Jacey Bedford's Journal

This is for all you people who read and review or add star ratings on Goodreads.

I just read a review of Charlie Stross' first Laundry book on Goodreads and I noticed that though the review was positive the reviewer hadn't given it a star rating. I was talking to another author after my first book came out and she said she was happy to review books on Goodreads, but she didn't feel it was fair for her - as an author - to give star ratings. I can thoroughly sympathise with this feeling. When your own books are up there for comments and reviews, you suddenly lose your taste for slamming some poor fellow author with a stinker, however what she hadn't realised was that not giving a star rating when you review effectively means you've given the book zero stars.

I don't think Goodreads explains this, and I only realised when I added it up. As a very new author I had so few starred reviews that it was obvious the reviews that hadn't been starred had pulled down my average rating as if they were zeroes (despite the reviews being positive.)

My feeling is that Goodreads should be asked to display a warning that says: Please note any review without a star rating effectively counts as a zero stars review. This would actually be a bonus to some folks who begin reviews with: "I'd like to give this book no stars at all..." Effectively you can do that.

My point is, however, that it would be useful for people to know that declining to give stars at all is the same as awarding zero out of five to a book you may have quite liked.