Personally, I happen to think that the message in a review is much more important than the amount of stars. Like most people in the business, I’ve gotten 3 and 4 star reviews that have made me extremely happy. I know that many people are tougher critics than others and that’s a good thing. If they write in a positive way and their comments are beneficial to whoever might follow them up, then I’m stoked.
It’s a fact that a lot of the book buyers don’t even read the 5-star comments. They go on to the lesser ones because they trust those aren’t from immediate family members (flattering Moms and Grandmas), co-workers and friends. On the other hand, once a book gets past 15 – 20 reviews, I think you can trust that a fair number of the observations are truly from either satisfied or unsatisfied readers.
Now if the review is simply about the author and her writing skills, that’s also a plus. I mean, it’s a positive benefit to someone looking for a new author if they read that this person’s work flows beautifully, especially if the reviewer brings up certain instances that might have stood out to them in that particular book. It could be the draw that attracts other potential readers.
As I mentioned in my last post, a 5-star review is a wondrous event. But sometimes it doesn’t really say a lot about the actual story. Sometime it says too much and gives away spoilers….arghrrr!!
Truly, if I was reading a bunch of critiques and the commenters consistently mentioned that the author was skilled, the characters delightful, or that maybe the conflicts made it a page turner, then I’d certainly be willing to try out the sample… or more than likely, buy the book.
***Next post will be on some of the specific reviews I’ve received and how they made me feel.
Talking about buying a book, why not just get them #FREE ???
