Do reviews matter?

[w_earle_wheeler]

While I'm on the subject of negative reviews, writers should keep in mind that even a scathing but widely read review can be a positive thing. It gets people talking about your book, makes them aware of it. I'm aware of a recent review that tore apart the book reviewed, and the authors saw their sales spike.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that -- a negative review that I have a bad gut feeling about (or from a reviewer I have disagreed with in the past) sometimes causes me to seek out more information on a book that I have some interest in.

Also, incredibly long reviews or reviews without paragraph breaks go in the mental trash can.

 

[Bardsandsages]

I agree that the star system is not terribly useful. I think it needs to be finer-grained (half-stars, perhaps), and there is indeed quite a bit of grade inflation (which I may be guilty of myself), particularly for the older reviews. Three-star reviews really ought to be a lot more prevalent, so that the truly exceptional stuff is more visible.

When I write reviews for Amazon and other sites, this is always my assumption:

5 stars: flawless work. The Shakespeare of its genre. The gold standard everyone else should strive for
4 stars: Exceptional work. Worthy of a spot on the bookshelf.
3 stars: A solid product. Does what it needs to do.
2 stars: A flawed product. Fails in its execution of its idea. Possibly some redeemable material.
1 star: An incoherent mess of problems that makes it impossible to tell what the product is suppose to be about. Useless to the extreme.

I've added addendums to Amazon reviews saying things like "I would have given this 3 1/2 stars if that was possible."

I think the real issue is that people equate 3=average=bad. Which is ridiculous, because average is, well, average. Its a solid product that does its job. I totally accept that not everything I produce is going to be this industry-revolutionizing masterpiece that will change the course of gaming (and that ultimately is what the 5 stars should be reserved for). I'm providing short tools to help make the GMs life easier.

So I agree that many reviews are inflated, making more honest reviews appear "bad". There is never going to be a lot that can be done about it, however, because it is the nature of the beast. We can only hope that the average consumer is smart enough to read between the lines.

 

[Thanee]

For RPGs most definitely not. Opinions do, but reviews not really, no.

Bye
Thanee

 

[wingsandsword]

I don't really read reviews, not regularly, only if I'm really thinking about getting something and I'm sitting on the fence.

If I'm interested I might read a review or two beforehand to see if it's as good as I hope it will be. If I'm very interested in a book, I'll go to my FLGS and flip through a copy. If I like what I see, I'll buy it.

Universally bad reviews of a product I would be interested in would make me wary when I looked at a book, but I'd still pick it up, and take a look myself.