I receive a question like this periodically so I thought I would answer it in a group forum – remember, if you have a question about the Kindle you can always email me (michael at fkbooksandtips dot com)
Rating Kindle Books With the Kindle
Doug and a few others had a question about rating books after they have been read, and here is a condensed version of Doug’s email to me:
Michael, I found your kindle book blog after my kids got me a Kindle for Father’s Day and I used to subscribe to your buck or less blog. The first thing I do when I turn on my Kindle in the morning is read your blog. I really like the tips and book offers. I do have one question, on finishing a book you get the opportunity to rate book or share that you have finished book. Since I can’t share my opinion as I don’t twitter or facebook or whatever you need to social network does my book rating get added to the total? Thanks again for your interesting blogs. Doug
If you didn’t know, what Doug is referring to is on most Kindles, after you finish a book the very last page is actually a pop-up from Amazon, allowing you to rate the book you have just completed. The heading starts off with “Before you go…” with several options you can pick and choose.
The first option on a Kindle Fire is to review / rate the book (it’s the second option on my e-Ink Kindles), where you can type up your thoughts on the book – along with a star rating – which will then post to the Amazon website. While I do try to write a review of each book I have read on my Kindle (and I am way behind), I usually do it on the computer as I inevitably fat-finger either the Fire or e-Ink Kindle keyboard.
The second option on a Kindle Fire (first option on an e-Ink Kindle) is to Tweet via Twitter or post via Facebook you have completed the book: if you are a member of one of those social networks, you can share the news accordingly if you so desire (the accountant in me wonders how much Twitter and Facebook are paying Amazon for that functionality, or is Amazon paying them to link back to the Amazon store?).
If you scrolled down one menu option below the “Tweet” option, you can select “Rate this book,” which will open a new pop-up window to grade it on a 1 to 5 star rating. As most of you know, I try to rate everything I have read on the Amazon website as I believe we are all one little (but large) community, and I appreciate your reviews – and hope you like mine – as I might be interested in what you like to read and vice versa. On the other hand, we may have totally different tastes in literature. However, I try to provide a few brief comments of what I liked and disliked vs. relying solely on the “star” rating system without providing a spoiler and I appreciate reviews that do the same as most of the time it gives me a good gauge of the book. You can see the reviews I have written at any time by pointing your web browser to http://smarturl.it/mgreviews
Hope that helps!
Michael
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i always review a book; my tag is "bookster".
I review books but haven't ever seen this option on my fire.
I have never seen this option on my kindle. I just checked one of the books I finished reading and did not see the option before or after. I write my review when amazon write and ask me to do so but most time when it comes I hvaven't read the book as yet.and don't know how to get back to it when I have actually read the book.
I believe Amazon also uses the star ratings to determine what books to recommend when you log in.