Review Group discussion

I guess my question is: if you get a good rating, do you care about the written review?

I'm seeing reviews here of less than 150 words. I mean that's barely a description of the book, that's a paragraph. We wait months and that's what we get? Shouldn't a real review be some minimum of words? Does anyone else care?

As an author and reader I value an actual written opinion. I don't think it should spoil another's read but it should at least provide an opinion, and I'd really like to see the reviewer's thoughts of good points and bad points. That's the only way we can learn.

150 words and three stars tells me nothing.

Ed, my two-bit on the matter is that real buyers and readers don't spend pages and pages describing the book - they either like it or they don't and say so in the review. For my self-published e-novel The Governess currently only available via Amazon, there were a few who just left brief words like 'four star', 'riveting', 'beyond terrible' kinds of non-descriptive (and some may even opine 'empty reviews'). I think it's fine. Unless something effects / hits you on a personal emotional level, people don't go singing lengthy rhapsody over a book!

Even Publisher's Weekly's reviews are usually incredibly short. Did they like the story? Do they think it matters? Is it worth the purchase and time? PW's booklife reviews are restricted to that. And aren't those really the answers anyone really wants to know?

As authors in GR groups, it gets interesting to see what another author saw in your book and took away from it and these generally tend to be long 'opinion' pieces - and that's fine too.

I see you don't like short ones! But 100-words is a good bar if written well. People know the story through blurbs and blog reviews in any case.

All the best with the reviewing cycle from Noorilhuda

My personal take is that reviews do not need to be long in order to be effective. For detailed feedback on my own writing, I turn to my book club and my beta readers. Reader reviews, as I see it, are for gleaning an understanding of impressions. Did a reader really enjoy my book, think it was only passably entertaining, or find serious flaws? Briefly, what led to that impression? If I can pull that information from a reader review, I'm content.

We need to remember that reviews are for other readers, not the author.
What you are talking about is a critique for the benefit of the author, which is a different animal altogether.

Emma wrote: "We need to remember that reviews are for other readers, not the author.
What you are talking about is a critique for the benefit of the author, which is a different animal altogether."

So I would then have to ask: what is the purpose of this group if a one paragraph review is all that's required?

I then would point to the group's own post: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...... which seems to outline a much more serious process.

If a brief 'I liked it' or 'I didn't like it' is all that's expected then I guess we could all just be satisfied with a rating.

Ed wrote: "Emma wrote: "We need to remember that reviews are for other readers, not the author.
What you are talking about is a critique for the benefit of the author, which is a different animal altogether."..."

I read through the link above, to see if I may have been inadvertently writing my reviews incorrectly. The link provides a great ideal of explanation about how reviews are for the benefit of readers more than authors, and then provides a list of points to consider when writing reviews - but those points seem to be given only as suggestions intended for reviewers who aren't sure where to begin. There aren't any rules listed about how long a review should be, or what needs to be included.

Being curious, I took a look at your reviews for the first two books listed on your author page. Each review seemed to provide information about why the reviewer rated the book(s) the way they did. Some were more verbose about it than others, clearly, but nothing seemed strange to me.

Keep in mind... even strange reviews boost Amazon ratings and provide exposure. ;)

Emma wrote: "We need to remember that reviews are for other readers, not the author.
What you are talking about is a critique for the benefit of the author, which is a different animal altogether."

Thanks Emma, you're right,

Ed, look, everyone approached stuff differently. Let me give you examples:

My e-novel got a 5-star and lengthy review from independent book review site (ethical, non-payment one) that spoke of the story, characters, likes, dislikes, and how wonderful the book was.

It got a 4-star and lengthy review from one reviewing author from this GR group that spoke of my need to publicize the book more.

And it got 3-star and less lengthy review from another member from this GR group that spoke of need of good editor for the project.

It got a 1-star 9-line short para review from a different GR group (Reviews Initiative for Indie Books) reviewer who even made a racist comment about me that I had to get cut-off through mods-and GR intervention (!) or the guy would have been deleted altogether. The rest of the review is still on my book page.

Some reviewers have commented on the length of the book and time given to inner monologues of the lead characters that need to be trimmed.

One blogger just told me she liked the monologues!

Lesson: Everyone looks at a book differently. I am not a master storyteller yet. I am learning and should approach each review as part of the learning process and being in the public sphere.

So those reviews will help people who enjoy inner monologues find your book, and let those that don't enjoy them, avoid it. Result? You get readers who are more likely to enjoy your book.
This is the point of reviews, not to provide criticism for the author's benefit.
The only caveat I have to add, is that in our review process, we often read books from a genre we don't usually chose. In those cases, it's best to review a book with its intended market in mind.
For example, if a book is in the horror category, saying it's too violent, probably is't going to be helpful for a prospective reader.

Scifi will contain world building.
Paranormal will likely contain vampires/werewolves etc
E-romance/erotica will contain adult scenes.
Children's books should be suitable for the target age group
information books should inform.
Mysteries/whodunits should keep you guessing, etc

But guys this is called the 'Review Group'. We each read and 'review' four books in a rather lengthy process. If one can't get a thoughtful and insightful review here, where can we?

After after these months I expected more than a cursory paragraph. Forget whether I'm an author, I'm also an avid reader and I expected more either way.

If all this group is going for is a rating than I know how to proceed in the future...

I'll claim to have a great mind if you do it first Jamie, then I'll duck when people start throwing rotten fruit at us LOL!