Rating Systems for Book Reviews
Star Rating Systems for Books
When it comes to book review systems and star ratings things aren't always clean cut. Different people have their own systems when reviewing books. Even the top sites aren't aligned when it comes to what each star rating actually means.
Star Rating Systems of Goodreads and Amazon
Goodreads:
- 1 star - didn't like it
- 2 stars – it was OK
- 3 stars – liked it
- 4 stars – really liked it
- 5 stars – it was amazing
Amazon:
- 1 star - hate it
- 2 stars - didn’t like it
- 3 stars - it was OK
- 4 stars - liked it
- 5 stars - loved it
The meaning of a 3 star rating has often caused a lot of discussion in the book blogging community. Some consider it a bad rating whilst others view it as a positive rating. The big reason behind this is because a 3 star rating on Goodreads is good, but on Amazon it's not.
Other reviewers have opted to use different rating systems altogether. An example of this is the C.A.W.P.I.L.E rating system. This rates books on a scale of 1 to 10 across different categories.
So what is a good review?
There is no right or wrong way to review a book. Everyone will have their own personal opinion about each book they read and as a book is rarely for everyone, it's normal to see a mixture of star ratings for the same book. Some will love it, some will hate it, and some will just think it was OK. All are valid reviews and equally worthy.
As the scope of a review is to help potential buyers decide whether the book is for them or not, a good review is one that is well balanced and gives information that will help them make that decision.
A 3 star review that explains the pro's and con's of the book could actually do more to convince a potential buyer than a 5 star rating that just says they loved it.
It's also worth noting that one person's reason for not liking a book could be another persons reason for picking it up.
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How to decide on a star rating
When reviewing a book how do you pick which star rating to give it? On what criteria is your rating based? Emotional attachment or technical aspects?
Do you weigh up the writing style, character development, grammar, etc...? Is formatting something that could cost the book a star? Or is your rating based purely on how the book made you feel?
Are Ratings Necessary?
Given how many different rating systems there are for reviews, are ratings really necessary?
Personally I like them. It helps when checking which books were the best/worst over the course of the year (perfect for this time of year as many book bloggers look back to give an overview of their reading throughout the year).
Star ratings might be particularly useful when you can't remember the details about every book. Ratings make it easy to find which rated highest.
Star ratings are also good for those who don't have time/ don't want to read a full review. It gives them an overall screenshot view of how readers felt about the book. If a book only has 1 and 2 stars it's likely they'll give it a miss. A book with a mixture of ratings all over 3 stars is more likely to catch their interest and make them consider it.
How I rate my books
For my reviews I follow the Goodreads system and consider 3 stars a good review.
It's actually very rare for me to give a book a rating lower than 3 stars. This is because over the years I've gained a clear idea about the sorts of books I enjoy and so tend to only select books I'm pretty sure I'm going to like. I'm definitely more picky about the books I read now than I used to be.
When it comes to deciding what rating to give I generally go with my gut feeling on finishing the book. Was it a page turner? How did I feel about the characters? Was it easy reading? Did I like how it dealt with certain themes or topics? I'll consider all this and more but the most important thing for me is emotional attachment. How invested was I in the book?
Before concluding this discussion about giving reading recommendations and star rating systems there is one last thing we should look at...
Books You Did Not Finish
When it comes to DNF books people have different views and systems for them.
Some, myself included, will just leave the book and not rate it. At most it may get put on a list on Goodreads filed under DNF.
Other book bloggers review and rate the books they DNF. They rate the part they read and, obviously, ratings for these books tend to be low.
Both are fine. Again it's a personal choice.
I my case I very rarely DNF a book. Some books I've read that didn't start out all that great really picked up later on and turned into good reads.
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When it comes to giving reading suggestions and recommendations what system do you use? How do you rate books you've read?
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