What’s happening with book ratings?

Do you use ratings to help you decide whether to buy a book? If your answer is yes, we need to talk about a worrying trend on book sites. I’m talking about online trolls, and their new hobby of tanking a book’s rating. There have long been trolls writing unfair reviews and leaving 1 star ratings with no explanation. Now they are organising groups.

I’ve previously written about the importance of reviewing books to support authors and help other readers. But dishonest ratings and reviews can also harm authors and mislead readers. So how do we spot them?

The world of readers

Readers are a wide-ranging bunch. There are those who love reading yet keep their opinions on books to themselves. Readers who only leave star ratings and can’t be coaxed into explaining them. Those who knock off a…