It’s widely accepted in the indie publishing world (and beyond) that reviewers on the social reading site Goodreads are more discerning / harsh than their counterparts on Amazon.com. Some people have suggested that Goodreads users are better read, and therefore choosier about their books. Others have pointed to unscrupulous review practices that hit Amazon harder than other sites. I’d like to point to a third contributor to Amazon’s optimistic reviews: User experience design. Specifically, the UX design at Amazon encourages better reviews from all of its users.
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The Library Police is a fantastic podcast, and if you’re a reader I highly encourage you to start listening to it. I’ve already purchased two books based on their recommendations since I subscribed to the podcast in January. And I can vouch for the excellent taste of the shows’ hosts, because Josh, Dietrich, and Rachel loved Orconomics so much that they recently had me on the show for an interview. It was fun to do, I’m told it’s fun to listen to, and I hope you’ll check it out.