I had planned of writing my review for Playing with Monsters * hopefully later today* but got sidetracked and went to Goodreads.
Now I am FURIOUS!
Why do people give 1 STARS when they haven’t read the book because the ARCs are not even available????
Sorry here I try to stay cool and funny and laid back while blogging but today as I was looking on GR for the publishing date of Tick-tock by Jane Harvey-Berrick I noticed 1 stars rating.
1 stars? And no other rating?
I mean not everyone love every book of course but I was intrigued as I did not even know if it was a beta reader or ….as the ARCs haven’t been sent yet.
Well turns out that that person had not read the book but made assumption based on the teaser or the cover or …. She even tweeted about her hate for the book so it was not a mistake!
I usually ignore the haters and maybe I had a bad hair day but today it erupted like a volcano and I just had to vent.
If you want to give a low rating something that is perfectly cool in my world as not every book is for every reader blablabla do it AFTER having read at least SOME of the book!
And explain your opinion.
I love a good discussion with a reader having a totally different opinion on a book I’ve loved but I expect a DISCUSSION as in ARGUMENTS and enlightened points and weaknesses that you saw.
Not a bashing just because you can give 1 star and hurt other people who work hard to write a book!
Many writers I know are indie and most of the time have a full or part time job. They write in their spare time and invest a lot in their stories. Rating one star without reading the book is purely and simply mocking them!
-Have YOU ever tried to write a book before?
-Have YOU tried to find beta readers and write, rewrite again and again?
-Have YOU tried to find some publishing house only to face rejection countless time?
-Have YOU had the guts to publish your baby exposing your work *rather your soul* to criticism?
-Have YOU tried to make your work known contacting bloggers, readers or PR agencies and sweating because getting visibility is so hard?
-Have YOU ever cried when someone destroyed your world in bashing your work on social media without any explanations just because they feel powerful behind their screen?
No?
Then DON’T BASH! Please if you want to give 1 star, be my guest BUT READ the BOOK before!!!!!
When I wrote this on Facebook today someone told me people put one star on not yet released books because it’s a reminder they want to read it …. Well that’s what TBR shelves are for. Or write a small comment if it’s your way of working…
Sorry rant over I’ll be back to my bubbly self today.
Question for you: do you think such people should be excluded from Goodreads? Any idea as how to make this stop?
Thanks for reading and sorry for the outburst!
Sophie
I. just. dont. understand. how. rating. a. book. 1. star. helps. to. remind. someone. that. they. want. to. read. the. book??????? That makes absolutely no sense to me??? As someone who goes by rating to help determine if a book is worth my time, 1 starring books you havent read is just so fucking stupid!! It fucks with the whole system of Goodreads! Where the whole point is to rate and review books you’ve actually READ! To help others find books to their tastes!
I don’t even like people rating books that are controversial or problematic a low score!
There’s just no logic to it in my eyes.
I understand people who only rate books, and dont review, as I was one of them and my best friend is too I used to/she still does just use Goodreads to keep track of our reading so we know what we have and havent read. But rating books you havent rate is just not a kind thing to do.
Sophie, I do, and I don’t really understand it either. Surely people realize that some do that and ignore it?? I hope so!
Well I hope too Daisy but it’s still unfair!
Oh that is terrible!! I hate when people do things like that! Its not fair to the author, I wish there was a way to report them!
Me too Brittany!
1 staring a book you haven’t read / isn’t even released yet is despicable but I also really hate it when people auto-rate a book they’re super excited for as a 5-star. It all makes a mockery of the system. I guess that’s one of the reasons I don’t put much stock in star ratings. I’m more interested in people’s words. 🙂
You are so right Nicci the words are better ro help us make an opinion!
You go girl!!!
Thank you Susan!
I don’t think it’s possible for Goodreads to stop people from rating books they haven’t read. I don’t understand why people do it, though. I only rate a book if I finish it. Everything else seems unfair to the author. Also, it’s annoying if you actually want to read reviews. For hyped new releases, I have to scroll past 100 excited/angry/whatever gifs to find someone who actually read the book and wrote an honest review.
I know we can’t stop them AJ but I so want it! And yes you are right about the hyped releases and the ratings…
It really drives me crazy to see an author being bashed on Goodreads…this is where I am tempted to just go more into Library Thing…although I do track my physical books on there. There was a romance podcast I was listening to but when they started to bash Lisa Kleypas I was OUT….you bash an author and we are NOT friends. Writing books is hard ( I wrote a book in high school) and it’s really not easy. I don’t even pay attention to the 1 stars anymore to be honest because 90% of the time they have something against the author. It’s not right to bash someones hard work just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean the book is bad or the author is bad. But then the opposite is true I don’t understand the five star rating a year before a book is to be published and they haven’t read it yet. I like the honest ratings that I can trust. That is why I mostly rely on reviews from my Goodreads friends that I trust. I rarely look at the community reviews anymore.
Exactly! I can’t stand blind 5 stars either in that I want honest reviews not “promo” reviews. And I do the same relying on reviews of friends that I trust.
This is why I do not look at others star ratings on GR. I saw once where someone did this and the author responded back to them and pretty much said it was interesting that they rated it that way since they were not done writing it.
I really believe that there are just some people that just love to spread hate.
Well I should do just like you and ignore the ratings Mary! You are wiser than me 😉
I agree. I will never understand why people rate a book before reading it, and it’s really crappy to give a book 1-star if you haven’t even read it. I don’t think there’s any way to stop those people though :-/
Well Kristen that’s too bad we can’t stop them because they can hurt authors ….but I know that we don’t live in candyland unfortunately 🙁
Oh my, that is hell of a rant but I totally agree with you! I’ve come across those 1 star ratings too and it’s sad they also target indie and non-famous authors just because they don’t like the author’s work or the author itself. I’ve seen some in Sarah J. Maas books but I don’t give a crap about them.
Yes it’s even more sad when they raget indie authors. They don’t have an editing house to defend them ….
Internet gangsters. They also give 5-Star to favorite authors despite not even getting the book yet.
I also hate when fans of an author stalk reviews that they don’t like and keep down voting it.
I agree with you that this is another side of this nasty problem Ezichi!
It’s both frustrating and sad that people still do this. They’re pathetic is what they are. But nothing will change because Goodreads will do nothing, not unless enough people come forward and complain about these kinds of reviews.
I spend a great deal of time reading, making notes and making sure I try to give as balanced a view as possible, and will say whether I think a book missed the mark, or went above and beyond. And rate it accordingly. But to write a review based on a whim just denigrates every review and reviewer out there. Never mind what it does to writers.
See Alexandra! I didn’t even think on how poorly it could reflect on reviewers… Yes like you I take many notes and if I give a low rating I always explain and try to fin people who might enjoy the book. Sometimes if it’s a new author I try to contact them privately offering more in depth feedback if they are interested …so yes I am mad today 😉
It makes me nuts when I see ANY rating for a book someone hasn’t read. What’s compounds my frustration is when these people get others to jump on the hate-bandwagon, and they start leaving 1-star ratings for a book they also have not read. Then they rally people on social media based on hearsay or something out of context. There are apparently a great many individuals, who dedicate their lives to spreading hate, and like you, it makes me angry.
Yes Sam. That’s the worst when they rally other people and it becomes a witch hunt!
I agree too!
Even if you hate the author, don’t just go giving any rating before reading the book, after reading it rate and review as you wish but it just is ANNOYING and illogical.
Exactly! You don’t rate a person you rate her or his work!
That makes me furious too. Like you I totally understand that people are all different and what works for one does not work at all for another. However, there is a difference between constructive criticism and bashing. My first “big” publication review a couple years ago received a serious bashing in a top Indie magazine. I was destroyed by it, not because the reviewer didn’t like it (her prerogative) but because after accusing me of writing two-dimensional characters she did not bother to explain why she thought that. It so happened that I thought those characters in particular had been well-developed and had a lot of depth, so the comment confused me and I really wanted to know what exactly made her say that (constructive criticism). More recently I had another review from someone who obviously did not read my book carefully because she kept bringing up details that were totally wrong. Anyway, I don’t know what the solution is but it boils down to simple human decency and courtesy. It seems that good manners are a thing of the past and the art of debate is lost. Pity. As an author I learn a lot from my beta readers which in turn helps me write better books, but there is not much to be learned from haters, is there?
Natalina I am so sorry to hear you went through this! But that’s why I was mad today. I never wrote a book yet know it takes sweat and blood to write this. Exposing your story is like being naked for everyone to see. So no I can’t stand haters.
Totally agree!!! My TBR is getting out of hand (not really upset about that) so I’m trying to make a point of reading several reviews before adding new books. Reviews like that are zero help. How am I supposed to know if the book is good without and constructive criticism?! It’s even worse when they give a 1 star rating without any comments to go along with it. Obviously if you gave a 1 star then you must have a strong opinion.
There is no reason to be sorry about this rant! I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets frustrated by these people.
Thank you Anna!!! I had to take it out of my chest 😉
I get extremely annoyed by this, too. I don’t want GR to be like Amazon where you can’t review until release day because ARC reviews are important. But I wish something could change.
Me too Kristi. Maybe they should look into the 1 star reviews before publishing date and look if there is a reasoning behind based on a reading of the book?