Wednesday 10 January 2018

Reviewing reviews


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scoring-Own-Goal-Tennis-short-ebook/dp/B01F5CMZ1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1468760454&sr=1-1&keywords=Julia+ThorleyA publisher told me recently that it looks suspicious if all the reviewers of a book have given it five stars, because it looks as though only friends and family have logged their opinion (and perhaps without even reading the book). Apparently, a mix of scores looks more authentic. What do you think? Is this true?

My prize-winning short story 'Scoring an Own Goal in Tennis' is free to download from the Amazon Kindle store for the next five days. I hope you like it - and if you do, please leave me a review. How many stars you give it is up to you.

6 comments:

  1. I received a mix of 4 and 5 star reviews for my latest story collection on Goodreads and then got a one star with no comment! Think that’s taking it to the other extreme!

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    1. Well, that's just rude! Mind you, I'd just be happy if people would leave a review - any review.

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  2. I've heard that a mix of star scores looks better too. Perhaps that's just as well for those of us who can't manage 100% 5*! I admit to only giving 5* to books that absolutely blow me away

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    1. It's good to get any kind of reviews, isn't it, Sally?

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  3. IT's a strange one that, Julia, and I'm not sure it's absolutely true - especially if there are more than 20 4* and 5* reviews. Surely they can't all be known to the reader. I know from experience that the novel I've had most 4/5* reviews on has only a few names I recognise and family don't tend to leave any reviews! Other authors have even more top reviews.

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    1. I'm not sure either, Rosemary. Perhaps people don't leave reviews of things they don't like.

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