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Author
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Topic: Amazon book ratings and Kindle
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Ashitaka
SuperFan!
Member # 4924
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posted November 23, 2010 05:09
I think that the Kindle is having a disasterous effect on the ratings of books on Amazon.
Many people are rating books the lowest possible, not because they read the book and disliked it, but because they don't like the price for downloading in onto thier Kindle!
all the devils are here example
As for this book, so far it is very informative, if not interesting.
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"If they're not gonna make a distinction between Muslims and violent extremists, then why should I take the time to distinguish between decent, fearful white people and racists?"
-Assif Mandvi
Posts: 3004 | From: Switzerland | Registered: Feb 2006
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TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
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posted November 23, 2010 06:43
____ Eventually the market will rule, sales mean more than ratings!! If the price comes down and sales leap, it was priced too high.
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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio
Posts: 5071 | From: Just South of the Huron National Forest, in the water shed of the Rifle River | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ashitaka
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posted November 23, 2010 08:29
quote:
Originally posted by TheMoMan:
____ Eventually the market will rule, sales mean more than ratings!! If the price comes down and sales leap, it was priced too high.
FWIW, in 15 of the 16 one star book reviews, the reviewer hasn't read the book and is simply upset about the Kindle price.
There are 35 reviews total, with an average of 3 stars, if you got rid of those 15 reviewers who have not read the book, the rating would jump two stars to five out of five.
Maybe now, sales; a more important indicator, will be slower because of all the bad reviews from revieweres who have not read the book. Most potential buyers just look at the average, and not at what the people are actually saying.
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"If they're not gonna make a distinction between Muslims and violent extremists, then why should I take the time to distinguish between decent, fearful white people and racists?"
-Assif Mandvi
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TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 1659
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posted November 23, 2010 09:45
____ It goes with the turf, Movie reviews, if a certain reviewer pans a movie I go. If a different reviewer says it is good then it depends on the genre. For awhile I read anything Steven King wrote just because he wrote it, then I started to see how he constructed his books and lost interest. Some word smiths are better at spinning their yarns than others, on line reviews read the comments do they have any sense about the topic?
____ If Dman stated that a certain router was a piece of poop I would tend to believe him, some person unknown to me, meh.
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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio
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Serenak
Member # 2950
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posted November 26, 2010 15:47
FWIW the closest I have come to that is looking at apps on the itunes store... sure I notice the overall stars... but i do make a point of reading at least a few of the reviews... If they complain about price I ignore that and look for comments relevant to the performance of the app. If they complain about the performance of the app i take a bit more notice
All this stuff is new - it will settle in time
I am a big fan of free - as in beer, but if no "no cost" solutions work well enough I will move up to a paid version or app - and in that situation what people say is more important than what stars they give
YMMV of course depending on what you require
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"So if you want my address - it's No. 1 at the end of the bar, where I sit with the broken angels, clutching at straws and nursing my scars..."
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dragonman97
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posted November 26, 2010 21:49
MoMan: Woo! High praise, good sir! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Ser: "it will settle in time" - indeed, my thoughts as well.
I suspect the more "5 people thought this review was pointless" gets applied to the 'price' reviews, they'll start to disappear.
On a loosely related note, I was pretty disturbed to read something that suggests that the only reason Bristol Palin is still on "Dancing With the Stars" (which I've /never/ seen) is not because of professional reviews (which pan her), but because of the Palinistas, who all jump on the phone or computer, or whatever it is people do, and clamor that she's wonderful.
Yay for honest reviews. :/
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There are three things you can be sure of in life: Death, taxes, and reading about fake illnesses online...
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TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
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posted November 27, 2010 03:58
____ Dman, Me thinks the term is "Stuffing the ballot box."
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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio
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Stereo
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
Member # 748
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posted December 02, 2010 11:04
Oh, besides. Turns out that some people use Project Gutenberg, and propose them for a price on Amazon. I'll have to hunt the reference, but just remember to check Gutenberg for your older book needs. They may be available entirely for free.
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Eppur, si muove!
Galileo Galilei
Posts: 2286 | From: Gatineau, Quebec, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001
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GrumpySteen
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan
Member # 170
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posted December 02, 2010 17:39
Stereo wrote:
Turns out that some people use Project Gutenberg, and propose them for a price on Amazon.
Here's an article about that
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Worst. Celibate. Ever.
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Aditu
SuperBlabberMouth!
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posted December 03, 2010 08:18
That is why you don't buy a kindle. Then you can download for free from your library. We check out e-books all the time here, but you can't put them on a kindle
Posts: 1355 | From: Osten Ard | Registered: Aug 2003
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ewomack
Highlie
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posted December 03, 2010 10:16
Amazon reviews remain a mixed blessing. Use them with caution. For better or worse, they can give a general idea of the quality of the book as long as one reads the details.
Then there are the cases where authors, their friends and their families submit glowing 5-star reviews for their kins' work. Those remain harder to weed out.
In the end, book sales don't amount to too much, sadly. I recently heard in a speech that the average sales volume for a typical New York Times bestseller is 45,000 copies.
If the Kindle ultimately appeals to the gadget generation and increases interest in literacy then we all have gained something. But technology and a overbearing insistence on efficiency seems to find ways to make us all a little more illiterate. Who has time to read a book when we're busy being so efficient, after all?
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Ed Womack
Get Milked
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Ashitaka
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posted December 03, 2010 10:31
quote:
Originally posted by Aditu:
That is why you don't buy a kindle. Then you can download for free from your library. We check out e-books all the time here, but you can't put them on a kindle
![[Applause]](graemlins/applause.gif)
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"If they're not gonna make a distinction between Muslims and violent extremists, then why should I take the time to distinguish between decent, fearful white people and racists?"
-Assif Mandvi
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