After much thought, I have decided to change the way I rate books. For ages now I have been giving books ratings of four and five stars and the majority of books I’ve read this year have been rated five stars by myself. I’m hoping to change this. Are these books really worth such a high rating?
My new system is going to go as following:
Five Crowns
Five crowns means that I completely fell in love with the book and would consider it one of my favourites. I’m going to be trying to make five crown books rarer because I’ve been giving a lot of books five star ratings this year when, actually, they don’t deserve it.
Four crowns means that I really enjoyed a book, and although there were some faults, I would definitely recommend it and remember it. The amount of four stars I’ve given out so far this year has been minimal when a lot of the books have deserved this rating, so I’m going to be tougher.
Three crowns means that a book is average and I’m not likely to read it or again or remember it. I may have enjoyed it whilst reading it but I didn’t connect with it or click in any way and there were quite a few faults.
Two crowns means that I didn’t enjoy the book and thought it was below average. I’m not likely to read the rest in the series or trilogy if it’s not a standalone and I’m not likely to recommend it.
One crown means that I likely DNF’d a book and didn’t enjoy it at all. I’m hoping that I won’t be giving this rating very often!
I also have half ratings which I think I’ll be using often. I’m a lot happier now that I’ve started using the system and I’ll be putting my ratings at the bottom of each review that I write and will explain why I chose that rating.
How do you rate books?
Lucy Powrie is a blogger, YouTuber and author from the UK. When she's not reading, she enjoys cuddling guinea pigs and eating Oreo chocolate, but let's be real: she's mostly always reading.
18 Comments
Gina @ My Precious
5 June, 2013 at 4:32 amI like how you took the time to explain your ratings. It may be nice if you had a clickable link to this page each time you did a rating. That way if someone was interested in seeing how you did your rating they could read this detailed explanation.
I rate books with “Rings” because my blog is called “My Precious” (A Lord of the Rings reference, which I’m sure you realized -lol) I also give a word explanation below the “Rings” so the reader can see what my expectations are for each rating.
Hope this helps.
Frenchie4800
5 June, 2013 at 8:08 amI like how you explained what each crown was. I think this is a great way for your rating system as it matches your blog. I want to change my way of ratings but I don’t know what yet.
I think rating is especially hard as you have different views to everyone else and what if your opinion is bias due to the genre or something.
I dunno it’s kinda hard.
maya
5 June, 2013 at 8:29 amYour new rating system sounds ideal. I really struggle with rating books, so I only do to on Goodreads and not on my blog. I really wish Goodreads had a half star system, though!
Pink Lady 631
5 June, 2013 at 8:42 amI love your new rating system, it’s seems very honest and fair. I love that they are crowns seeing as you are the Queen of Contemporary. I usually rate with stars but I’m hoping to improve my reviews, rating system included. I tend to rate books 4.5 a lot and it’s hard because I don’t post many bad reviews. I don’t want people to think I’m sugar coating, I guess I just don’t like wasting time to post reviews on books I didn’t finish. Looking forward to seeing your new system in action!
Pink Lady 631
5 June, 2013 at 9:09 amOh and I am getting sent a copy of ACID, after seeing you mention it.
Marian
5 June, 2013 at 10:16 amThis is a much better rating system!
I used to rate out of ten but recently I changed to five, using teacups as stars. That way a book can be as brilliant as 5 cups of teas or will barely quench my thirst at 2… or likely to cause a drought at 1..
Yeah, I like tea…
Marian ^_^ x
Lesley
5 June, 2013 at 10:37 amI don’t rate books on my blog, only on Goodreads, but I have issues with their rating system as well! I wish there were half stars, because deciding whether to round up or down is tricky (this is a lie, I always round down because I’m just that kind of person). The thing with the Goodreads ratings is I just go off what the descriptions for each star rating is rather than thinking about the number of stars I’m giving (if that makes sense, which I suspect it doesn’t!) I have more two star reads than anything, I’d guess, because a lot of the books I read are just okay.
Interesting that you’ve decided to get tougher, though, people tell me I need to be more generous with mine!
Beth Kemp
5 June, 2013 at 3:32 pmGood system: nice and clear. I don’t rate on my blog, but I do on GR and Amazon (and of course they are two different systems – 4 and 5 star books on GR are both 5 star on Amazon; yeah, I don’t need another system as well 🙂 ).
Bookaholic 007
5 June, 2013 at 5:00 pmNice system, I love the crowns! It’s also good that you show clearly what it means if you give a book one crown or five crowns! 🙂 I agree with you, I use to give 5 star ratings WAY too easily, but since book-blogging I’ve been able to see which books honestly deserve that 5 star! 😀
aliceinreaderland.com
5 June, 2013 at 5:06 pmI love your new rating system, the crowns are so cute! 🙂 I’m the exact same way about 5 and 4 ratings (I rate in tea cups), 5 teacups mean I really loved a book and would reread it soon and 4 teacups means I definitely recommend and enjoyed it too. 🙂 Happy reading!
Alice @ Alice in Readerland
Hollie
5 June, 2013 at 8:03 pmI love your rating system, and I really like the crowns! 🙂 I use treble clefs to rate books, and I’ve realised that I need to be a lot tougher with my rating, haha! I like how you explained all the ratings too, they’re all really clear and concise explanations! 🙂
Tilly Currer
5 June, 2013 at 8:44 pmI rate my book like A,B,C,D,E,F, with A being the best. I love your crown rating system, totally fits with your blog! I completely agree with you, I keep looking back at my ratings and I’ve given them too higher ratings and not been tough enough! I shall try, like, you, to be tougher 🙂
Rachel (Booktastic Reviews) :D
6 June, 2013 at 10:30 amLoving the crowns! I’m also going to start being stricter than usual and only give out five stars to a book I really, really, really loved.
Thanks for letting us know about the new rating system – can’t wait to see it in action! 🙂
Jess Hearts Books!
6 June, 2013 at 4:36 pmLove the new system Lucy! I find half ratings really useful sometimes a book is just in between!
Rebekah Campbell
6 June, 2013 at 5:26 pmGreat system 🙂 I’ve noticed that this year I’ve been a lot stricter with 4 and 5 stars. It’s just how you grow as a reader and blogger!
Sophie Louise
6 June, 2013 at 6:13 pmLove the crowns! How did you design them?
-Sophie
Ruby :)
8 June, 2013 at 5:06 pmI love the crowns! I don’t focus too much on my star system, as I choose one word to sum the book up instead, and then explain why I chose that word. I might add a better system though!!! Your post has inspired me…
Zoe Crook
15 June, 2013 at 5:29 pmI love your new rating system! I’ve been thinking about giving my reviews a new rating system a lot recently. Like you said, I mostly give books 4 or 5 stars when they don’t deserve it. Do you have any ideas of what I could use? I love Ruby’s process or summing the book in one word, it’s such an original idea 🙂