THE Group for Authors! discussion

I did give one of my books a rating here in Goodreads...It was my first book, and it wasn't my review...I stated with the rating that it was a Foreword Clarion Review...a professional review...and it was only 3 stars. For the 3 reviews I now have for the book, it's actually the lowest of the 3...otherwise I don't like giving myself reviews any more than I like giving my own posts on sites like Facebook a like...

You should not rate your own book, that way you will never be known (especially if your friends are not big readers). You will be a secret author, like an author ninja. And if someone comes to you and says they bought your book you can say, "Oh, your the one." like the old professor cliche.

Look at me, I haven't rated my own book since the start of the month, and it still has no rating. I'm pretty active too, and my wife is my only follower. I have over 100 friends in my own life. I'm beginning to think people just don't read anymore. It is a shame too because I have 9 more book ideas.

Actually, I don't think authors should rate books. We write for readers. My worst reviews are often from authors, some of whom then sneak their own book titles in. You can see one of those on this site.

I rated my first story. Just to see what would happen and how it was shown. I gave it five stars - well, would I have published it if I thought it mediocre? - and it identified my rating as being provided by the author.

I didn't provide a review. There are depths to which I will not stoop.

Britni, highminded as all frig

I agree with those who decide not to rate their own book. Kind of oxymoronic in a society were everyone is touting themselves as a guru, jedi, ninja, master, et cetera.
I think authors loose credibility when they do that. I know I've never met a self-proclaimed guru/jedi/ninja/master/... who was worth a darn.

Especially concerning are authors that use anonymous accounts to rate their books - surely that’s deceptive?

I know of one example, because the author is pretty hard to get away from if you frequent message boards on the subject matter of his book.

A person's rating of their own book is not credible. Ego, self-delusion, and narcissism all point to the likely hood that their evaluation will be extremely positive and prejudiced.

An adage often quoted by management within the business community may also be applied to authors who rate their own book.
"Your work speaks for itself. Don't interrupt!"

But if someone is looking at book reviews and does not notice that the review is from the author, then certainly they are not paying attention.

The only reason not to rate your own book, is because it makes no sense to. And if you are offended by nonsense than there is a lot of good books you will not like. lol.

Now isn't a good pitch from an author the same thing as a review and a rating? Seriously you all take this way too seriously, it actually doesn't matter that much. But you would rather authors give you less feedback about a book before you buy it, and that's your weird choice as the majority seems to be in favor of that. (Talk about nonsense).

There are a number of members of this site who do indeed take notice and are not amused.

Yes, they are like the bad guys in the movie footloose. It is a very uptight opinion. An author should be able to express the love for his hard work in all kinds of ways. Why care whether there is 1 obviously bias review?

There are already a lot of reviews out there that are bias, and they are hidden. What about family members and friend reviews? I bet 90% of first book reviews are from them. Think about it.

That is why authors bypassing their official pages is bad, because 'author reviews' are labeled as such, so we know that they're biased 'reviews.' Authors or their family members or their street teams leaving biased reviews is also a problem, though those reviews do tend to stick out like a sore thumb, if you look a little closer.