Whether you are an author or a reader, book reviews are a big deal. They influence whether other people will pick up the book, and can encourage, or discourage, sales. However, there is always a lot of discourse around reviews; are they just for readers; should authors check their reviews; should you tag an author in reviews; should you use star ratings; what does each star mean? In this blog post we’ll be sharing a few tips on book review etiquette and some best practices.

Who are book reviews for?

A lot of us readers use reviews, and you have reading platforms such as Goodreads or Storygraph that actively encourage reviews. Moreover, reviews on sales sites such as Amazon impact when they will show that book- which can impact sales. So are reviews for readers or authors? In my opinion, it’s both.

Reviews tend to be written by readers, and directed at readers. So I suppose in the simplest terms: reviews are for readers. It will be readers that typically read reviews, and it is readers that are going to be influenced in buying and reading the book after seeing a review. However, I think we have to remember that for authors reviews can impact the reception and sales of their book. Does that mean we should edit or censor our reviews to make them author appropriate? I don’t think so. In my opinion, authors should try to avoid commenting and interacting with reviews- especially if they are anything less than glowing. It always leaves a bad taste when an author tries to tell a reader why their opinion is incorrect. On the other hand, as readers and reviewers, I think we also have a duty to protect authors from reviews- particularly negative ones.

Should you tag an author in a book review?

My opinion here may be extreme, but I think no. It’s absolutely great to tag authors in posts about books, especially when you’re saying how excited you are about it. But for reviews, I think it is best to not tag. The reason I think this is even for a positive review, there may be something that wasn’t your favourite. For example, I might say “I usually hate enemies to lovers when they stop hating each other quickly, but it really worked in this book!” This is a positive statement, however, an author could very easily read this as a criticism of the speed they made the characters fall for each other.

This is just my opinion, however. Some people like to tag authors in positive reviews, but not negative ones. What I would say though, is to please avoid tagging authors in negative reviews. Not every book is for everyone, but it isn’t fair for an author to read about how you hated their book- that they may have spent years working on!

Should you share negative reviews?

I know a lot of people choose to not share reviews of books that they didn’t love, and that is absolutely fine. In my opinion, I think it is fine to share more negative reviews. I quite often get recommendations off negative review posts. I have a friend who prefers closed door romances, so she may review a book negatively because it’s too smutty. Me, I love smutty books- so I see that as a perfect recommendation; more so than the closed door cute romance she gave 5 stars! However, like with any review, this comes with context. A good review should explain what you liked/disliked. So instead of saying “I hated the romance”, say “I found the characters moved from friends to lovers too quickly for my liking. I would have liked more pining, yearning and tension.” This helps the reader of your review to decide if this is a book for them or not.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julianna 📚 (@juliannareads)

Should you use star ratings?

Star ratings. Always the biggest debate in the book review world. There are many creators who use formulas to calculate a star rating, for example CAWPILE created by G @bookroast. Others have a criteria for each star, some people just go on vibes. Ultimately, stars are completely subjective. A 5 star for me, is not exactly the same as a 5 star for you. So what does this mean for reviews? In my opinion, this is where written reviews really come into play. I’m someone who only gives 5 stars out sparingly (I don’t know why- in my head there’s a limit!) Yet I have friends who give 5 star to any book they enjoyed, even if it wasn’t perfect. So a 5 star from me is quite unusual, but does that mean that my 5 stars are better books than someone else’s? Absolutely not, it’s all just opinion, and quite often a book scores higher if I read it at the right time too.

I don’t think that we will get rid of star ratings any time soon. Goodreads, Amazon and other sales platforms puts star ratings front and centre, whereas Storygraph has put other metrics above stars so you pick a book based on pacing or themes. I personally still love a star rating, however I tend to use them more for my own personal reflection rather than public facing reviews.

What does each star mean anyway?

This is the million dollar question. As I discussed above there is no consensus on what makes a book 5 stars over 4. A lot of creators have a pinned post on their TikTok/Instagram with their breakdown of what stars mean to them. In my opinion, 4 and 5 stars are great: these are books I love, I’ll recommend and I want to reread in the future. 3 stars is middling, neither good or bad. Just a solid OK book. 1 and 2 stars are books I disliked. I personally do not rate books that I DNF’d. However, this is just my own view. Some people see 3 star or below as a negative review, whereas I see 3 star as a good review. It is this subjectivity that makes it so much more helpful to give context and explain what you enjoyed or disliked.

What do you think of reviews and star ratings? Do you tag authors in your reviews, or do you not share reviews at all? Let us know your thoughts!