How do you feel about writers rating books?
I rate the books I read at GoodReads. My ratings are for my reference and are meant to reflect my reading experience with a given book.
But. My GoodReads profile is public. Anyone can go to it and see what I thought of a book. And I'm not sure that's beneficial.
Here's the thing: I think honesty is very important, and I value public figures who are forthright. I've read and respected reviews by authors who give their honest opinions, even when they might hurt the sales of a book.
Which I don't want to do. Not that I have any kind of standing right now, but I hope to make a career in children's lit. And I'm not willing to give everybody 5 stars, or even 4. If someone gave all my books 5 stars, I'd automatically think they were blowing sunshine. I'd rather they gave me an honest 1 or 2. When I see authors giving every book they read 4 or 5 stars, I assume they're trying to help the books' sales. Or they're extremely tolerant of mediocre writing.
Basically, I'm entitled to my opinion, but enjoyment of a book is so subjective that my star ratings shouldn't mean anything to anyone but me. But one day they may, and there's no option to keep them private without making myself a GoodReads hermit. When I started using GoodReads, I just wanted to keep a list of all the books I'd read. But then people wanted to be book buddies and why not? It's a community. I can use all the community I can get. :)
So far, I've been too lazy to write true reviews and have used the stars to sum my experience. I'm starting to think it'd be better to say something like, "If you liked BOOK A or BOOK B, you'll like this one." Then I've moved from rating to recommending. More useful?
What do you think? I mean, what do you REALLY think?
7 ate pie:
That is such a good question!
I've thought about this a lot. I have always been wary of rating books on public sites. Especially as a freelance writer -- I wouldn't want to request an interview from an author I've given a poor review. Talk about lame!
I only rate (and review) books that I like enough to earn a high rating. The ones I don't like, I just keep to myself.
Great post!
This is kind of a thing with me. I believe like you do: just because I didn't care for a book doesn't mean it's not a good book. It's also not personal.
However...it was made clear to me that people DO take things like that personally, and that saying anything negative about a book could be bad for my career. I was really annoyed by this bit of truth, but an awesome Tenner told me that if I wanted to review books, I should just review books. If I wanted to write, I had to suck it up and make the sacrifice.
So now I'm more careful on GoodReads. I only add books I'd recommend, and I only star books that deserve 5 stars. It's maybe not perfect, but my Tenner friend had the right of it: There are so many voices out there discussing books, mine isn't that necessary. And now, when I want to talk about a book I didn't like or had problems with, I chat about it with my friends.
BTW, my verification word is SHAZLE. Think I can use that in a sentence?
I rate on goodreads and I "review." I almost never give a two-star and never give a one-star. If you notice, the "definition" of a goodreads two-star is "It was ok." One-star is "I didn't like it." I figure if I don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.
Now all that being said, I try very hard to distinguish between what I like in a book and what gives a book literary merit. So while I just kind of "liked" WINTERGIRLS and 13 REASONS WHY, I recognize the merits in those books. If Goodreads stars weren't defined by tastes, but instead by literary value, then my whole rating process would be different. Those two books would be five-star books.
And since no one can really argue with tastes, it probably doesn't matter AT ALL how we rate our goodreads books. Right? Even if we all end with big time careers in Children's Lit where our opinions on writing would be highly valued, people should seek our opinions on a book's writing merit and not on if we "liked" it.
Bridgid - that would be an awkward interview. :)
Shaun - as soon as I posted this, I remembered saying on your blog that I won't disparage the work of a living author. And yet I've done so on GoodReads. Duh. Your fellow Tenner sounds reasonable. Leave the critical reviews to career book critics.
Jody - I definitely shouldn't use the GR stars, then, because I defined them differently. That's good that you distinguish between the aspects you liked and those that give a book literary merit.
Thanks a lot, guys, for your thoughtful responses. I'm creating a "Desert Island" tag for the books I enjoy so much I'd read them over and over. Then I'm ditching the stars.
I've thought about this a lot too, and I'm still not sure. I'm not willing to give up my stars, but I have noticed that I have reviewed far fewer books (on LibraryThing rather than Goodreads) since I started writing in earnest. I'm especially wary of writing bad reviews, because what if one day I meet that person and he/she knows I wrote a bad review of their book?
Also, now that I've experienced rejection and had my own writing cut to pieces, I've decided I don't want to verbally cut someone else's art down. Stars are different to me, because a low rating could mean anything.
Blah, blah. Since I'm still so wishy-washy, I doubt if this made any sense - lol!
This is something that I've been considering for awhile now.
I used to believe that I had every right to give my opinion on a book, and it didn't matter to me whether I was an author or not, or whatever--I can state my opinion, I have a right to that.
BUT.
People judge you based on reviews. And they use you--for blurbs you might not have intentionally meant to give. And my opinion was sometimes jaded because I knew the author--for good or ill.
I decided there would be much less drama in my life if I just kept reviews between me and my friends and didn't make them public. I have no issue telling a friend what I like or didn't, but I'm no longer going to post reviews online. In fact, I'm currently taking down 300+ reviews from GoodReads, clearing out all stars, etc., and am considering deleting all reviews from my blog. It's a bear of a job, but I'd rather do it now than have drama later, like I've been seeing with friends lately.
Julie - :) I felt wishy-washy about it, too.
Beth - I'm all for the No-Drama approach. :)
Thanks for your insights, gals.
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