Trail-Mix Readers discussion

I know it's barely 9pm on the 8th, but I am getting prepare for school tomorrow and I don't want to forget to post!

I am of the mind that all reviews are worth having, even the low star ones and the ones that are obviously written by a troll who didn't bother to read the book. I think readers are smart enough to catch on when they look at the reviews even if the book has been over-hyped up with paid reviews.

Readers: What do you think? Do you read reviews and make informed decisions that way? Do you read the blurb and take a chance regardless of the rating?

Authors: What do you do about your bad reviews? Do you put your book out there into the nebulous net for reviews and hope for the best? How do you handle bad reviews?

eBooks and POD books can always be rewritten and reposted, so poor reviews, if they are accurate, can encourage a writer whose book needs improvement to rethink their prose and deliver a better product.

As to the asshole factor, it's the back end of Indie publishing. These are the equivalent of the rejection letters we didn't have to suffer through dealing with editors and agents. Only now they're out there in the open for everyone to see (and far less kind).

As a reader I do read other reviews to get a feel for how the book has been received. I can tell when a review is by someone who probably should not have purchased iron the first place because it obviously was not a genre they enjoy. Reviews that are hypercritical without detailing the issues I just ignore. I like to find the ones that honestly discuss character and it development and address any editing issues.

As a reader I do read other reviews to get a feel for how the book has been received. I can tell when a review is by someone who probably should not have purchased iron the first place because it obviously was not a genre they enjoy. Reviews that are hypercritical without detailing the issues I just ignore. I like to find the ones that honestly discuss character and it development and address any editing issues.

Its so nice having an exclusively reader mod...Lavern

I am always upfront when I review a genre I don't prefer. It does a disservice to readers to say otherwise.

That's true, Phillip. I prefer to just not try to review books I won't enjoy. Mostly.

As a reader, when I read bad reviews I'm looking for certain things: major plot or plausibility issues; and complaints about grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
As an author, I've only gotten one bad review so far and I took two compliments from it: First, he complimented the fact that my book seemed error-free; Second, he read the entire book. Other than that, I felt by his opinion of things that he was definitely not my target audience and most readers wouldn't agree.

Thats why I tend to read 2-3 star reviews because they will tell me what to expect when I am buying a book, M.L.

I don't know I won't enjoy them and many of those books are in our group. For instance, I'm really not a fan of PNR, but I enjoyed Lu's book just fine. And I can recognize the qualities in PNR books I don't like that will still appeal to PNR fans. So I can steer readers who aren't PNR fans to Lu's book but readers who aren't away from others.

Personally, I refuse to pay for reviews. As an author, that is crossing the line. It's saying that you care more about the sales those bought reviews may generate than your readers. To be blunt, those authors disgust me by using such a dishonorable tactic.

I would love to have every reader write a review, but I don't push for them. I'd rather have a reader take the time to write a review because they choose to, not because they feel obligated to.

As of right now, I haven't had any low reviews, but I know eventually I will. No book pleases everyone, that's just the way it goes. But for authors and readers alike, the rating isn't so much a defining factor as the content of the review itself. That's what we look for. That's what we read. That's what we take away and use to improve as authors. That's what tells us all whether the review is genuine or just a troll.

So true, Scott.

I read the ratings provided on a book, but I don't really let that dictate whether I read it or not. I base my choice on my own level of interest, and don't rely on what others think. I enjoy hearing what other readers thought, and love engaging in discussions about why I agree or disagree.