Penny Heart's Blog

As a newbie author, I've spent a lot of time thinking about ratings and reviews. I don't typically read them for books, myself, since reading is so subjective, so I didn't understand the importance of them until I decided I wanted to a write and publish a book. Then I started paying attention to what other authors were doing and saying about ratings and reviews and got a crash course in what NOT to do (namely, trying to challenge a review or attack a reviewer!).

First and foremost, reviews are for readers, and authors shouldn't be using them for feedback opportunities. That's what beta readers, critique groups, and editors are for. It's not the reader's job to help an author grow their craft. Reviews are to help other readers determine if the blurb is a good fit for the book, and if the book is a good fit for the reader. Both positive and negative reviews can do that.

I personally am too emotionally invested in how people perceive my writing to be able to read my reviews. I'm *incredibly* grateful for them. You have no idea how much my heart feels like it's going to burst out of my chest that people I don't know have read my writing and taken the time to think about their reactions and opinions and then gone to the extra work of writing a review (and sometimes making social media posts) about something I wrote. It boggles my mind, and I appreciate it more than I can ever say.

This writing journey has also made me think more seriously about how I rate and review books, and I've tried to be more consistent in how and how often I rate. I only recently learned that GR actually defines it's rating system, and it has helped me put things into better perspective. I had previously thought it was more like the US grading system, but this is the actual rating scale:

5 - It was amazing
4 - Really liked it
3 - Liked it
2 - It was okay
1 - Didn't like it

This is my own interpretation of it:
5 - It was so great that not only could I not put it down (for sleeping, eating, working, etc), I immediately bought everything the author has written (couldn't wait for the library!) or wanted to re-read the book immediately, stalked the author on social media, and am going to live in a cave until I've read all their books, at which point I will be depressed that there are no more books right now
4 - It was great, and I stayed up all night (or several nights) because I couldn't wait to read what happened next, and now I'm a devoted fan who has requested all their books from the library or KU
3 - I enjoyed this book and had a good time reading it and will follow the author on Amazon so I can read their next book
2 - I typically don't rate books below a 3 because I don't finish reading books that I don't enjoy. If I enjoyed it, I wouldn't rate it below a 3, even if it has a lot of editing, formatting, or other technical errors. I personally don't rate books I DNF (do not finish). So often a book's conclusion can change my entire perception of the book, but my reading time is limited, so I'm going to save it for books I enjoy throughout, not just for books I hope will get better. Not every book appeals to everybody, but that doesn't make it bad, just not to my tastes. I'm not going to rate someone poorly for not writing a book just for me. :D

Do you have a firm idea of how your rate or review books?