Reviews, ratings, and reasons why some people think I’m a moron…

I made some mistakes this morning. At the top of the list was using my phone to check my facebook notifications… one day, I will learn. That day, apparently, is not today.

But, I do feel I need to address something.

Today, I was informed that authors who disregard 1-2* reviews and do not listen to and accept their (the reviewers’) criticism are morons.

I’m a moron. I’m fine with this. But I’m not fine with the general entitlement readers seem to have, that their dissenting vote entitles them to the author taking action based on their “advice”.

Readers… I don’t check 1-3* reviews. Hell, I don’t check 4* reviews… I only see 5* reviews when I go to my PA and ask her to send over some nice words from people who appreciate the book I wrote.

The reviews are not for me. When you post a review on a retail site you are doing so to alert other readers to why you liked a book and think they should buy it or why you hated the book and think they should not buy it.

The reviews themselves aren’t for me, but I’m definitely paying attention to your ratings. And I use them to make business decisions so I don’t waste money on a book people don’t want to buy.

I, frankly, spoken, should have pulled the plug on the Vigilante Magical Librarians series, due to ratings, before the second book even came out. I should have rewritten the second book to become a duet and cut my losses.

I didn’t because I really like Janette despite her status as the heroine of one of my most hated series. (Alas, Poor Vicky from the Witch & Wolf World books holds the award for most hated at current.)

The $0.99 to $7.99 (or higher) you paid for a book does not entitle you to direct attention from any author. For the most part, I really do like chillin’ with my readers. Most of you are really cool peeps. Every book is written for an audience… if a book was not to your taste, you’re not the audience for that book. Do authors wish we could have books to every reader’s taste? Yes, of course. We want to make people happy with our books.

I am not a writer for those people who expect complete perfection from a book. And there are readers out there who view a single typo as the complete ruination of a novel. Or a single grammar choice they do not approve of.

(Yeah, I’m REALLY not the right writer for those readers, please save your money and your time if you feel this way about books. I do my best, as do my various paid staff members and volunteer readers.)

And no, I’m not considering adding new proofreaders to the team. The team I have at current is hard enough for me to keep up with!

But, people do severely underestimate the importance of ratings. Not reviews, just ratings.

On retail sites, this is typically how the ratings work. In parenthesis, I am leaving a note of how most authors typically view the ratings.

• 1*: this book is irredeemable garbage, probably a DNF, avoid it at all costs. (Definitely not buying any more of these)

On goodreads, 1* is often “I’m placeholdering to read this.” With goodreads being integrated with Amazon’s retail site, these “placeholders” are now kisses of death for series. (Even if it was meant just to hold a spot in a list or whatever.) Authors have no way to know if the 1* is because the book sucked or some reader just hasn’t read it yet. They are ALL tallied as a “do not continue this series” vote.

• 2*: Maybe a DNF, maybe read out of stubborn pride, but avoid this book, it’s garbage. (Definitely not buying any more of these)
• 3*: Maybe not to my taste, didn’t really like it, didn’t hate it… not smelly like 1-2*, but still garbage. (May or may not buy, but probably won’t be buying.)
• 4*: It was okay, and I generally liked it. (Probably won’t buy but liked it enough buying may be a thing.)
• 5*: I really liked or loved this book! (Probably buying next book.)

Once again, I’m going to use the Vigilante Magical Librarians series to discuss the 4* kiss of death.

This is after the goodreads surge, which strangely pulled up the reviews… that is not NORMALLY the case. Usually, it lowers. But, this makes for an excellent discussion point.

Even though the book has been brought up to the 4.3* level, the damage has already been done. At the time the book was deprioritized, 54% of people actually liked the book enough to leave a 5* review. (reality: 54% of people did not actually want to read the second book.)

If I had to guess at percentage rates of how people buy books… 90% of the second-book buyers left 5* reviews. Maybe 10% (and that’s generous) came from the 4* crowd.

So, let’s dig at this a little deeper. 1, 2, and 3* are things I automatically discard from my brainspace. These people simply didn’t like the book or series, and they have casted their votes. They do not want to see this series continued.

20% of people voted against the series.

That… is not far off the percentage of people who wanted to see the series continued and bought book 2.

That rather amuses me, as it accurately predicted how many people, overall, would buy the second book.

20-30% read through rate from book one to book two is a huge kiss of death for a series. I was considering just finishing the entire set in 2024, but then I realized something:

I wouldn’t make enough money to keep writing if I were to do that. (I would literally have to quit writing if I were to sidetrack to do these three novels back to back. I would not be able to pay my staff, my bills, etc.)

So, that tentative plan was recently trash canned. I simply can’t afford to take that side trip. One in 2024? That’s a possibility; the losses won’t kill me, although I do not think I will be able to actually earn profit from the book with the drop off rate I expect from between book two to book three.

Later today, I will be revisiting my potential schedule for 2024 and doing it all over again, trying to determine how many “no profit” books I can fit in. This is a luxury I’m blessed to be able to afford. Most writers can’t afford those failures. (Thus the importance of ratings and reviews, but ratings are super duper important.)

(Books are not cheap to produce. Doggone Mess will have a production bill of over $7,000 once everything is said and done due to its length. And I have to pay that out of pocket before I ever see a penny from book sales.) (Yes, I use preorder counts and Patreon (per novel) to get a rough idea of if a book will earn its keep after release.)

The opinions of readers have been made known by what they are rating the book as, and I don’t need to put myself through unnecessary anguish if they left 1-3* ratings. They’ve casted their vote, and I don’t really give a flying fuck what their opinion beyond that is.

They didn’t like the book.

I will not nor will I ever change the way I write books because of people who didn’t like the book. I am not writing for the people who dislike my work.

I write for those who love the stories, not for those who hate them.

I’m certainly not going to damage my mental and emotional health for those who don’t want to see a series continued. So, let’s revisit how I view ratings.

• 1*: Do not continue this series, it sucked.
• 2*: Do not continue this series, it sucked.
• 3*: I am neutral on whether or not you should continue this series, but in reality, I’m not going to buy it, so I count as a “do not continue” vote.
• 4*: I wouldn’t mind seeing this series continued, but I may or may not be buying it. This is counted as a vote in favor of the series, but at a lesser general point score.
• 5*: I like this series and would enjoy seeing it continued.

This does not align with reader expectations, which tends to be as follows:

• 1*: This was horrible, light it on fire.
• 2*: Well, it could have been worse.
• 3*: Could use improvement, but I kinda liked it, kinda didn’t like it.
• 4*: I liked this!
• 5*: I loved this!

As Vigilante Magical Librarians has had the roughest time of any of my series, I’ll discuss this series. I won’t lie, if I could have condensed the last three books into one sensible book, I would have cut it down from a 5 book arc to a 3 book arc due to the reception of book one and book two’s sales.

If I’d read the writing on the wall, as I mentioned above, I would have changed book two completely and called it a day and cut my losses. But I didn’t, and there’s no realistic way to trim out everything that needs to be done and smoosh it into one final book. So, the series will continue with five books as intended originally, and I will accept my losses with a sigh.

Much like the Witch & Wolf stories, which has a small but vibrant reader base, I’ll finish books off as I can… around the books that pay the bills, pay my staff, and so on.

As a reader, I have become very picky about the books I’ll read. I simply know too much about this industry, and I want to LOVE every book I read now. So, unless I check the sample and think I will absolutely ADORE the book, I may just buy it to support an author without ever READING it.

And yes… I have well over a thousand books on my kindle that I purchased to toss pennies in the jars of other authors, most of which I DNF’d at 10% or less but ultimately gave them the money so they can keep writing.

I even follow a few author patreons I don’t even read just because they’re nice people and I can afford to toss a few pennies in their jar every month. (I might read them later, and I do hoard my collection of books I’ve acquired off patreon like the little book goblin I am.)

Look, I don’t have to READ the book to enjoy them. I buy books sometimes just because I love the cover art, and I scroll through my digital library just to enjoy the pretty art.

That’s a-okay.

Some readers view me as a moron for my stance. That’s okay, they can do that. If they feel like they’re entitled to me acknowledging (and doing something…) about their opinion… well, I will remain a moron who has preserved my mental and emotional health.

I’m really okay with that.

But please understand that authors want to succeed at their careers, and yes, that does mean we have to hope and dream that readers who really like our stuff cast their votes.

Because yes, ratings do matter, and the ratings are sometimes the only real indication we have of whether or not a series should be continued to allowed to ride off into the sunset as soon as an opportunity arises.

I made more than a few mistakes with Booked for Murder, but above all… I did not listen to the 1-3* ratings.

They were right, and while they casted their votes against the series, they read the writing on the wall I opted to ignore solely because I just really fucking like Janette and Bradley.

Mistakes were made, and I was the one to make them… and I will continue to make them, solely because I just really fucking like Janette and Bradley.

But stop asking authors to change their books because those books weren’t to your taste. See a book filled with typos and legitimate grammatical errors? (That aren’t regionalisms?) Go ahead and slam the book with your 1* reviews. Clearly, its deserved. But if you just didn’t like a character… that’s a matter of taste. And you are welcome to cast your vote against the book/series.

Just don’t expect authors to do anything about it.

That’s not how this works.

And yes, I will continue to be a moron and disregard all 1-3* reviews. The ratings, however, are acknowledged and heard.

Your ratings, good or bad, count. I hope this post explains a little better how they count… and why the text (however nice it is to be told we’re wonderful) is often second to the final tally of those who don’t want to see a series continued vs those who DO want to see a series continued.

In the case of Vigilante Magical Librarians… the nays have it, and the ayes maybe should have scored the book with 1-3*, because they weren’t buying what I was selling. (And that is fine. I do not deserve the income if the book was not worth the time spent reading it/readers just do not actually want to continue the series’ journey.)

I’m okay with that. But the numbers do not lie… and yes, that honesty hurts the pride, but it’s a part of the job. It’s just a little pride. I can take the hits.

From the beginning, I should have listened to the nays and cut my losses. Because let’s face it?

Book three can’t sell equal to book two, because there is always a drop rate between next books in a series. That drop rate is usually 20+%.

The math does not lie, nor do the nay votes.

And for those of you who wait for a series to be completed, well… that’s just the risk you take. When you don’t support the series, you cast your votes with the nays, and that’s just something you’ll have to cope with. (It’s common, and it’s fine. It’s your money to spend!)

Personally, if there is a series I want to see completed but I do not want to read until it is finished, I buy the books as they release, and if it’s a longer series, I fill in the blanks if there is a bookbub for one of the titles in the series.

I don’t rate books in my genre, however. Technically, it’s against Amazon’s terms of usage policies for authors and counts as conflict of interest. (And I’d like to continue publishing, so… I do not take those risks.)

If I love a book, I share it with everyone and hope the author gets pennies in their jar, which I feel is worth far more than the missing rating.

(And yes, that’s a thing. Amazon WILL shut down your account if they feel there is a conflict of interest going on, so I do not review or rate books as a general rule.)

So, with that heavy post out of the way… I am off to work on packing book mail so people can get kickstarter stuff next week sometime.

TL;DR check: If you could have short stories or novellas about an event that happened in one of my books, what events would you like to see?

Example: The reference to Pat having been kidnapped became the book “Taken” by Susan Copperfield, and the reference to Pat having fainted at Jessica’s feet became “Storm Called” by Susan Copperfield. (You know, because everybody loves Pat.)

It must be a reference from a book. Please list the referencing book, and if you’re an extra gem about it, plug in the line that makes you want a short story, novella, or novel.

I make no promises I’ll pursue any recommendations, but I’d like to see what little slice of life stories you’d like to see.

Happy Reading!!

~R.J.

P.S.: Yes, I took the picture of the hawk. The lovely birb visited my apartment, and it stuck around long enough for me to grab my camera.