Fans rating a book wayyyyyyyyy before its release happens on Goodreads a lot, but authors rarely comment on it; especially when they are scoring primarily 5 stars such as Patrick Rothfuss does. Pat, however, has decided to address the kindhearted time travellers who are taking the time to rate his book 5/5 and ask them to email him a copy of it to save the copious amount of editing work he still has left to do before its release.
While it’s nice to see folks out there giving this book five stars, and in some cases even reviewing it, I’ll admit that I’m kinda puzzled.
After thinking it over for a while, I’ve realized there’s only one explanation for this:
Time travelers love my books.
This is strangely reassuring, as it lets me know that, eventually, I do finish my revisions, and the book turns out good enough so that I still have a following out there in the big ball of wibbly-wobbly…. timey-wimey…. stuff that I like to think of as the future.
I would also like to say, future readers, that I appreciate your taking time to read and review my books. It’s really flattering knowing that even with time-travel technology at your disposal, you’d rather read my stuff and mention it here on goodreads, rather than, say, hunt dinosaurs, get drunk with da Vinci, or pants Hitler.
Secondly, I’d like to say if you’re The Doctor, and you’re reading this, I would make an excellent traveling companion. I know you normally tend to hang out with pretty young women and robot dogs. And honestly? I respect that.
Still, I bring certain things to the table. Humor, witty banter, and a beard that will allow me to blend in seamlessly with any pre-industrial Germanic culture. I’m also an excellent kisser and play a mean game of Settlers of Catan.
Just throwing it out there.
Lastly, if any of you happen to have a digital copy of the book you’d like to e-mail me, I’d really appreciate it. I’d love to see the five-star version of the book, because right now, the one I’m toiling away at is about a three an a half-in my opinion. It would save me a lot of work if I could just skip to the end and publish it.
Sincerely yours,
pat
HA! What do you guys thinks of the trend to rate a book before its release? Harmless fun and a way to support an author or childish behaviour that makes a mockery of the scoring system? Additionally, how do you think it affects the author, if at all? Do you think it would give them confidence, anxiety it needs to be good (if high), anxiety they don’t have an appreciative fan-base (if low)?
