THE Group for Authors! discussion

I didn't find anything about this elsewhere, so I'm hoping this is a good place to ask. The majority of the reviews/ratings on this book are 4s with a lot of 5s and 3s. However, because of the default review algorithm, the first review that comes up is a 1 star review in which the reviewer starts off by screaming about how it is a standalone novel with a cliffhanger, which it most certainly isn't (book 2 comes out this September). The default review is both inaccurate and doesn't seem representative of the general opinion of the book, but it remains the default because the review was long and the reviewer has a big following. Is there anyway to change this or am I stuck with this review always being the first one people see when they look at my book because of the way the algorithm works? Thanks much!

I looked at your reviews on Amazon and it may be my computer but the first ones that came up were 4 and 5 star. I had to really look to find the one I think you're talking about.
Nikki, one is always hypersensitive to negative feedback about one's own work. The review is one person's opinion, and you can't win 'em all. To me, the review wasn't all that bad. I once read a review about a friend's book that ripped it up and down and poured in undeserved venom! Besides, if there were no negative reviews at all it might appear that the deck IS stacked--in your favor.
Let it be.

Ah. Ok. If it's not the first one coming up when other people go there than I won't worry about it. I'm fine with getting bad reviews. It's going to happen, I just hated the idea of that annoying gif being the first thing anyone sees when they look at the reviews for the book. If that's not happening, I won't worry about it. Thanks for letting me know. :)

The default sort order on Goodreads is for the most liked/commented on reviews to be at the top, regardless of the star rating. It might be frustrating, but from a reader's perspective it makes sense. There is no way to change it.

But I noticed you have two five-star reviews that follow that. Most readers don't base their decision on a single review, unless they know the reviewer and tend to agree with their assessments.

I am often annoyed by this algorithm but I don't think you can do anything about it. The ones with the most likes are always on top. The people with the most followers (and thus likes) rarely seem to write the reviews that are most useful to me. I usually re-sort by stars - I like the 3 star reviews that give both the good and the bad points of the book.

Try not to be put off by bad reviews, think of them as feedback, or try not to read them at all. However, I recently purchased I book based upon a 1 star bad review, because the readers detailed complaint about the book, was what I was looking for in a story.

Reviews from friends and followed reviewers show first so not everyone looking at the review sections see them in the same order.

I do wish goodreads would let us set the default order we see community reviews; I know we can click to filter/sort if we wanted to see newest first or something. It would be nice if a member preferred seeing reviews in a certain order if they didn't have to always click to re-order them.