Have Your Say is a feature on Mindful Musings that encourages the discussion of topics that are currently relevant to readers, book bloggers, and the Internet community as a whole. Stop by to share your opinion and check out what everyone else has to say!
Today, I'm going to bring up a topic that has been on my mind lately.
Get the hint? Yep. I'm talking about three star (or in my case, heart) ratings. Why, you might ask? Mainly because I think there are a LOT of misconceptions around the book blogosphere about three star ratings. Now, granted, three star ratings differ from blog to blog, which brings me to a very important point: if you're reading a review that includes a rating, make sure you take the time to locate the reviewer's description of his or her ratings. On most of the blogs that I read, these are fairly easy to locate. Personally, mine is located on my left sidebar, but you can also see the image below.
Though there are some differences, at the same time, I think that quite a few bloggers that use rating systems on a five point scale have similar feelings about three star ratings. Here are a few three star (or a star equivalent) rating descriptions from book blogs I frequent.
"Liked it"
"I liked it."
"We had some good times, read it when you can. (Liked it)"
"Good, but not particularly memorable."
"But just to clarify: for me '3 stars' isn't negative. In fact, it's positive. I liked this book. For the most part, any complaints, irritations, or recurring rashes I have with books rated 3-stars and up are fairly minor compared to how much I actually enjoyed the book."
"I liked this book overall, but there were enough things that bothered me to affect my enjoyment."
"Good"
These are definitely not ALL the ones out there, but I think I've made my point.
Recently, I made the decision to start including my descriptions directly below my rating when I review a book. Why? Because frequently, I feel like some people aren't quite getting what I mean by a three heart rating, even though what I mean is pretty much summed up in these descriptions.
If you read the description of my three heart rating, it says a few flaws but worth reading. But here's the deal...I still get a LOT of comments on my three heart reviews that say something along the lines of oh...I'm sorry you didn't like it. But here's the thing, a three heart rating usually means I DID like it. It just means that I didn't find anything overly fantastic or phenomenal about it.
While I appreciate each and every comment made on my blog, these comments always give me kind of uneasy feelings, because I'm not sure that people making these comments are really understanding what my three heart rating means. It seems like a lot of people always grab onto those first three words (a few flaws), but ignore the words after the "but:" WORTH. READING. I consider myself to be a fairly critical reviewer, and I know I can get a little picky in my reviews sometimes, but just because I point out a few issues that I had with a particular book, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the book overall. Out of all the ratings I give here on Mindful Musings, three hearts are BY FAR the most common. To get a four is quite an achievement, and a five is virtually unheard of. But that's just the way my mind works. It doesn't mean that books I give threes don't have their own worth and merit. A three usually means that I'll be continuing the series (if there is one), and a lot of three books still have spots on my personal bookshelf.
What about you guys? Do you have trouble with people misunderstanding your ratings, or is it just me? Is there anything in particular you do to avoid this problem?
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a great weekend!
For me, 3 star ratings are the hardest to write and to read. Mainly because 3 stars seems so in between really good and not good enough. I get totally your point and I get it's frustration when someone is not getting your point. I have to admit I might be among those because I really struggle with this particular rating myself often enough.
ReplyDeleteYou are perfectly and totally right about clarifying the labels and ratings and I should do that myself again.
"For me, 3 star ratings are the hardest to write and to read. Mainly because 3 stars seems so in between really good and not good enough."
DeleteEXACTLY! I feel the same way. :)
I think I have tried to be clear that 3 star books are ones that I like (maybe even love). I added the Check it Out under my wine glasses and got a little more descriptive on my side banner: 3: Liked the book maybe even alot! Will probably never read again (unless part of a series)!
ReplyDeleteTo me that is sometimes the only divider between a 3 and 4---would I read the book again. You know what is funny though is that when I read a 3 from someone I NEVER think they didn't like the book. It is only if I see a 2 or a 1 that I think that.
I do like the Check it Out feature of your wine glass ratings! It gives me such a solid idea of how you felt!
DeleteThis is a really interesting topic. I don't do ratings just b/c I tend to look at ratings first and if there are 3 or fewer stars I think "Meh... probably not for me." Which is silly and judgemental, but, also true. I definitely get that 3 stars is still good, you liked it, etc... But I look at that and think, "Well, there are a billion books I want to read, and so I might as well stick with the 4 or 5 star reads!" Does that make sense? Probably not always the best plan since everyone would rate books differently, but that's what I tend to do...
ReplyDeleteI totally know what you mean by this point, Katie. With all the books out there that are on my to-read list, I sometimes tend to steer away from 3 star books as well.
DeleteI rate those Meh books as C books and I get what you are saying with the very forms of liking a book. It so different on why WE love books.
ReplyDeleteI so get what you mean. I was having a chat with a fellow blogger the other week about our ratings... well, more friendly argument "THIS number means average. No, that means it's rubbish! What are you smoking?!" :P
ReplyDeleteBut everyone has a different idea on how to rate things, so it's really important to either read their rating descriptions or I guess pay closer attention to their review if they actually talk about liking it.
I am sure I've said an "Oh, sorry..." comment on a 3 star review of yours because I obviously don't pay closer attention! I've been thinking about doing a rating description of my own lately because I fear misunderstandings will arise from my 3 star ratings and I really need one for myself to base things off. Yes, I've been blogging just over a year and I've been too lazy to write one up.
And just randomly: I love how all the other rating descriptions are one sentencee and then Sarah's... hahaha. I love that girl <3
Lol. Sarah is awesome! :)
DeleteAnd like I was telling Anna down below, I think a lot of the misconceptions about ratings comes from the speed reading we bloggers have to do to catch up on all of the blogs we follow. I'm sure I've made comments similar to the ones I'm addressing in this post too, and it's not like I hold it against anybody or anything, but I, personally, am trying to improve my commenting in this aspect and I thought I would share! Lol.
A three star rating for me means I liked it as well, but I get similar comments about me not caring for it. Not true. I had some problems with it if I gave it a three, but overall it was mostly enjoyable! I don't have a description of my ratings anywhere, I should probably do that O_o. Nothing like adding those almost 2 years later:)
ReplyDeleteLol! Stuff like that happens to all of us. I STILL don't have a contest policy up for my blog...
DeleteMy three star rating means a book was OK, but nothing too special. 2.5 is absolutely average and 3.5 is a good read, above average and worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteI've rewritten my rating descriptions at least five times since I started my blog, but that's what I'm sticking with, for now, anyway!
I know what you mean! I used to rewrite my rating descriptions ALL the time. Lucky for me, I think I've found one I'm pretty good with. For now! Lol.
DeleteI don't get many comments so I'm not sure I also comment after I give the rating of what I really thought so its hard for people to misunderstand what I mean normally a three star rating from me means it was good not the best but it was good just something at the end made me take a star off or it was to average to really be a four star.
ReplyDeleteOnce in a while I'll rate a book three stars when I really didn't like it but didn't hate everything about it enough to give it a two star
I am the exact same way as you! In fact, my average rating on Goodreads is exactly 3.0 so my reviews on my blog reflects that too. For me, a three means the book is pretty decent and I enjoyed it, with a few reservations. Four is I really enjoyed it and very very few books get a five from me, they are the books I think about A LOT and have formulated my life in someway. They're more like emotional reactions, if that makes sense? Because I know objectively no book is perfect but five stars are the ones I hold very dear to me. I actually thought about taking ratings off the blog because I don't know if they harm more than help. I even feel weird about fours because I'm kind of lukewarm on most books.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about five stars, Elena. To be a five star, a book pretty much has to have wowed me completely, or I have to have made some sort of awesome personal connection with it.
DeleteMy Goodreads average is 3.39 so like you, it's obvious that I use the 3 star rating the most. I've thought about taking off my ratings before too, but I find that I end up rating them anyways on Goodreads, and I DO like having them for the most part, so they're still there. :)
You bring up a great point. I like how you say you should include what your rating means with words and "stars". A good plan. I may start doing that too.
ReplyDeleteI was having the same issue, and it made it really obvious that no one was actually reading my reviews, they were just looking at the star rating, and I thought, "Now... why do I even have this rating?" So I got rid of my rating system all together! It actually makes writing my reviews, because I don't feel like I'm contradicting myself with stars and my writing. Either way, I don't pay attention to star ratings anymore, I just read the review haha!
ReplyDeleteAnna @ Literary Exploration
I think we're all guilty of just looking at the star rating sometimes (I know I've done it **cringe**)! Let's face it...most of us don't have an endless supply of time and there are a LOT of reviews out there. Lol. But in the last six months or so, I've tried to restrict myself to only commenting if I genuinely spent some time looking at the post. I think a lot of the misconceptions about ratings comes from the speed reading we bloggers have to do to catch up on all of the blogs we follow. It's really easy to miss something then!
DeleteI actually had to go double check my review policy and see how I worded mine:
ReplyDeleteThree stars: I liked this book and can recommend with some reservations.
I agree I am resorting more often to three and three and a half star ratings. I rarely give five stars. I know many bloggers who predominately give five stars and I don't trust their judgement as much as a blog that uses more three star ratings. Thanks for sharing today Natalie.
Yes! This! I'm putting this post into my Clock Rewinders post this week.
ReplyDeleteBefore I did my enjoyment scale (which is split between "enjoyed" and "did not enjoy" and thus is much clearer as to whether I enjoyed the book or not), I got a lot of the same kind of comments. I think that it's important to note that ratings (ALL ratings) are unique to the individual blogger. AND that some reviewers naturally rate higher or lower than others. I like looking at people's average rating on Goodreads, as that gives me a good indication of how they rate books (my average, by the way, is 3.46, so I rate somewhat lower as well).
I LOVE your enjoyment scale, Amanda, because it really helps me to get a solid idea of how you felt about the book. Yours is probably one of the best rating systems I've seen! It's so easy to understand.
DeleteLooking at people's Goodreads' average is also a great idea. I do it as well. :)
I'm with you about the three star. While I don't rate the books per se, you can tell if I liked them or not based on what I say. With Amazon/GoodReads, you need to put a star rating and most of mine are threes and fours. Rare is a five. And threes are good--it's not that I didn't like the book, I did. I just didn't love/adore it. It was solid, enjoyable, and generally well-written. Why does the three-star rating get such a bad rep?
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, and I love the comments too! It always stuns me that three stars are look at as a negative thing because for me, it does me that I liked the book and thought it was good. It may not have blown my mind, but it was still enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble with people misunderstanding my ratings in the opposite direction--more positive than I mean. I do letter grades, but when I give a book a B+, I'm not really recommending it, usually. I'm saying was solid, but not delightful.
ReplyDeleteThat's so true, Nat! LOL I'm pretty sure that I'm one of those people who've apologized to you a million times about not liking a three-star book before! x) But it's usually because I don't really pay attention to star ratings as much as I do to what's in the review. And I always find that lots of three star reviews are more critical of a book, you know? So I always feel it's more negative than not and sometimes forget about the rating overall haha. :)
ReplyDeleteBut to be completely honest, I actually DO like star ratings too when I'm browsing a book too! It's just that sometimes it's hard to decide what to rate a book that I'm reviewing because it might be a little better or worse than a book that got the same rating or etcetera LOL! But different bloggers rate books so differently too, so sometimes it's really hard to tell.
I think I'm going to have to update my rating system soon -- I haven't done it once since I started my blog! x) I definitely have to start paying more attention to star ratings LOL! ;)
Great topic! And thanks for including me as an example :)
ReplyDeleteWhile even I consider a book with a 3 star rating to be good, I'm hesitant to add them to my TBR. Why? Because my TBR is OUT OF CONTROL. So unless a book gets a super high rating or the summary/review really grabs my attention, it gets left behind.
I may need to just start adding them anyway. Does it really matter if my GoodReads wish list has 500 books on it? No.
Oh I have no probs with getting a 3 star book. I personally still feel that it is a good book. While I may jump more at a 4 or a 5... a 3 still gets my attention! Besides... someone's 3 might be my 4 or 5. How many times has it been the other way around for all of us? :D
ReplyDeleteMy three star reading is usually "neutral." It didn't wow me, but it also didn't make me full of hate. I don't think people have misunderstood my ratings, but I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAshelynn @ Gypsy Book Reviews.
I have a rating explanation page with long winded explanations that probably no one ever reads LOL. For me in a condensed form 1* is poor, 2* is okay, 3*is good 4* is really good 5* is outstanding. I don't make a feature of my ratings though, my reviews are just tagged with them. As a rule I don't trust ratings, the review is what matters to me.
ReplyDeleteShelleyrae @ Book'd Out
I think that's fine for your blog, but when you extrapolate it to other sites (like Goodreads or Amazon) it starts getting confusing, not to mention extremely damaging to the author. There are certain programs and promotions available to a title ONLY if the reviews average above 4 stars. Especially on Goodreads, where many users mark things "one star" or "three stars" as placeholders before they even read or purchase the book, it starts to throw things out of whack.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty terrible system because retailers ascribe to these programs based on ratings, but the people LEAVING the ratings often have no idea what they mean by them, or worse, don't mean anything at all.
Allie, that's definitely an interesting point that you bring up. I definitely don't support rating a book as a "placeholder," like you mentioned, but I have to admit that I don't know a whole lot about the programs and promotions available for books that receive a certain rating (probably because I'm not an author). One of the biggest problems with ratings (which I touched upon briefly here), is that they mean different things to different people.
DeleteI think I'm going to look into this, because you've piqued my curiosity. Thanks for stopping by!
I saw somewhere that books won't appear in "items others have purchased" on Amazon if they are below a certain rating. The descriptions on Amazon are a bit different anyway so I do mark up a 3 star to 4 because amazon says 3 is OK. On Goodreads a 3 is "liked it" so I don't see why an author would have a problem with 3 star reviews on there. And it's not fair to blame readers for "marking a book down" when they are just stating their fair opinion. We're not here to sell books at the end of the day.
DeleteVery true, Ellie, and thanks for the heads up about the 3 star rating event!
DeleteInteresting. I don't seem to have this trouble but I thank you for bringing it to my attention. You've got me wondering if I should add my star key to my sidebar.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. I got to the point where I don't even give rating on my blog anymore. To me, 3 stars (or whatever) is GOOD a thing, but I've even had authors ask me why I didn't like their book because I gave it 3. Did they not read my review where I said that I ENJOYED it?! I think some people just look at the rating and don't pay enough attention to what the review actually says. So if they don't get my opinion on a book from what I actually say without a rating, then that's on them. I still give ratings on Goodreads, but I even feel uncomfortable about that sometimes.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion!
Someone is holding a 3 star rating event next month to air everyone's thoughts on this. I was having a conversation on Twitter with someone who used 3 stars for a book they didn't like. I asked what they used 2 and 1 stars for then...they admitted they had never rated using either! To me you should be using a 3 point system (maybe illustrated with emoticons) if you're not going to use the full range. The majority of books I read get 3 stars, I would give up reading if they were bad or just meh!
ReplyDelete3 star rating books to me are basically any book that was good and entertaining, but not particularly a favorite. I may or may not forget all about the story and its characters a week later, but at least I liked it for the moment.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great topic and is perfect timing because ive been noticing the same thing. To me 3 stars means I liked it. But I have a problem with rating high cause I give far too many 5 stars. I guess I'm not TOO critical or something. I do try to say something around my rating saying how much I liked it but maybe I need to make sure I'm more clear or something.
ReplyDeleteI so agree with you a 3 is a good read and one I would recommend. I am a new follower..because I saw your comment on my good friend's site Christy @Love of Books. We met because we are both Dr. Who and Torchwood fans! So glad I saw this post, because I agree I use a scale of 1 cup of coffee to 5 cups of coffee. A 2 for me is a flawed book that has potential and a 1 I don't recommend. 4 is loved it would re-read and a 5 loved it and it's earned a special place on my bookshelf.
ReplyDeletehttp://kimbathecaffeinatedbookreviewer.blogspot.com/
Glad to see you found me through Christy! I just recently started following her blog, but I really like it.
DeleteP.S. YAY for Doctor Who and Torchwood fans! :)
Ratings are such a struggle. I really encourage people to read the ratings. 3 stars aren't a bad thing. We rate 3 stars as"Good book. Had some issues with it." so people will want to read the issues.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion topic! On my blog my 3 rating is "Wait for Payday" which is described as "it's a really good book that has some issues but I would still purchase a copy for myself." On sites like goodreads I struggle with rating books, maybe I just need to adhere more to what the little bubble that comes up over each start means on there.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add that I do tend to add 3 star books to my TBR pile as well. I like to compare my thoughts to other bloggers thoughts on books, just because some didn't enjoy a book as much as they had hoped to doesn't mean I won't.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point. Blogger compatibility tends to highly affect whether or not I'll read a book recommended/disliked by that particular person! We all do have some different tastes, after all!
DeleteI quit rating books exactly because of this. I'd say about 70% of the books I read fall into the 3 star category, I liked it, enjoyed reading it, but didn't love it.
ReplyDeleteI don't do ratings on my blog. I do them on Goodreads because you almost have to. I have several different reasons for choosing not to do ratings, but mainly it is because one day I may feel one way about a book and then seven days from now - after some thought - my thoughts may have changed a bit. I may love it more or a little bit less. I just don't like the idea of ratings and likewise, I don't pay any attention to anyone else's ratings. I realize that I am in the minority and I'm fully okay with that!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have a very unique way of arranging my thoughts on my blog and sometimes I think people misread what I'm saying. If I say one thing that isn't positive and four other positive things, it seems like my reader will only focus on that one negative thing and see my review as negative. I don't understand this. I get a lot of "Sorry you didn't love this book." comments because of this. I don't want people to get the wrong idea, but I'm being completely honest in my thoughts, so I don't really feel like I need to change them.
Bah. Doesn't really have anything to do with ratings, since I don't have them, I just thought I'd throw that into the discussion. Great discussion post, though. ;)
Asheley,
DeleteJust wanted to say I love the way you structure your reviews. They're so well-organized, and I'm a sucker for a detailed analysis of a book! I totally understand what you mean about changing your feelings about a book after some time passes though...that's been a problem for me as well!
Thanks for stopping by!
THANK YOU! Yes! I mean what I said, up there ^^^
ReplyDelete(hehe, thank you for including me :D)
3-stars meant I LIKED a book. Quite possibly a lot. Some of my favorite books I'd consider firm 3s. Just because I love them, doesn't mean I can't see their flaws, and I try to be objective when I review. A 5-star book, for me, has to be PERFECT. Even the books I love and get crazy obsessed over mostly get 4-stars. 3-stars is just... I LIKED the book. Sometimes I kind of feel hesitant to 3-star a book because of the... I don't know, general misconception of what 3 stars actually mean on blogs?
Tara (from 25 Hour Books) said something really astute (above): "While even I consider a book with a 3 star rating to be good, I'm hesitant to add them to my TBR. Why? Because my TBR is OUT OF CONTROL. So unless a book gets a super high rating or the summary/review really grabs my attention, it gets left behind." I think this is a good point... but having said that, it never stops me from adding one to my TBR (I have a problem)... I think that maybe, because we all read SO. MUCH. our perception gets a little skewed? We read so much based on recommendations... I don't know. I have a friend, and for her, A LOT of books she rates and even LIKES get 2 stars. She goes on the Goodreads system: It was OK. 3 stars means she LIKED it, and she sticks to it... Aaaaah! Confusement!
I know I'm guilty of having said "I'm sorry you didn't like this quite as much as you hoped, but glad to see you still liked it overall!", or something similar.
Hmmm... Seriously! This is a FABULOUS topic!
I loved this post because I had the same thing happen to me often when I gave ratings. Now I just share my bottom line on the book..I feel like it leaves it a bit more open for someone to decide if they want to try the book or not. Such a great post!
ReplyDeleteYou made a great point, and really illustrated it by comparing the different descriptions of 3 star ratings!
ReplyDelete3 stars for me is just OK - it didn't blow me a way, but I don't have strong feelings against it either and I probably wouldn't reread it. Sometimes I feel like it is a bit of a comfort zone if I don't know how to rate something - but a lot of the books I read do tend to fall into this zone... that also has to do with me always finishing a book.
I like your idea of putting what the rating actually means at the end of your post. Sadly, some people still don't read our nice little rating systems located in the sidebars :(
I love your post! Poor little three star ratings :( To me, three stars means "average" because that's what it is numerically. Most books I read fall somewhere around average to slightly above average, which makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if people have trouble understanding my ratings, but clearly you don't :) (Thank you for quoting me!)
Of all the book reviews out there, I tend to avoid books that earned three stars. I'd rather read a 4 or 5 star book. I'll even read a book that's been rather 2 stars (especially if I've heard rave reviews previously) before I ever pick up a three star. Three stars to me mean, this book wasn't all that memorable because it wasn't amazing and it didn't suck.
ReplyDeleteI went through my blog around new year and discovered I'd rated too many books three stars, so I'm trying something a little different when it comes to ratings.
- Jackie
This is a really great post!
ReplyDeleteMy official policy says "3/5 - I liked it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really good either. I probably felt my money could’ve been spent better elsewhere." I couldn't think of a better way to put it, because for me, a three star IS a borderline negative. review. One of those "damned by faint praise" type of situations, where there's nothing that stood out as spectacular, but it wasn't terrible.
My "average" on my blog and on Goodreads is actually 4 stars, but that tends to be less because I'm overly generous with my ratings and far more because I'm utterly brutal about quickly DNFing a book that doesn't keep my interest!
It does definitely make it difficult when there's no real standard with ratings, and I'm COMPLETELY guilty of pretty much never reading the rating scale of the blogs I'm on. :P