Audiobooks discussion

I’m wondering when do you take the time to give a review? In particular on Audible when/why do you give a detailed review versus the quick review using the stars? I’ve realized I haven’t done a very good job at giving reviews yet I rely on them heavily in deciding to purchase a book. Most recently I’ve gone through my library and rated the books for which I had a good memory of the details but still only using the stars. I see that I only give a detailed review when the book is either really good or really bad. How about you?

I used to essentially copy-n-paste the reviews I posted at Goodreads but have long since stopped that as it became too much of an effort. Like you, I'll still post the stars but without comment. I rely almost exclusively on reviews here at Goodreads for assistance in helping me determine my next read or listen. Although I love Audible, the doubling of effort became too tedious for me.

I generally try to write a quick review. If I love it or hate it though I normally get more in depth.

I try to give a review when the book affects me. Whether it frustrates me, or the writing is really bad (or even if the writing is really good)... basically I say something when the book has moved me to say something. If you would normally want to discuss it with someone... recommend it to someone... recommend that someone stay far away from it- that's when you review.

If it's just a decent book but inspires no sudden feelings- that's when I skip the review.

As far as Audible- I'm still on the fence about a subscription. Right now- I either buy my audiobooks outright, or borrow from the library.

I've mostly only write reviews on Audible when there has been technical or editing issues, as there is no star rating option for those "quality" issues. In fact, my review of A Game of Thrones, where I alerted customers of the significant editing issues in that audiobook, has over 100 "helpfuls."

On Goodreads and Audible I mostly offer the star ratings, but occasionally I feel compelled to write a brief review on really good or really bad books, as others of you have also mentioned.

I completely understand the tediousness of posting reviews on Audible and Goodreads.

Heidi *Listen. I'll just keep talking anyway. * wrote: "I generally try to write a quick review. If I love it or hate it though I normally get more in depth."

Agreed - I have a few reviews that say "Filled time, but that's about it" or a similar sentence to indicate it was a "blah" experience, where I neither loved nor hated the book. I write the reviews for Goodreads first, and usually paste that at Audible as well (sometimes tweaked a bit as necessary, but not often).

I dislike leaving only stars.

I usually only leave reviews if it's a more obscure book. The popular books already have plenty of reviews that usually say what I thought anyway. I'll like those reviews so they get pushed up further to the top.

I almost always review on Audible but never on Goodreads. I feel like I am more "needed" on Audible as a reviewer. There are so many venues for reviews of print books - magazines, newspapers, websites, TV & radio, etc. plus friends' recommendations. But very little attention is given to audio. I started doing the reviews when I realized how much I rely on other people's reviews in selecting a book. And now that I have some "helpful" reviews and people who "follow" me, I feel a responsibility! I keep my reviews short, a few sentences or a paragraph.

I always leave stars; that's my cue to myself that I've actually listened to the book. Some longer reviews I've copied between here and Audible. For the short ones, just a sentence or two, it varies, and it mostly depends on how much I loved the book (or not). I read reviews here and at Audible both, and I try always to mark the Audible ones 'helpful', when appropriate.

Robin, your comments are useful, and remind me that some Audible listeners may not check here at GR; I should post comments more.

I do reviews more for myself or friends: often, it's just to tell myself that I have in fact read the book, and to remind myself if I thought it was a worthwhile experience or not. I'm to the point where I've read enough books that I often forget more "blah" ones unless I give myself enough of a review to go "Oh, yeah, I kind of remember that now." And I like to say enough of something about it so any of my friends who like to know what I specifically thought about a book because we tend to have similar tastes can know if they should bother to pick it up or not. I usually will make some indication as to what I thought of the book itself and what I thought of the narrator of the audio I listened to: i.e. the book was horrible, but the narrator made it very pleasant, or vice versa, the book was good, but the narrator made it a very challenging experience. Something to that effect.

You pretty much summed up my position here. Keeping friends in mind, I often add something like "not particularly recommended", "highly recommended", etc.

I find it hard to review audio books. when listening to the audio format, I don't have the recall of details that I would like. I just listened to Mr. Mercedes and would like to write a review, but don't know if I can recall enough detail to give it a good shot. do you take notes¿

I actually quite enjoy writing reviews, but for me it's currently all about simply not having the time to do so.
At the moment I have a lot going on in my life, working full time, a parent with a terminal illness which means I am attending lots of appointments with them(I also had a pet with a terminal illness but she passed away 2 months ago) and at work we are in the process of moving from one workplace location to another.
Therefore I currently don't have the free time (or the 'headspace') I would like to spend writing reviews.

Like many others, I do rely on reviews to help me select books so I appreciate that other people have the time or ability to write them, and when things settle down more I plan to gt back to writing my own as well.

If this thread were a list of reviews, I probably would not be typing right now. Others have covered what I think: (1) more likely if I loved or hated the book, (2) less likely if there are lots of reviews that say what I might have said, (3) I rely heavily on earlier reviews when making purchase decisions. :-)

Anne wrote: "I find it hard to review audio books. when listening to the audio format, I don't have the recall of details that I would like. I just listened to Mr. Mercedes and would like to write a review, b..."

When I review now, I just write whether I liked it. If something was memorable. If it's an audiobook, how I felt about the narration. And whether I'd recommend it. I don't write large reviews anymore Anne.

Do you review differently on Audible than on Goodreads? I do. Since Goodreads doesn't differentiate, I feel I'm reviewing what the author wrote, not the performance. I give a lot of 4 star reviews but only a couple of 5 star reviews in a year (out of close to 100 books). This might be because I am comparing them to everything I've read in my life! But on Audible I give a lot of 5 star reviews. I might give 4 stars to the story but still give 5 to the narration and 5 overall.

I guess I am completely satisfied more often with audio than with print. Or maybe I'm just pickier about what I listen to. I may be reading print books because someone gave them to me or I got them at a sale or a book group chose them, while for audio I think a lot about how to use my valuable credits.

I copy the same review over to Audible, with the occasional tweak.

I try to review as often as possible. It's best if I write the review as close to finishing the book as possible in order to truly express my thoughts. If it has been too long or I am too tired, I just use the star system.

I will write a review if there are no reviews on the book, or only one or two, so that future listeners have something to go by. Otherwise I don't bother.

Most of the time I review a book when it's extraordinary and or different, in addition to referring to things in the book that I enjoyed so much, I want to remember.

Just how detailed should a review be? Some of the reviews are so in debt that if I should read it as a guide to getting the book I wouldn't need to bother. I like the 'spoiler' alert on Goodreads but it is not always adhered to and the other day I looked at a review on a book I'm listening to at the minute(Audible)only to have the ending revealed in the short review available on there...very frustrating.

Well ... that depends on how strongly one feels about the book. I have some reviews that are a few paragraphs, but most are only a few sentences (sample):

"Good writing, but I didn't care for the frequent digressions into her personal life. If you've never been there before, she gives a good feel for the place. Narrator was a great fit for the material."

Leona wrote: "Just how detailed should a review be? Some of the reviews are so in debt that if I should read it as a guide to getting the book I wouldn't need to bother. I like the 'spoiler' alert on Goodreads b..."

Leona - you can flag reviews that have spoilers in them and GR can hide them

I make it a point to write a review for almost every book I read or listen to, out of respect for the time and effort expended by the author. The few exceptions are those books that I deem so poorly written - technically or conceptually - that I do not finish reading them.

If I rate a book 3, 4, or 5 stars, I want others to know why I felt that it deserved a positive evaluation.

If I rate a book 1 or 2 stars, I want others to know why I felt that it deserved a negative evaluation; realizing that, just because it did not suit my taste, it might be judged enjoyable and entertaining by another reader.

Jim wrote: "I make it a point to write a review for almost every book I read or listen to, out of respect for the time and effort expended by the author. The few exceptions are those books that I deem so poorl..."

My thoughts, exactly.