Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold -

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marian

05 Aug 2011, 07:58 AM | Post: #1

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Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I’ve just bought my Kindle and looking through the books on Amazon I find it confusing. I would assume that if a book is in the top seller listing area, it sells a large number of books, and yet the few reviews posted often strive to trash the book, or put the book on a pedestal.
Are these reviewers’ friends of the writer who give five stars, and the ones who give one star failed writers that sell nothing and try to derail others, or a just readers who like to insult knowing they get no comeback?

To me a review would have more value for a reader if Amazon indicated total sales of the book? That way if it sells maybe five books and three reviews all trash it, you get a far better balance. But if it sells five hundred books with three reviews trashing it, that is a different matter.

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Susanne Reading I Woke Up This Morning by Stuart Ayris

05 Aug 2011, 11:01 AM | Post: #2

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

That's a very good point, but there is no way of checking.

I think a lot of reviews are put up because the reader either loved or hated the book. I'm certainly more inclined to post a review if I felt strongly about a book - either way. If it was just an OK book, I wouldn't bother with writing a review.

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BenCheetham

05 Aug 2011, 12:19 PM | Post: #3

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I tend to ignore reviews that are overly positive or negative. The reviews that fall somewhere in between tend to be the most trustworthy guide to a book's merits. Unfortunately, as you point out, unless a book is a big seller there's often a lack of balanced, objective reviews. A book's ranking does give you a vague idea of how it's perfoming in terms of sales.

(05 Aug 2011 07:58 AM)marian Wrote: I’ve just bought my Kindle and looking through the books on Amazon I find it confusing. I would assume that if a book is in the top seller listing area, it sells a large number of books, and yet the few reviews posted often strive to trash the book, or put the book on a pedestal.
Are these reviewers’ friends of the writer who give five stars, and the ones who give one star failed writers that sell nothing and try to derail others, or a just readers who like to insult knowing they get no comeback?

To me a review would have more value for a reader if Amazon indicated total sales of the book? That way if it sells maybe five books and three reviews all trash it, you get a far better balance. But if it sells five hundred books with three reviews trashing it, that is a different matter.

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john Reading The Forest by Edward Rutherford

05 Aug 2011, 08:57 PM | Post: #4

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I can certainly understand the views expressed here. However I have to say that if I read a book and I love it, I will say so whether on Amazon or wherever. By the same token if I read a book and hate it I will also say. Now whether I am naive or what but I tend to take note of the reviews on Amazon. Who knows what is the sensible thing to do, I don't know, but why bother to read the reviews if you are going to take no notice of them. One of the beauties of a Kindle is that you can always get a sample to start with.

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cecilia_writer Reading Bang

06 Aug 2011, 02:20 PM | Post: #5

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I think I tend to disregard the extreme reviews at both ends of the spectrum, however it can be quite amusing to read the reviews for books I've really enjoyed and see what some discontented readers had to say. I particularly noticed this in the case of Kate Atkinson's 'When will there be good news?' which it looked as if people either loved or hated.
I agree that most people will not bother to leave a review if a book is ok or if they vaguely enjoyed it but it wasn't memorable, or if they were too tired or something! I can't remember the last time I reviewed anything on Amazon.

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Terry_S

08 Aug 2011, 02:08 PM | Post: #6

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I think you are pretty spot-on here. Amazon, publishers, and authors are all in the business to make money, so all their reviews can be discounted. I ignore reviews that are 'bad reviews' - by which I mean badly written, put forward no good reasons for their views, or show any thought process leading to their conclusions. Since using a Kindle I tend to find an author first and foremost, and then work through their books - it's so much harder to do that in a bookshop because they never have all the books by one author. If you like crime thrillers try working through Graham Hurley's Inspector Faraday (Portsmouth area) or Peter James' Inspector Grace series (Brighton) or Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole (Norway). That should keep any 'bedtime and holiday' going for a year or two... and cracking good writing too!

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~ Groucho Marx

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debjbennett Reading

12 Aug 2011, 02:33 PM | Post: #7

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I wish people would be more honest in Amazon reviews, instead of just leaving extremes. I have several 5* reviews that are gushing and yet they are genuine in that I don't know the author and haven't solicited the review in any way. I wish they'd perhaps be a little more critical, because they'd seem more authentic.

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Grace Elliot Reading Demelza.

12 Aug 2011, 04:17 PM | Post: #8

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

In my opinion the 'sock puppet' reviews are fairly easy to spot.
From my own experience, it takes a lot to make me leave a review because human nature being what it is, most of the time I just cant be bothered.
The very first review I ever left was for a book that was so bad I was insensed and just had to warn people what to expect - so extremes of emotion do motivate reviewers.
The other factor is there are trillions of book review blogs out their now, and some of these reviews can be quite gushing (I guess often as not they've got the book gratis) which can be off putting.

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daisyduck1976 Reading Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

20 Aug 2011, 07:42 PM | Post: #9

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I review every book that I read on Amazon. Even if I love, love, love the book, I still mention anything that I didn't like, however minor. If other people have criticised a particular element, I usually put my tuppence worth in on that issue too Wink

I also always comment separately on the quality of the Kindle formatting good or bad.

When reading reviews, I look at a a good range of the reviews but concentrate mostly on the 3 star ones as they are usually the most even-handed ones. I ignore the usual suspects of poor quality reviews 5* or 1* or whatever they are.

I wouldn't pay attention to the sales figures when buying, for fear I might miss something fantastic just because not many other people have bought it, or be swayed into buying something terrible because lots of people have bought it.

The figures in themselves would be interesting though.

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cassidy

01 Sep 2011, 02:51 PM | Post: #10

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RE: Amazon reviews aren’t worth a button, without knowing how many have sold

I began reading Cormac mcCarthy, long before he became flavor of the month, many, many, years ago. He sold very few books, at the time, and would hardly have been mentioned on Amazon. Just because a million people buy a book, does not been it's brilliant. I like to take a chance with unknown authors, rather than simply running with the crowd.

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