If you posted your review for a book, and then read some of the other reviews, and saw that the author of a book had posted a review giving her book 5 stars and saying, "I have to give it 5 stars-- I wrote it! LOL!" or something very similar, would you find that a bit... tacky?
I'm finding it very tacky.
(The book was not very good. I'm kind of ticked off I spent money on it. And this is kind of ticking me off even more.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Well your supposed to look at reviews before you buy the book. If you had seen that review before would you have bought it? You just have your ordering all messed up.
It also sounds incredibly tacky.
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: the author of a book had posted a review giving her book 5 stars and saying, "I have to give it 5 stars-- I wrote it! LOL!" or something very similar, would you find that a bit... tacky?
*shrug*
No. Many authors do, and there have been long discussions in the GR Feedback Group about it.
IMO, it's only tacky to give the book 5 stars if they do NOT make it clear that they are the author. Or when they get their friends (and/or fellow authors) to do so -- often without actually having read the book.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I gave my book 5 stars, but it was actually an accident. I had just joined the site and was trying to figure out how things worked. I clicked to rate it and then couldn't figure out how to undo it. But I figured, what the heck? It's not like it's not clear I'm the author. I didn't actually leave a review of it.
I don't know -- I can't honestly say I see the problem, especially if the author made it clear that she was the author. I would hope she likes her own book. Meanwhile, everyone else is able to weigh in and it doesn't take too many other people weighing in on a book to drown out the one rating given by the author. It's not like she got extra votes.
As far as getting friends to rate it -- I only find that tacky if they really didn't read it or if they really didn't like it and lie. If they did read it and liked it, then supporting their friend seems ok to me. Or maybe that's just because I know how hard it is for a new author to get noticed in the first place. I've asked people who said they liked my book to rate it at various sites.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Well, she has a little fan club. I don't really care about them, there will always be teens who moon over bad fiction. I don't know if they have read the thing or not, it's easy to weed out reviews like "this is the best book I've ever read! I want to marry the author!!!111!!!!!11!" from real reviews.
I don't think she shouldn't be allowed to do it or anything, I just find it... tacky. Immodest, maybe.
(Oh, and I don't think she doesn't know how Goodreads works; she apparently was on Goodreads before it was published. It's not her first book. And, I wouldn't have bought it if I'd read reviews; I picked it up as an impulse-I-need-a-book-right-now-no-internet-while-I-was-evacuating buy. That's why I posted my own review; fair warning to my friends!)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Christine: I don't know -- I can't honestly say I see the problem, especially if the author made it clear that she was the author. I would hope she likes her own book.
Entirely agreed.
quote:Originally posted by Christine: As far as getting friends to rate it -- I only find that tacky if they really didn't read it or if they really didn't like it and lie. If they did read it and liked it, then supporting their friend seems ok to me.
I should have been clearer. I'm talking about the little private groups that are all about "I'll give your book 5 stars if you give mine 5 stars."
I give ratings (some of which are 4 or 5 stars) to friends' books on GR. But only after reading them, and not as a quid pro quo. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I saw a case of an author arguing with a bad review and trying to bully the reviewer into changing it, while trying to bully her friends who defended her into reading the book as well.
What was so funny is that the review said the author was pompous, arrogant and patronizing to his readers, meanwhile the author stated how offended he was about that characterization in a way that was ... yes ... quite pompous, arrogant, and patronizing. I thought it might be a joke, in fact, but it turned out that the man was actually the author. It was crazy.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: I saw a case of an author arguing with a bad review and trying to bully the reviewer into changing it, while trying to bully her friends who defended her into reading the book as well.
What was so funny is that the review said the author was pompous, arrogant and patronizing to his readers, meanwhile the author stated how offended he was about that characterization in a way that was ... yes ... quite pompous, arrogant, and patronizing. I thought it might be a joke, in fact, but it turned out that the man was actually the author. It was crazy.
That's kind of funny but, in the author's defense (and it sounds like he needs one) I think it is problematic for reviews to assign characterization to the author. Review the book, not the author.
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Christine, I'm fairly certain I know which review/kerfuffle Tatiana is talking about (I had to refer the flags (there were quite a few!) up a level), and if so, it WAS about the book. Non-fiction, and the review was talking about the tone of the author in the book.
At this point, it has been dealt with. Thankfully, not by me! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:If you posted your review for a book, and then read some of the other reviews, and saw that the author of a book had posted a review giving her book 5 stars and saying, "I have to give it 5 stars-- I wrote it! LOL!" or something very similar, would you find that a bit... tacky?
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: People read reviews before buying a book? Seriously?
This is why I'm on Goodreads, actually. If I'm going to spend many hours of my life reading a book, it's nice to know that someone liked it; especially someone who I've marked as a friend. I don't always agree with my friends' tastes, but I get to know them and read their opinions in that light.
Now, I don't usually read every review by any random stranger.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Synesthesia: I sent you a friend request. I have ketchupqueen on my list, but she's listed under her real name.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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if you do a search for "ketchupqueen", there is only one result that comes up. And it's a picture of a ketchup bottle...
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I think I found her. If I did it right, then I sent friend requests to both Synesthesia and ketchupqueen. I go by my name on Goodreads, too, and I'm open to friend requests.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Groovy. I shall ad more folks a bit later. I sort of wish I had a spoilery site especially for movies. Like, do I really want to slog through this book or this movie if it ends like THIS?
Mostly I like reading bad reviews of books that annoyed me.
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