I’ve been reading the Amazon reviews of ARTFUL and overall I’m averaging four stars out of five. So I figure that’s good.
But there seem to be a spate of One-star reviews that read almost uniformly the same:
“Didn’t keep reading it.”
“Couldn’t read it.”
“Don’t read books about vampires.”
“Read one chapter, stopped.”
Maybe I’m being oversensitive, but how can anyone claim to have an informed opinion about a book that they didn’t complete? Or that they didn’t even start? One person even gave it a one-star review because they never received it? The hëll?
I don’t mind if someone reads a book of mine and declares they didn’t like it, but I don’t see why they feel the need to slam it without having actually bothered to read it.
PAD
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A review should be answering the question “In your opinion, should I buy this book?” Thus, “Read one chapter, stopped” is saying “No, don’t spend money on this book, it didn’t retain my interest long enough to get my money’s worth.”
The one-star review because they never received it is more answering the question “Should I buy this book *on Amazon*?”. In this case, it’s saying “Don’t spend money on Amazon for this book, because you won’t receive it, thus wasting your money.”
There is no excuse for “Don’t read books about vampires.”
Some people just feel so bad with their own life that the only way they think they can try to feel a little better is by trashing others. They are the bottom of the bell curve and can be discounted, just because it is not about you, your book or anything relevant about a book review in any sense.
Yes, you are being too sensitive.
Michael Cugley’s answer is the correct one. These aren’t really “reviews,” in the sense that they’re critics reviewing a piece of art or entertainment. They’re reviewing it as a product, the same way they’d review a Dust Buster or whatever. And sometimes, you really can tell from the first chapter that a book just isn’t for you, or isn’t what you were looking for. I wouldn’t take it personally.
Can you review a book you’ve not read? Can you review a film or television show you’ve not seen? Of course not. It’s the written equivalent of wanting to just hear yourself talk. My rule of thumb as far as reading for pleasure is I don’t enjoy it after 50-60 pages, I generally put it aside. But I would never consider reviewing it, because I’ve not read it. Sadly a lot of people don’t operate with those restrictions.
They’re all dumb. I loved Artful and just wrote an honestly favorable review to counter the idiots. I hope for a sequel… right after Hidden Earth 3.
Please don’t leave us hanging much longer on that one, okay?
I read your review. It was very kind. Thanks.
PAD
This seems perfectly valid to me.
These aren’t professional reviewers. They’re not being paid to read the book, even if they don’t like it. This is the reaction they had, and they’re telling people about it.
When I worked in video games, I noticed that the user reviews tended to all be either the lowest possible score or the highest, with very little in-between. However, they’d generally average out to something very close to the average for the professional reviews. So the people giving overly enthusiastic scores balanced out the people giving overly pessimistic scores. It looks like the same thing is happening here.
This probably makes up for the problem that book readers without strong opinions aren’t going to go onto Amazon and write a review at all. If the people who gave up early didn’t write reviews, then every book would only be reviewed by people who loved it. By having a few 1 stars mixed in with the fives, you get the four stars you probably deserve.
No, they can’t claim to have an informed opinion. I don’t think they’re trying to claim that; they simply have an opinion and want to make sure everyone else has their opinion too.
If something were so unpleasant that I had to stop 3/4 of the way through or something I might review it … but not if I were only a chapter or so in. That’s not especially helpful.
I’ve written reviews of a few books that I didn’t finish, but only if I read a substantial enough part of it before quitting that I felt I could articulate my reasons for stopping to a degree that they would be useful for other potential readers. Just being too bored to continue wouldn’t be enough to write a did-not-finish review, since what bores me might not bore others, and I’d never write a review that *just* said I didn’t finish it any more than I’d just write a review that says “I liked it” or “it was terrible.” None of those things actually tell somebody whether or not they would like a book since they have no idea of knowing whether or not their tastes align with mine.
Now, I have written a DNF review of a book because the description made me think it was going to be dark psychological suspense about a woman’s obsession with her husband’s son by his mistress and midway through it had become clear that it was a fairly matter of fact, endless recitation of acts of child abuse that barely even touched on the psychology. I wrote it party because I felt that the gap between what I had expected and what I’d gotten was large enough that others might also start reading it under the wrong impression of what it was, but that still depended on the fact that I’d read enough of it to let me say enough to help others make an informed decision.
But I’m a librarian and even though I only write reviews in my capacity as a reader, I always have in mind that the point of a review is less to tell somebody if a book is good or bad, period, than to describe it well enough to convey whether it’s good or bad for them. A book for every reader and a reader for every book and all that. I’ve picked up some excellent books based on reviews where they’d actually only been given a C+ because they made it clear they would be interesting to me.
But I really don’t understand why the “I don’t read books about vampires” people chose to give it one star rather than just reading something else in the first place.
Sadly, almost every item on Amazon has these kinds of bogus reviews. People post reviews of DVD’s before they come out, based on the movie, not the actual DVD product. They blame the book (movie, cd, whatever) for Amazon’s failings, or even the post office’s. You’d think Amazon would start paying some interns to vet the reviews before allowing them to go live, and filter out the ones that are bogus.
I suppose we should be thankful that the types that post in the talkbacks of Yahoo and CNN haven’t turned every Amazon review section into an endless political flamefest.
I worte a one-star review on Amazon of a book i didn’t finish – although i did skim the rest of the book to see if it got any better after i read the first two or so chapters.
I actually wanted to give zero stars, but that’s not allowed.
It was a political screed by a far-right writer that was homophobic as well – and disguised as SF by the publisher. (I suppose, since it visualised a “Second American Revolution” that would return power to all right-thinking Amurrikins, i suppose it would – by courtesy – be definable as “SF”)
I specifically discussed the writing, events throughout the book that were twisted to fit the pre-conceived narrative, rhetorical tricks that also appeared throughout, and the marvelously stupid conclusion – i tried to make it obvious that, while i had stopped “reading” early on, i had continued through the entire work, verifying my earliest impressions.
The review was removed, apparently because i reviewed the book’s intent and political underpinnings, and not the “story”. Five-star reviews that praise the book for its brilliant political theorising remain up.
I was informed by someone that someone else was bragging about gaming the Amazon review system by complaining about negative reviews, mine apparently specifically one of them…
It is possible to write a negative review of a work based on just some of it, if it’s so emetic that it appears that a person of minimal intelligence would be repelled by it. I forget who said (though Dr Johnson is a strong candidate in my mind) that “one not eat all of an egg to know that it is bad.”
The romance novel website Smart Bìŧçhëš, Trashy Books http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com rates books from A to F, with the extra DNF (Did Not Finish) rating. In the latter case, the reviewer always explains why the book was so terrible to them that they couldn’t make it through. So while you should always try to make it through a work, you can review a work you didn’t finish if you explain why you couldn’t finish it.
(I’m usually good at finishing books, movies, and albums no matter how bad they are, but a few have beaten me. The album GOD WEEN SATAN by Ween was so terrible I couldn’t make it past the third song. And GERALD’S GAME by Stephen King lost me fairly early on — though it really should have been a short story, or at most a novella, instead of a full-length novel where a woman spends most of it talking to herself (because she’s tied up alone in a cabin) just so there’s dialogue.)
Heh, I actually like that album, but I totally understand your response to it.
ARTFUL may be a victim of circumstance. It is the only book you have written that is available on Kindle Unlimited, which launched last July. Anything available on Kindle Unlimited is also available through the Kindle Lending Library, which has been around for much longer. This means ARTFUL may be exposed to a wider and much more casual reading audience than your other books.
I’m a few chapters into ARTFUL right now through my own Kindle Unlimited subscription. As expected, ARTFUL is delightful. :^)
This is in no way a commentary on Artful (I have a copy on my Kindle but haven’t read it yet) but your complaint reminds me of a dimly remembered anecdote concerning a famous theater critic.
The critic had panned the opening of a new play by writing that he fell asleep during the first act.
“How dare you criticize a play when you slept through two thirds of it?” the author protested.
“My dear fellow,” the critic replied, “falling asleep IS a review!”
I’ve fallen asleep during films that actually turned out to be quite good; I was just too tired to remain awake for it. So the author was correct to protest.
PAD
I remember. Lisa and I were there when you fell asleep during the first “Men In Black.” 🙂
That’s why I don’t see midnight preview screenings the day before the official release: I don’t want to spend a lot of effort struggling to stay awake, especially when that has nothing to do with the movie itself!
No, I’d still side with the critic. He knew whether he fell asleep because he was tired or bored.
I detect the aroma of trolls.
(Haven’t read Artful yet because I’m paying for a wedding this year, but I’m looking forward to it.)
I bought it but I am currently reading a 10 book series so it will be a little while until I get around to reading Artful.
Speaking of reviews, if you are planning to watch them could you make a post in a month or so about what you think about the current group of superhero comic-based shows? (Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Constantine and Agents of Shield)
I’d argue that a “couldn’t get past the first half or even the first chapter” type of review is more helpful in a way because it reflects the potential reaction from your audience. When someone buys a book, they are under no obligation to complete it — like a critic or a student. Ideally, our job as authors is to produce the type of story that *compels* the reader to finish it. You want the review that says, “I looked up and it was 2 a.m. and I still didn’t want to stop reading.” If I think of all my favorite books, the “marathon” reads are what they all have in common. My least favorite books were a slog. And even books I liked but had to power through a dull period could’ve been improved by the removal or revision of the slow spot.
This is one of my most common areas of feedback at the Writers Group I attend. People will read first chapters that go nowhere or worse the “world building” prologue to the fantasy novel that has you nodding off. The response when someone asks, “When do things start to happen?” is “wait for it!” or “It gets really good later.” That doesn’t make sense. If you’re Thomas Hardy two centuries ago, your audience might patiently read pages of description about the heath but today, in the world of the five page Kindle preview, you have to grab readers fast and hold them tight.
Of course, I do understand the frustration of an author dealing with readers who simply don’t have the patience to read a book. Aliteracy (as opposed to illiteracy) is rising at a shocking rate. I’ve known partners in law firms who couldn’t get through a well-written book. Having to actually use imagination to form scenes and so forth made one friend’s “head hurt.”
I blame the Kardashians (don’t we all?)