Amazon requires a review if you want to rate a book (or product)
Goodreads allows you to rate a book without any explanation as to why you gave it that rating.
With that said, here's what prompted this post:
In the six weeks since it's release, my current book has 15 reviews on Amazon... all five star.
On Goodreads, there're four reviews, all five star. There were also two additional ratings without reviews, three stars each, which according to Goodreads rating system, means they liked it.
UNTIL TODAY.
Someone gave it ONE STAR without a review, which means there's no explanation as to why she HATED it. The average for this book on Goodreads just plummeted from 4.2 to 3.86.
I clicked on this person's name, and it says she has 1,062 ratings and only five reviews, with an average rating of 3.61, which means she probably gives low ratings to every book she reads and seldom writes a reason why.
So, before I drown myself in vodka, I must ask, How seriously should I take this rating system on Goodreads? Can someone such as this person, who silently trashed my book, damage its sales?
Goodreads allows you to rate a book without any explanation as to why you gave it that rating.
With that said, here's what prompted this post:
In the six weeks since it's release, my current book has 15 reviews on Amazon... all five star.
On Goodreads, there're four reviews, all five star. There were also two additional ratings without reviews, three stars each, which according to Goodreads rating system, means they liked it.
UNTIL TODAY.
Someone gave it ONE STAR without a review, which means there's no explanation as to why she HATED it. The average for this book on Goodreads just plummeted from 4.2 to 3.86.
I clicked on this person's name, and it says she has 1,062 ratings and only five reviews, with an average rating of 3.61, which means she probably gives low ratings to every book she reads and seldom writes a reason why.
So, before I drown myself in vodka, I must ask, How seriously should I take this rating system on Goodreads? Can someone such as this person, who silently trashed my book, damage its sales?