Jan 21, 2013

I've added/rated a lot of older books in batches, that I read years ago, but you might see I've rated 50 in one day, I obviously didn't read them all that day, but I did read them

I don't rate books I haven't read, because I like the goodreads recs feature based on your past reads/ratings etc.

Zelah Meyer

· #15 · Jan 21, 2013

If you look at my shelves you'll see hundreds added on the same day. When I first joined, I just went through all the books I had on my shelves and added them - except for the handful I hadn't yet read. Over time I've added more as I read them, or as I come across them and remember having read and enjoyed them in the past.

I have a good memory for plots - and a terrible memory for titles and names - so there are loads of books that I've read in the past but that aren't on there because I can't remember what they are, or easily find out. At least I recognise the fiction titles when I find them. With non-fiction, it's much harder and I would probably only recognise them if I had the book in front of me and went through it again. Too many titles on similar subjects.

Kia Zi Shiru

· #16 · Jan 21, 2013

I always just add a version of the book, I don't care if it's the paperback or the ebook version (unless I like the cover of another version better/I like the cover of the version I have). I think most of my books on GR say I read paperback though I've read about 2 to 4 paperbacks since I got GR.

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