Reviews can be a contentious issue. The scandal of sock-puppetry, Amazon not allowing authors to review other authors, reviews being removed seemingly arbitrarily and the whole value of the review system itself on some sites has brought them to the fore. There are a good number of reviews which are, frankly, worthless. They say nothing about the book or are just someone’s opinion on an author, are so gushing they look fake (although may not be) or so spiteful it looks like a hate campaign has begun.
It must be remembered reviews are OPINIONS, with the level of reliability that offers. That said opinions can be influential – for example I belong to Goodreads and they have a pretty liberal review policy. Authors can review other authors (authors are readers too!) and even, in theory themselves although there is a flag marking it as an author review. Groups review between friends and this CAN be influential, a shared interest might swing a sale or get an author on the do not read list. There are some who feel the Goodreads reviews are… not reliable and authors can get victimised. In part this can be the case, but it is a small part. There are many who do use them to record their own thoughts on a book, even if that thought is “I loved it.” As I said reviews are opinions and thus the good has to be taken with the bad. There will always be someone who dislikes a book.
Many reviews can be less than helpful, simply stating “I loved it” is not actually that helpful for other readers. Many readers will skim the less than helpful ones to find those give a concise and well-rounded review. I suppose it depends on why the reviewer has actually left the review in the first place.
So really are they THAT important?
I ran the following experiment on one reader/author group on Goodreads and the results say quite a bit…
The question: How important are reviews in influencing your choice of book?
Total participants 27
Answers:
A good synopsis is more important – 11 votes, 40.7%
Reviews and a good synopsis are of equal value to me – 6 votes, 22.2%
Reviews are the most important consideration – 3 votes, 11.1%
Recommendations are most important -2 votes, 7.4%
A good synopsis is important, but reviews help -2 votes, 7.4%
I read reviews but they don’t affect my choice – 1 vote, 3.7%
Cover art, blurb, friends’ opinions then reviews if I bother to look – 1 vote, 3.7%
I never read reviews – 1 vote, 3.7 %
Cover art is most important – 0 votes
I never buy books with bad reviews – 0 votes.
On a second poll reviews only came 4th in the poll of how people find their books, after recommendations from friends, Books of the Months/ads and Listopia and other factors.
So although reviews are useful they are, perhaps, not AS useful as authors are led to believe in advice given. Reviews are predominately for readers, to praise or slate a book, as a reminder to check out that author again or to avoid him/her.
They are not the only factor but in combination with other considerations the results may vary… it certainly does not hurt to get good reviews.
There is a poll at the bottom of this post – feel free to vote.
Library of Erana 
When I’m undecided on whether or not I want to read a book, I often fall back on the reviews. Typically, I try and read one bad review and one good review to see what the high points and the low points of a book are because what some people see as a weakness I might see as a strength and vice versa. The one thing which may be a “kiss of death” when it comes to reviews is an outright lack of reviews. If a book has been out for say six months to a year and has no Amazon or Goodreads reviews, it tends to suggest to me that the book is so mediocre, nobody who read it had a strong enough opinion to write a review.
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It can be dependent on genre. Erotica often gets few reviews – do you want everyone knowing you read ‘naughty’ books? Some people also don’t review but yes no reviews at all doesn’t help.
Of course if every review mentions terrible editing or some other issue then they are probably worth taking notice of.
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Dear Eranamage,
I agree that Erotica and erotic romance get fewer reviews. The most reviews seem to be left for New Adult romance, as those readers have lots of energy and are happy to emote online. Awesome for authors in the genre.
My results from reviews have been rather amusing in the long term. My most popular book/best-seller has the lowest review ratings on Amazon (much higher on BN.com and other places). Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bryght has been out for 5 years, so those low ratings don’t seem to hurt.
Is t the best literature in the world? No. Is it as bad as some of the reviews say? Um, I don’t think so.It ran as a free read back in 2009 and thus attracted some erotic romance haters. I will say reviews that say ‘nothing but sex’ don’t hurt at all, lol!
It was also a victim of Amazon’s witch hunt for reviews that looked ‘too high’. I can honestly say I knew none of the people who left those high reviews, and am still puzzled by that whole thing. Oh well.
My Hawaiian Heroes hot contemporary paranormal series has glowing Library Journal reviews, and the 4th book even got a 4.5 from RT. This has not translated to sales. Again, oh well … just keep writing!
best,
Cathryn Cade
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There are certainly a few odd reviews about but most readers skim over that sort, A reader blogging or posting up a good review for a book does help with exposure and even a bad review can intrigue, I have bought a couple of books with crappy reviews simply because the book was a genre I like and the reviews were so silly. Reviews don’t always equate to sales, but they do give exposure. I suppose in many ways it depends on genre (and audience), who the review is aimed at and what was said and where. I don’t think alone they are influential, but as part of a bigger picture they can influence. There is no one key factor which works for every book. Some people have great success with free promotions, some don’t – some get reviews from them, some don’t. Some people think free books are automatically dross, some don’t. Some people read reviews and are influenced, some don’t.
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I read, I write, I review. Have been occasionally blasted for leaving a negative review, but while I don’t often leave negative reviews, sometimes I do, and will always include why *I* felt that way. Everybody has opinions – I didn’t like Gone Girl, or 50 Shades, all that much, other people loved them.
One thing that is especially important to authors is reviews on Amazon – good, bad, indifferent. Authors canNOT pay for ads for a book that has less than 25 posted reviews, so I always try to review there.
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I think reviews also help with an unrelated issue and that is exposure. Especially online. The more you see a book reviewed and picthing up the more your interest is piqued. More so than if the author themselves was marketing it themselved on one of the social platforms, in this case it just becomes spam.
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This is a good point, I can say my book is great but an independent stranger saying it is worth a lot more. If I find a book I love I do try and review all over the place:)
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All good points. I generally do read reviews, but so far bad ones haven’t stopped me from buying a book I like the look of, and vice versa. I only ever leave reviews for books I really enjoy and leave the bad ones to the surprising many people who like to do that sort of thing.
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Great post! I do occasionally read reviews, but they really don’t influence me one way or another. A review is someone’s opinion and I like to make my own.
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Reviews made the book visible to more people, future readers, future fans. That alone makes them relevant in my opinion, it’s promotion.
I prefer analytical, critical reviews, but there are rare reviews expressing excitement that can make the difference for my interest, if they’re written well, and possibly depending what is the history of the reviewer. I’ve also seen reviews that are more like an essay prompted by the book, those are a good read themselves and I believe they’re able to gauge interest for the book.
I really like reviews left by other writers. I wish more would do that, although I think it’s difficult for other writers to be publicly critical to a book, even when that critique is the honest thing to do.
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