Reviews

I'm curious about other people's opinions about reviews.

Ideally as authors, we'd all be getting 5 star reviews with lots of in-depth commentary about the story.

Ideally as readers, we'd be reading reviews that say, "You personally will like this book", or "You personally will not like this book."

But obviously that's not going to happen.

Authors - Would you rather get a review giving your story 4 - 5 stars, but doesn't go into much detail about the story, or a review with 3-4 stars that has more content?

Readers - Same question. Which type of review makes you more interested in reading a story? Do you just look at the number of stars, or do you find an analysis of the story more helpful?

Personally, while getting a 4-5 star review is of course a huge ego boost, many of my favourite reviews have been in the 3-4 star range. I love seeing reviews by someone who really gets my story. I actually got one(3 1/2 stars, I believe) for Amber that hit on every point I'd hoped to get across to readers, and it was so fulfilling and rewarding to know that my story was having exactly the effect I'd been looking for. That meant more to me than a higher starred review without feedback.