When a reader gives a book a rating of one out of five stars..what does it mean?
Let's talk about Rating Systems first...
Many blogs dealing with books and reviews have rating systems. This clarifies what each rating represents based on the blogger him/herself.
Take mine for example:
In the past, that one moon had said something like "Bad. Don't waste your time!"
Recently, I've changed that to "Not for me"
Why?
Because there really is no such thing as a really bad book, unless the grammar is too horrid to the point where it's unreadable...
Or there can be the occasional "this makes no sense" story but that doesn't really make it bad...just in a way, careless.
~*~
Another point I'd like to discuss is the ones who feel it necessary to send a direct message to me saying:
"Hi! Love your Blog!! But...like...what the...like...hell! That book was freakin awesome! Why would you be so totally blah and give it a low rating! Okay well, bye xoxoxo XD"
Alright, alright...I went too far but that's kinda what it feels like there telling me. And this happened to me a few times over the past year. Others have asked kindly so to you guys; don't be giving me the Elvis look haha, I don't mind you asking my opinion on a book I've rated one out of five.
But lack of understanding and judging a reader harshly based on what books they like or didn't like is above all, annoying. And a reminder: I'm sure you'd feel a lot better saying this book was "not my cup of tea" rather than "Holy Cannolis! This book SUCKED!".
...maybe.
But in all honesty, I say to you my followers. Do not be so harsh to the ones who carry hopes and dreams on their back. And don't have a verbal fight to see whose liking is correct. Everyone has their own opinion.
...Just be calm and honest. Most writers only want to share their ideas and hopefully bring a smile to your stubborn face.
Well, my stubborn face.
;)
I completely agree with this! For me a one star is a book I could not finish and even if I didn't like the book, I always find something positive to say even if it's like the Twilight books which I didn't like but the positive is that the author did a great job at sucking the reader into her world and keeping them there for all 4 books. That's great! (Yes, I read all 4 of the books even though I didn't care for them I wanted to know how it would end.)
ReplyDeleteSaying Not for me, like you have is a great way to do it. I can't tell you how many reviews I have seen on goodreads and amazon where they are just mean and that always makes me sad. Anyway,I'm rambling now, but, I totally agree great post!
I agree! I've been trying to be a little nicer in my reviews because my opinion is not "right" nor is someone else's. Nor do I want to dissuade someone from reading a book he or she may actually really enjoy.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion!
I agree with you. I used to have 1-5 rating stars, but recently changed it to 3-5. 3 was decent, 4 was good, 5 was amazing! I hate to read reviews that totally crush a book or author. Books are kind of like their children. I try to talk about their book like it was their child. If that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Moirae, even if I didn;t like the book I try to find something positive about it.
Great post!
I rarely give 1 star ratings and tend to rate in the middle-good side. I'm easy to please, I suppose. But I totally want to feel I encourage people enough to try the book themselves! Because really it's just my opinion and I've seen reviews of books where I wondered if me and the blogger actually read the same book with the same characters! Everyone takes things differently and so I've never let a low rating really get to me, because a lot of times I can end up liking it and vice versa. Though, I wished I would have listened to people about Tris and Izzie... -.-
ReplyDeleteThis is why I do not rate on my blog. i don't want people to just look at the rating, but to read my thoughts on the book and why it did or didn't work for me.
ReplyDeleteI totally prefer the the NOT FOR ME rating to the HATED IT rating. To validate it, there's a huge rash of paranormal romance novels that have most of the YA-reading population all atwitter, but just about every time I read one I think, "Eh..."
ReplyDeleteI agree. There are no bad books. (Just annoying books for ourselves) For example, I can't stand reading Fallen series. I really can't. I know lot of people likes this series, but for me is desperate and really annoying. That's because we have different perspectives from books. And when we review we have to think that the writer worked really hard on it.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. I hate giving books a bad review, because I always feel that just because I didn't like a book doesn't mean that it's a bad book- just that I didn't like it. And we're all different. I sometimes cringe though when I see a bad review of a book that I adored.
ReplyDeleteThere have been times though, where I read a one star review and it makes me really want to read the book! There are things that the reviewer didn't agree with but that I think I would like. And it made me look it up to try to find other reviews of it- so even though it was one star it brought the book to my attention.