Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion

Has any else seen phantom ratings here on GR?

Early yesterday, our ratings total jumped by a huge amount, but the ratings on each book still add up the old total from days ago. Now, I've seen a rating added that didn't show up right away -- sometimes I have to sort to find them at first, but within a day they appear where they should.

I find it difficult to believe that all these people suddenly rated our books at practically the same time. The number is ~15% of the total number of rating we'd gotten on GR in 2 years!

If these are actually ratings (plus new 1 review), it is hard to believe they would all remain hidden this long.

Has anyone else seen anything like this?

I haven't. Could it be some new GR glitch? Amazon's had a lot of them lately.

Ken wrote: "I haven't. Could it be some new GR glitch? Amazon's had a lot of them lately."

I have noticed a lot of stirring on. Amazon put up a new KDP dashboard too -- I didn't like but I only saw it once. (I told them I didn't like it. Maybe I wasn't the only one.)

It takes about two or three days for reviews and ratings to show up for me. But as you know, I still have that one review that isn't viewable by anyone but friends of the reviewer. I have concluded that it was likely flagged though. But I've noticed the same thing as you. I'll lose ratings and get a spate of new ones all together. No idea if it is a glitch or someone who deletes their account, or perhaps the adds are all friends who read together?

I saw, and also didn't like, the new dashboard. It did say that they would be flipping between the two for a while, so who knows what we will eventually end up with.

Christina wrote: "It takes about two or three days for reviews and ratings to show up for me. But as you know, I still have that one review that isn't viewable by anyone but friends of the reviewer. I have concluded..."

That's good info. I've never seen a review take longer than a day. And -- this the weird part -- I've never seen the book counts not match up with the grand total, even though the new reviews were not visible yet. Here they are different by 38 ratings, which is a bunch. I guessing a glitch. It could be something like a lot of older ratings that got lost in the system and hit all at once?

I'm a maniac about checking sales, and I've only seen it once so far. They say they'd be switching back & forth, but not so much for me. Putting things under that silly button [...] really gripes me. Not only is it an extra click, my eyes aren't good and hitting that button and then trying to select the option on the pop-up is a real pain for me, especially when that new page has so much empty space.

Oh I know. I only ever check from a phone or tablet, so those itty bitty selections are a pain in my behind!

I don't know about gaining ratings, but I know you lose them when anyone deletes their account (ratings disappear, reviews, even posts in threads like this - the lot). I recently lost a really good 5-star written review that way - yet another thing around here which could do with changing.

Mine once doubled on one of the books from 45 to 90. It stayed that way for about a week, before going back to the correct number. Nice while it sat there, even if they weren't real.

Richard wrote: "I don't know about gaining ratings, but I know you lose them when anyone deletes their account (ratings disappear, reviews, even posts in threads like this - the lot). I recently lost a really good..."

Didn't realise that happened. The review should still be valid, even if the reader is no longer a member.

Nope - the Amazon.com one is still there, but here on GR both rating and review have disappeared. I've noticed the same thing with ordinary thread postings though: when a member deletes their account, not only do all their posts vanish, but the 'message' numbers run backwards to erase all the gaps (anyone remember our mystery Norwegian?) almost as if pretending they never existed in the first place.

I do remeber that. How odd though. I would think that once a book is reviewed, the review should stand, just make it by 'former member' or something similarly generic.

What you also see are thread posts where the member's name has been replaced by "(deleted member)" but the post itself is still there. So I'm wondering whether it's to do with who deletes the account - i.e. someone removed by Goodreads for breaking the rules, or someone who just decides to leave and deletes their account themselves.

David wrote: "Mine once doubled on one of the books from 45 to 90. It stayed that way for about a week, before going back to the correct number. Nice while it sat there, even if they weren't real."

Seems to be the same thing here. This AM the overall number of ratings is back to what is was before.

I also didn't know GR deleted all the ratings & reviews when a member deleted their account. That does seem to be a little odd, unless there is an option on leaving to delete all existing ratings and/or posts etc.

Other sites I've been on have the opposite issue: you can never actually delete anything you post. I've found that very irritating.

Owen wrote: "Has any else seen phantom ratings here on GR?

Early yesterday, our ratings total jumped by a huge amount, but the ratings on each book still add up the old total from days ago. Now, I've seen a r..."

This is the first time I have ever heard of 'rating' for any book. But I do know about adult read, young adult and a typical book. Usually on good reads I usually type adult read or books and get a list.

From what I have been reading from the DB. Why don't all of us start labeling our books from no on. To be specific take it off the hands of good reads and other online book stores. No disrespect to good reads, but keep in mind no author wants their work miss rated. For example if your book is heavy with adult content suggested for a particular age bracket. You don't want your book get a rating for young adults.
Again this is the first time I have ever seen or heard about this. Like I said before, us writers need to jump on labeling our stuff now.

Rating, in this context, means the number of stars a reader has assigned to a book, not its suitability for young audiences. On Amazon, and here on Goodreads, the number of stars assigned by readers has a lot of impact on the chances of selling copies.

Hi Imowen. The type of rating Owen is refering to is the user's star rating. This is the rating from one to five that anyone can give a book to convey to what level they loved or hated a book. This has nothing to do with a ratings system like the MPAA.

Richard wrote: "Rating, in this context, means the number of stars a reader has assigned to a book, not its suitability for young audiences. On Amazon, and here on Goodreads, the number of stars assigned by reader..."

Oh Thanks for clearing that up Richard. Now assigning stars tell me about that and don't hold back. Is the star rating done by people giving your week stars?
How will this help out in book sales? I was told good reads and amazon are two different worlds when it comes to ratings.
From a pro market lady I talk to she says if a book has 1 or 2 stars it will attract readers. If the book has over that and it's new. People assume and say, Oh the author paid those reviewers off. On good reads I don't know jack about their rating on here.

Christina wrote: "Hi Imowen. The type of rating Owen is refering to is the user's star rating. This is the rating from one to five that anyone can give a book to convey to what level they loved or hated a book. This..."

So the rating on good reads similar to a book reviewer talking about likes and dislikes of the manuscript? Like I told Richard give me information on it. It's best to hear it from you two about how this works. I do not believe in too much information. The more info you give to 'new' me less chances I screw up and misunderstand things.

The rating suggestions by both Amazon and Goodreads are just that, suggestions. Everyone has their own opinions and will rate a book as they see fit. Some here give three stars for books they liked. To me, three stars means it was so-so and is not a rating I have much use for because most books invoke a love it or hate it response in me.
The whole thing about bad reviews lending legitimacy is sad, to be honest. If people are passing up books because they don't believe the ratings are real, that's their problem. There's a sample available for a reason and readers have the ability to make their own judgments.

Christina wrote: "The rating suggestions by both Amazon and Goodreads are just that, suggestions. Everyone has their own opinions and will rate a book as they see fit. Some here give three stars for books they liked..."
I agree with you bad reviews that unfortunatel stains legitimacy of a book is sad. But it happens. With me I am going to like your work or not and I am picky about what I read. Honestly I am doing more research than reading for fun these days. On your second paragraph reminds me of what my editor told me. I better make a website for people to go to. Not only its a marketing tool its for people that don't care about peoples reviews. They would rather mess around the books website. And read more about my work on the website. All about controlling the environment to me.