by Dexter Morales
How important are book ratings to you? Do you think of book ratings as a personal thing or as something that is meant for others? I understand that a Goodreads rating is something that many readers use to decide if they may read something or not. However, I at the end of day the rating system for the author more than a reader. Yes, the overall star rating is something the system is going to use to decided how many people to recommend the book to. Once your rating is live and averaged with all the others, the star becomes more that how the book resonates with you. Suddenly, you have just given the system a reason to push harder for the book or to start acting like the book does not exist. These apps and booksellers want you to buy has many books as possible. So based only on numbers, the computer will make sure books with high ratings (and high review counts) will be pushed into everyone’s recommendation feed.
Rating a book or anything is all business. I have been writing, and doing other creative things, on and off all my life. Everything is for everyone is something I fully understand. It is even one of the things that makes reading so great. There really is a book out there that will satisfy your needs, and there are books you will not vibe with on any day. No matter what side of the line you are on with a book, I do not believe that should be something that makes or breaks a writer, or any other person willing to share their art. Now I will say that if much of your audience is not enjoying what you are putting out there, then it might be time to reanalyze what people are not liking.
There are always things that come around that will stand beyond everything else. These rare gems often have the power to pull in people of varying interest levels, adding to the power that an instant classic can bring. Even with these “works of art” there are going to be people that do not enjoy them. Which brings up the next question, is it wrong to give a book you did not enjoy a bad rating?
Ratings for me have always been a thing I have struggled with giving in the past. Oftentimes, I found myself just handing out high ratings to most books. Anything four stars or more is what I consider a high rating. To combat me handing out stars like candy, I decided to make the rating based on how I felt about a book. Recently, I have seen how my strict system has led to some inconsistencies in ratings. Some of these low ratings come from the fact that I am usually not afraid to try a new genre. When I am coming from a genre I know and love the rating will be more in line to how the general audience might feel about the book, good or bad. Ratings become harder for me to lock in on when it is a genre, I am less familiar with reading. We can define familiar here as a genre I have read often throughout my read journey. If it is a genre I love, then I feel that my ratings for the book will be on the more critical side. The reason behind this, I would assume, is that my desires and expectations for genre are well established. I do not know if I will ever lockdown my rating system in life. I do feel that the rating, for me, needs to be a better representation of if another reader will enjoy the book or not.
This is what I love most about: “Yes, No, or Maybe.” Numbered rating gives me too much anxiety to hand out. I am not over here trying to ruin someone’s day, but I am also not trying to lead anyone taking the time to read my posts down a path I did not enjoy. A number-based rating alone should not determine if someone wants to read a book or not. I am being the optimistic one here, but people should more than the number on a review to figure out how I feel about a book.
“Yes, No, or Maybe” is a system I enjoy because it forced the reviewer to clarify their answer. It is one of the times that a yes or no question can lead to more than a one-word answer. For example, we will use Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver and Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez to show how ratings can be different but the same all at once. Wild Eyes would be a “Yes,” “5 stars,” and a “strongly recommend.” Now with these three ratings it is easy to see that it is a book that I enjoyed a lot. Not all books are created equally though.
If I did the same for Part of Your World it would be “maybe,” “3.5 stars,” “would recommend.” As we can see here the answer of if you should read it or not based on these is not easy. Now the first thing that must be accounted for is the fact that three stars to me does not mean the same as three stars to you. If three is a low number for you and that is all you see, you might walk away from the book. If you saw in the review “maybe” or “would recommend” you might be more interested in why the maybe. Part of Your World is a maybe from me because I enjoyed the writing in the novel and Daniel was a great MMC. In addition, Alexis was not the best FMC she was too dramatic about everything happening but was pleasantly surprised by her actions in the end. The ending though did not change my overall feelings of Alexis, but it gave the ending a nice well-rounded feeling. It is a book I do recommend for someone that enjoys Jimenez’s writing, and a good weekend romance read. A number alone is a solid system, but it would require all of use to follow the same rubric and weigh every aspect of a story the same.
Ratings are only as important as you let them be as a reader, but for the author the rating can be make or break. I will always consider my written reviews to be the most correct depiction of how I felt about a story. What does 3.5 out of 5 really mean, without context that can mean anything honestly? To me that means the book might be something I would like to read eventually. However, a 3.5 to my friend could mean the book is something they will not consider reading without some convincing. A number alone here will help no one make a reasonable decision. We are all readers here, so why not take a little time and read a review or two and not letting the number alone make the choice for you. We have so many algorithms making decisions for us, and we must stop being afraid of trying something different just because others did not enjoy it. Be that one person that champions for the indie author on the rise. Word of mouth will always be the strongest form of advertising in my opinion; I will read a book my friend recommended before all the high star reads on my TBR.
I do not believe that ratings should be the life source of all things creative, but I am aware of the power ratings can have for creators. Let me clarify as well, that I do not think that all books are deserving of great ratings. As readers we should be as honest as possible for the author to have valuable feedback. After thinking about the duty of giving ratings to creative works, I have found that I will employ more of a yes, no, or maybe system in reviews. The stars are never going away, and I do not plan to abandon the system. I just want people to think more about the context of the number is all. Also, whether it is fair or not, a book is not going to be for everyone. If a hundred people read your book and 10 people disliked it, are you going to focus on the 10 or the 90? As you go through your day smile at the green lights you pass by and try ignoring all the red lights blocking your path. As the author I am not saying that the ten bad reviews do not matter but just try and focus on the 90 good reviews.
An author should not always expect high ratings either. I would ask any author if they have loved everything they have read? The answer would most likely be no. So then why do they expect their writing to be loved by all. Yes, it is a labor of love, but at the same time we must never forget the risk we take by releasing our work to the public. Once a book is in the hands of the reader, things are no longer in your control. This is something they told us all the time in graduate school. Just put your work out there and it will find the people. Remind yourself what your goal in writing is daily. Do you want to be rich and famous? Then you need to follow the public no matter the cost to your artistic vision. Do you want to share your vision with others and let them be part of your world? Then focus on all the things you love about your writing and do not let reviews bring you down. Words with meaning will always be found by those that need them. They live on forever and you may never get to see your work loved and appreciated the way you think it should be, but one day your work might be considered a great masterpiece discovered on the flash drive in the back of a drawer.
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