Reviews: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Whenever I need to get my feet back on the ground and deflate my ego, all I have to do is read some reviews for my books on Goodreads.  Wow.  I haven't been in there for a long time, but I have read several reviews for the same books on Amazon.  People on Amazon (for the most part) seem to love me and my books.  Then you go over to Goodreads and those people seem to hate me and everything I write.  What a difference.  I wonder why?  What do you think?

Is it because there are a lot of authors on Goodreads?  Are they trying to knock down the competition?

Or do readers on Goodreads feel more passionately about their books and judge them more harshly?

I don't think writers should read reviews of their own work.  I know, I know, I just admitted to doing it myself.  But it never brings about anything good.  Either your head gets too big to fit in the door or you leave the site feeling depressed.  When I first got published, I checked all the sites every day, eager to hear from readers.  These days I rarely look.  It doesn't change anything.  Bad reviews might hurt sales, depending on what the person says about the book, but usually people want to make up their own minds.  I know I do.

Do you change your mind about buying a book if you see a bad review?

What changes my mind?  1. I find out the main character is unsympathetic and people didn't like them.  2. There are numerous errors on every page.  3. Everyone is saying they hate the ending or that there wasn't an ending.  4. There is a lot of cursing or real graphic sexual situations.

I changed my mind about buying the last book in the series that started with Shiver.  I loved the first book, but almost everyone said in their reviews that the end of the book is abrupt and they felt like the author ran out of time and quit.  That doesn't sound good.

If the reader sounds like they just enjoy griping about stuff, I ignore them and read the book.

What stops you from reading something?