For this discussion post, we are joining the Tell Me Something Tuesday challenge run by Jen at That’s What I’m Talking About. Here’s the topic for this week. Stars, Letter Grades, Nothing…how do you rate books?
Julie:
First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNN!!
Now, let’s talk about rating books. I rate with my gut. And my gut sometimes gets annoyed and takes off rating points. But yes I typically do stars. And then an overall feeling.
We have a rating system that Rose and I wrote up years ago when we first launched this blog, and I still kind of stick to that. 5 stars ratings are reserved for amazeballs, and few books are really truly amazeballs.
But 3 stars isn’t a bad book necessarily, even if Amazon sees it as “OK” in their ranks. I go by Goodreads, and that says “Good” is what 3 stars mean.
Letter grades is a funny idea, and I haven’t seen much of that in practice. But I’d like to see how that gets worked.
Sometimes, I see people doing points like out of 10, which is cool, too. I like to see people break down each category (plot, characters, etc) into points. Sometimes I want to start doing it that way.
And then I remember how much I dislike going on and on and writing long and detailed reviews. So, usually, you just get my initial feelings and thoughts.
Lynn:
Thanks, Julie! 😉
I go with the stars, too. My own personal thoughts:
- 5, like Julie said, amazeballs.
- 4 – this is my default rating for most everything; good, had some issues.
- 3 – ok.
- Anything lower than ok and I don’t tend to put a rating or a review. Something that didn’t work for me may be fine for others and I don’t want to prejudice another reader.
Points and letter grades seem like a lot of work. Especially when you consider most websites where we post reviews are looking for star ratings. Having to translate those points or letter grades into stars is too much effort for me. Might as well just stick with the stars.
Since we are on the topic, I have a ratings rant. I LOATHE seeing 1 Star ratings with things like great book, I hate the author due to x, y, or z. How can your opinion of an author you probably don’t know in person impact your opinion on the book? If you hate an author that much, don’t read their books.
What about you?
We are also linking up our discussion posts with the 2024 Book Blog Discussion Challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!
I don’t really rate anymore since I’ve got my own book coming out and it would feel sort of awkward to rate others’ books at this point. Instead, I just only post reviews on my blog of books I really liked, and I have an All-Time Favorites rating that rarely gets used.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sunday Post & Book Pre-order Campaigns Galore: 8/4/24
Oh – good point, Nicole! Good luck on your book!
I’m the same as you. I think a 3 star is good. However, I also if it is lower than 3 I probably don’t finish it. I like to be able to give .5 stars too though, and so I like StoryGraph and now Bookly to be able to do that like I do on my blog.
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…Tell Me Something Tuesday: July 23rd, 2024 – Book Conventions
Good to hear that we have similar ratings philosophies, Lisa!
Happy Birthday, Lynn! I too, use a rating system. And like- it is hard, right? I agree with you that 3 stars is not bad. I mean- for me, it means, quite literally, that the book was better than it was bad, since it is above half of the possible stars/points/whatever, right? So a very mediocre book for me is 2.5. Anything below that means it’s pretty rough! I have a “sixth” star for suuuper favorites though, so that I can give more stuff 5 stars heh.
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…Reviews in a Minute: Mid July Jewels
Thanks, Shannon! I like your sixth star idea. I might start using that myself!
That’s funny about letter grades since that’s what I use, and I always have since I started blogging. But I guess it really isn’t common. I find a lot of blogs don’t use a rating scale and just let their review speak for itself. I liked the rating scale for the nuisances, but I could probably translate it to a 10 point scale.
Happy Birthday, Lynn!
Jen Twimom recently posted…Tell Me Something Tuesday: July 16, 2024 – Book Ratings
Thanks, Jen! And interesting that you use letter grades. We’ll check that out!
I don’t have a hard and fast favorite rating system, but I prefer systems that give me a those in between possibilities like 3.5 or 4.5.
Agreed on the half points, Sophia!