My contribution to Rosie Amber's weekly Friday Five Challenge!
It's an interesting exercise for writers ~ it shows the little things that can put potential readers off that click-buy!
Anyone with a blog can join in ~ here's what you do:
IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….
1) Go to any online book supplier
2) Randomly choose a category
3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which instantly appeals
4) Read the book bio/description, and any other details
5) If there are reviews, check out a couple
6) Make an instant decision: would you BUY or PASS?
You can check out others' contributions on the #FridayFiveChallenge (click to see them!) hashtag on Twitter
This week, I put the words 'Chicago Romance' (a random choice!) into the Amazon search. The cover that attracted my eye was COULSON'S WIFE by Anna J MacIntyre (click title for link)
Analysis
Cover
The cover attracted me in a kind of tongue in cheek way ~ it looks like a 1980s blockbuster (even down to the hair) and is more than a little cheesy, but I used to love those books in the late 1970s and 1980s: Lace, Kane and Abel, Jackie Collins' Chances, etc etc. I thought if it was well written it might be worth the odd bit of bath-time escapism (yes, I'm brave: I dare to read my Kindle in the bath!).
Blurb
The beginning of the Coulson Empire, 1918: Mary Ellen’s father didn’t trade her for a house–exactly. Marrying the wealthy and handsome Randall Coulson is not something Mary Ellen wants to do, but being the obedient daughter she agrees to the marriage.
Randall Coulson wants Mary Ellen for one reason–to give him sons. He has no desire to form a bond of love or friendship with his young bride. His own heart is already taken.
A bittersweet story of love, lies and family secrets, taking place during a turbulent period of American history, when the perception of women and their role in society changed in one woman’s lifetime.
It's the first in a series of 5, and states that all books are stand alone - blurb is well written, brief and to the point, and interests me: American history and family intrigue - all good so far!
Price
It's free! What's not to like? I didn't actually notice it was free until I clicked on it, by the way.
Reviews
An average of 4.1* over 31 ratings. Several say that it has not been proofread properly, even down to characters' names changing. One of the most intelligently written reviews is 1*, and says that the plot is a bit thin, the characters one dimensional, etc. I looked at the profiles of 10 out of 16 reviewers who'd given it 5*. They were a little odd - in all cases but one it was the only book or one of just two books they'd reviewed, or the only book amongst a selection of reviews for other products. (One person had actually reviewed 176 books on 11 December 2014, given them all 5* and described them as either 'interesting' or 'good story' - bizarre!). Too many of the other reviews were less than complimentary.
*I just looked again and it had another 5* review saying just 'brillent'. The reviewer has posted about 50 other books today, all of which are also 'brillent'. Curiouser and curiouser...*
Conclusion
Would I buy or pass? Title, cover, blurb, price ~ all good until the reviews, but having read them I wouldn't even bother to download for nothing, I'm afraid. It's a shame, but I have to give this one a PASS.
I think I'm with you on this one, a 5 book series, the first needs to be REALLY enticing and well written for readers to want to carry on, if you lose the readership with the first book, it's a hard uphill battle in a competitive marketplace.
ReplyDeleteI read my kindle in the bath too!
It's valuable reading time, Rosie, can't be overlooked!!!
DeleteEven with a brilliant series, you can lose people in 5 books. I've read 4 of a very good post apocalyptic one, but simply haven't got round to the 5th yet. But if the first one isn't much good you can kiss goodbye to any readers for the rest - I wouldn't even do a sequel again, they're so much harder to sell than a standalone.
I’d pass too...and I agree with Rosie, the first of a series has to be extremely good to make me continue with the following books.
ReplyDeleteThe reviews say it all - especially as the subsequent installments either have one or no reviews each!
DeleteI'm confused. I checked out the rest of the series. Book 1 has 303 reviews...you picked two to discuss, one that was clearly a troll five star and one that commented on the editing. Is that a fair representation of 303 reviews?
DeleteBook 2 has 34 reviews 4.4 out of 5
Book 3 has 27 reviews 4.7 out of 5
Book 4 has 168 reviews 4.1 out of 5
Book 5 has 27 reviews 4.7 out of 5
I really don't get how you came to the conclusions you came to on this one...
Hi Traci - we're all in England, so we look at and, most importantly, buy books from Amazon UK. The only time we look at the reviews on .com is when there are none on UK.
DeleteAmazon.com is as irrelevant to us as Amazon UK probably is to you, as we don't buy from there! I hope that clears up the confusion.
amazon.com reviews show up on the UK site, just lower down on the page. To ignore them in a five minute scan--because five minutes really is quite a long time--is either ignorant, lazy, or purposefully misleading. There really is not way, in five whole minutes, that you could fail to see them. I could see not counting them up, but it is quite obvious that they exist.
DeleteThat said, your blog is on the internet...not "in the UK" and your readers aren't "all in the UK" unless you don't have much of an audience, so as a blogger you really do your audience a disservice to focus only on a site that has so few users and makes so few sales in general.
The internet is global. It's kind of the point.
I was being neither lazy, ignorant or purposefully misleading, Tracy. The .com reviews don't appear on the UK page unless there are only 1 or 2 or virtually no reviews. The point of this exercise is to say whether or not you would buy a book. Most people in the UK don't bother to look at .com, but decided from the information on the UK site whether or not they want to buy a book. Amazon UK doesn't have 'so few users'. It's used by millions of people all over the UK every day. At the end of the day, this is how the person who started this idea wanted to do it - that we choose a book site, make our choices and draw our conclusions.
DeleteWhat a fascinating exercise - there's definitely something wrong if a browser won't even download for free! Brillent (sic)
ReplyDeleteI discovered what a great idea this was once I did it, Wendy - it really makes you think, after you've done it! Do feel free to join in, we've had a couple of new people join in this week. I thought it was a BRILLENT idea of Rosie's! :)
Deleteps, and yes, it shows that genuine reviews do matter. I'm not saying for a moment that those people who gave it 5* didn't genuinely enjoy it, but their comments seem more valid if similar ones have been made by random readers, too. It's notable that the 1st book has 32 reviews, and the subsequent ones only 1, or none.
DeleteAgain--very confused by this statement, since none of the books have fewer than 20 reviews and one of the sequels has 168! http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Coulson+series
DeleteOh, meant to say, Traci - actually this highlights the importance of putting reviews on both sites, so thanks!
DeleteBuy. I like the cover, for just the reasons you did -- it's deliciously cheesy. Leads me to expect something fun. Blurb is good, as is the sample. I'm halfway through it, and I'll probably get #2. I don't follow what you're saying about the reviews. Lots of good intelligent ones in there, not just the 1* or the fools.
ReplyDeleteHi Antonia, thanks for looking at this feature. As I said to Traci, we're all in England so we look at and buy from Amazon UK. Amazon.com is nearly as irrelevant to us as Amazon UK probably is to you! The only time we look at .com whilst doing the Friday Five Challenge is if there are no UK reviews. But thanks - this has highlighted that we need to specify which site we're looking at.
DeleteIt's like that in .DE, too, hardly anyone here leaves reviews, so you have to look to .COM to find any significant number of reviews. At least there are not so many fake reviews there as here.
DeleteOh yeah, fake reviews, the bane of Amazon - either paid for ones, or authors doing 5* review swaps - it spoils it for everyone else, doesn't it?!
DeleteYes, especially the review swaps. DE is rife with those. The classic sign:a book has lots of reviews three paragraphs long or longer. That's how authors approach reviews. I can't imagine writing more than a few sentences in a customer review, unless it was for a blender or a television.
ReplyDeleteBut that's also how book bloggers write reviews, too. I am a writer but I also review every book I read, and I put them on my blog, too; if I am going to write a blog post I want to write more than a few sentences. I've never done a review swap in my life, and don't read/review friends books that I don't like.
DeleteIf you submit your book to a dedicated, review blog by a reviewer who isn't a writer, you can be sure it'll be several paragraphs long! Many of us send out our books to bloggers as soon as they come out. I've also got a fair few reviews from readers (many of whom I don't know!!) that are quite long.
Your views are interesting, thanks for taking the time. The way I usually suss out if a review is 'fake' is simply to look at what else the person has reviewed - if they're all 5* they're either doing it for money or are authors doing review swaps. The other indication is when they've never reviewed anything other than that book!
I hardly have the time to research reviews. I just want to find a decent book. So I just skip to the 4* or 3* reviews. That's where you find what customers actually think. A good 3* speaks volumes, because the person liked the book enough to bother leaving a review, but did not think it was perfect. 5* and 1* are usually the least informative reviews of all. I'm not interested in reading what authors think of each others books.
DeleteBut authors are readers too. Often very avid ones. I only give 5* occasionally, if something is really worth it. There are informative and silly reviews of all star ratings. I hope mine are always geared to what the reader needs to know, I try to make them so - ie, I try to write them as a READER, not as a literary critique; that's for the writer.
DeleteAll authors review each others' work and always have done, long before Amazon; it's because they all share the love of the written word. I agree about a good 3* - it really pisses me off the way some writers think a 3* is a bad review!
I hope my comments have made you consider other points of view, as yours have for me.
I'm enjoying this conversation, thank you for engaging differing opinions. As an author you have to be very careful in the reviews you leave at any Amazon site. It is against their terms of service for an author to leave negative reviews on books that could be considered their competition.
DeleteSo if you are leaving reviews for every book you read, and your own books cross genre, you are at risk of having your reviews deleted, or even your KDP account frozen, if the author, or Amazon decides that the book is too similar to something you are writing.
Personally, as a reader, I hate author reviews on books, even if the author has a review site and considers themselves also a reviewer. It always reads to me like sour grapes--or conversely if it is positive, pushing a friend's work. It 's probably not always true, but it feels true, and when making gut decisions, that feeling is the most important thing.
Amazon has its own rules when it comes to the reviews they do or do not allow; I don't think any of us know exactly what they are.
DeleteHow sad that you don't think a writer can enjoy reading and reviewing for its own sake. Perhaps that says more about the authors you've come across! On my review blog it specifies at the top that I don't give great reviews just because the writer's a mate, and indeed I don't. I review for my own and another book blog; the owner of that blog prides herself on displaying only honest, balanced reviews, as do I. I don't have any hidden agendas or issues with other people's books. Half the books I review are by people I have not spoken to online, and if I start to read a friend's book and don't like it, I stop. However, I don't feel the need to carry on justifying myself either for the article on my blog, or my own reviews! I believe I've said all I need to on this subject now, and thanks for your interest. :)
Yes. Thank you, Terry. I guess they probably have always done that. I just find customer reviews more informative. If someone starts telling me all sorts of technical information about an author's style or voice, I feel like I'm back in an Amerkanistik class at Uni, not trying to find a guilty pleasure to read. It's been good to discuss with you.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!!!! I don't care about what technique they've used, just if it's good to read!!
DeleteWhen I'm deciding on a book, I rarely bother with reviews that are obviously by a book blogger or an author for two reasons. One, they tend to be way too long, and two—this is especially true for book bloggers as far as I know—they are often invited to review a book, and how many times do they review books that aren't to their tastes? Like Antonia, I put far more value in reviews by actual customers because they're the people who are buying the books and are more likely to have interests in tune with mine. Logic reasons that those reviews will tell me a lot more accurately if I will like a book or not. A couple sentences, maybe even a paragraph (but no more than two) is usually more than enough to give me the impression I need. I don't need all the extra junk book bloggers and authors seem to think are necessary in their reviews, and I've read a couple that ended up ruining a book for me because they said too much. Also, because actual customer reviews tend to be shorter, they take less time to read, which makes a snap decision easier :)
DeleteIn regards to this book: BUY. I've read all five of the Coulson books, and I enjoyed every one. If you're looking for dense, weighty literary books, these aren't that, but they are an intriguing look into a family with a lot of secrets. I quite enjoyed the characterizations, and to be honest, I found more errors in the last Robyn Carr and Nora Roberts books I read.
I agree re reviews that are too long. For Amazon only reviews, two short paragraphs is fine. I also agree re the 'extra junk' - but when I write a review for a book blog I think it's only fair to give a fairly full assessment.
DeleteAs for book bloggers reading books that are not to their tastes, most state on their sites which genres they prefer. On the one I review for, a book is submitted to the whole team, and we pick the ones we fancy. Aside from my reviews for this team, I only review my own reading choices and don't accept requests, so any book on my review blog is one I have chosen to read. Most book bloggerss reject many books; I don't know of any that often read books they don't want to.
Just one more thing - writers are 'actual customers' too! I buy books on a regular basis for no reason other than I want to read them. I was reading books for many, many years before Amazon existed!!! I like reviewing, though, and I know how important it is for writers to get reviews - also, if I've loved a book I like to tell people about it. I don't review as 'an author' but as an.... actual customer. To consider us otherwise would be like saying that a musician's opinion of someone else's music is not worth hearing, or an actor's view of a film. Anyway, I'm sure the author of the Coulson books must be very happy to have readers who say so many good things about her books, and I think we've come to the end of this conversation now! I certainly don't have anything to add, and have a bunch of other stuff to do! All the best, and happy reading :)
I guess the problem I'm having with your methodology is with the assumption that a book is not worth reading because it (and its sequels) have very few reviews based on YOUR location and not the book's country of origin. I would imagine the quality of a book is the same no matter which side of the pond the reader lives, and the fact that there are very few reviews in England or Germany doesn't mean it's a bad read. I imagine your books are more popular in the England than they are in the States, so would it be fair to judge your books by looking at only a small portion of your market? Another thing is the fact that you've never read the book, and you don't mention reading the sample in the Look Inside offering. That tells me more about a book than anything. The other things you mention (cover, blurb and reviews) are all superficial and only serve to build interest. But the Look Inside gives a person a true picture of the plot, the writing style and whether the story hooks me or not. So...I would look at reviews from the country of origin and include the Look Inside in your overall formula. Just saying. Tom (obviously from the United States)
ReplyDeleteYes, that is all very fair comment indeed! What the idea is with the Friday Five Challenge, though, is to do it all in 5 minutes, and making gut decisions ~ which has its worth, too, but I agree, it's not flawless. I don't very often read the 'look inside' bit myself, to be honest, and I buy STACKS of indie Kindle books - I judge by the things stated here. The lady who started this off (Rosie) had the idea showing how the cover, blurb and price could affect someone's decision to buy or pass, more than many writers realise - it's certainly taught me a lot. But thanks, yes, you make a very good point. Sadly, the reviews highlighted aspects that are 'deal breakers' for me; had several low star reviews complained of 'too much back story/flashbacks' or 'slow start', they wouldn't have put me off because they are things I don't mind at all. Thanks for your input, most interesting.
DeleteThere are a few things that bother me about this post...
ReplyDelete1) As a writer yourself, surely you can see how hurtful it would be to another writer to have a snap judgement made and posted for the world to see without even the benefit of having read the book and formed an honest opinion. It reminds me of those dreaded 1 star reviews, "Well, I didn't read the book, but from the Look Inside feature, this book is awful."
2) That's an awesome cover. I've seen plenty of cheesy covers and am guilty of one or two myself, but this isn't it. At least if you're going to pick a book to pass on, why not make it one worthy of passing.
I would suggest changing the methodology of your blog. Why not find the best of the best and then explain WHY they are great and what makes them worthy. It is a more positive approach to teaching & learning.
Ah, another of this author's chums on the rampage; I think I might take this post down!!
DeleteCharles, if you look at the top of the post, or click on any of the other posts in this series (click the tag and see plenty of others; if you look at my more recent ones, you will also see posts on the Friday Five Challenge made by others), you can see the point of this exercise. The FFC obviously doesn't appeal to you - that's fine, we don't all like the same stuff. The idea of it is to show writers what makes a reader click 'buy', or not. If you want to see books that I've read and recommend, you can read my book review blog, which can easily be found by googing Terry Tyler book reviews. Sometimes, we find great 'buys'. With this book, however, reviews that were critical of the proofreading made me decide not to buy the book.
It is indeed an awesome cover. I like it very much, it's what made me choose this book. It is, however, 1980s cheesy in the best possible way. 'Cheesy' isn't always an insult - it's cool, I like it, it's very 'Dynasty', which I also liked, but is also cheesy - perhaps in the UK we mean something slightly different by it.
As I explained to one of the others, above, the bad reviews mentioned bad proofreading and wooden characters (I think, it's been a while) - these make a book a 'no-no' for me. Had there been other criticisms, like too much backstory, they wouldn't have put me off; I like a lot of backstory.
I appreciate your comments but you must understand that this is my blog, on which I can put whatever I like. If you have one, the same applies to you. There are plenty of articles and blogs bigging up books; this is a different exercise. I am not trashing her book, I am saying why I wouldn't download it. If you don't agree with the methodology of the Friday Five Challenge, there's a simple remedy - don't read it!
I congratulate Anna Mc on having so many loyal fans, and hope her career continues to thrive. And just to show that I am a reasonable person, I will go and free download this book. That is ALL I wish to say on this matter, please refer any other friends who wish to join in to these comments - I've spent quite enough time explaining myself! Thanks :)
It is a real shame that the point of the #FridayFiveChallenge has been taken out of all context. Five minutes to scan Amazon's vast bookshop isn't long, challengers don't spend 5 minutes researching just 1 book, but pages and pages from a single search term. The idea is to put yourself in the chair of a regular customer who is looking for a new read whilst on their coffee break. You will use your eyes first to spot a cover, this isn't about searching by author or focussing on the reviews. A quick decision is what this challenge is all about and this has sadly been missed in these recent comments from supporters of the author. Every reader/ buyer is different and will even make different decisions on different days. Sharing a common love of books should be what is important amongst everyone who reads. In fact the style of these recent comments by supporters of this author remind me of trolls who actively seek out anything they perceive as negative about an author and set a team of attackers on that person/ article until they force it to be removed, I'm sure none of you would want to be associated with this terrible label.
ReplyDeleteThank you for explaining the point of the FFC more succinctly, Rosie - yes, I am sure whoever Anonymous, Traci, Charles and Tom are (possibly less than 4 people, I suspect), that they wouldn't want to be branded with that tag, as it also reflects badly on the author. At the end of the day, this has got several people talking about the book - which can't be a bad thing!
Delete