Another milestone: First review in a book blog
Laika in Lisan has reached another milestone: The book has received it’s first review in a book blog! Jenna of Book Odyssey read and reviewed the book, and you can see her review by clicking here.
Last month I sent a number of emails to book bloggers asking them if they’d be interested in reading and reviewing Laika in Lisan. I didn’t know any of the bloggers, so I expected (and received) many rejections. Jenna of Book Odyssey was gracious enough to give Laika in Lisan a chance, and I’m so glad she did! Her review was thoughtful, and I was thrilled that she enjoyed the book so much.
As far as I know, 13 people have read Laika in Lisan in its published form. (Another nine people read early drafts of it.) One of those 13 is the book’s editor, Marcy Sheiner, but the rest are people I’ve either never met or people whom I recently met via Goodreads when I began contacting strangers with invitations to read the book. (Although it’s been hard to cold-email strangers, it’s also been fun. I’ve met some cool people through Goodreads, all starting with Marcy. She was one of my first beta readers, and she’s also probably one of the coolest people alive. )
Some of those 13 people have really loved the book, and others have found it good but didn’t love it. (As far as I know, no one’s hated it yet, but I’m sure someone will eventually!) It’s well known that reading tastes differ considerably. For example, I’m in a book club with five friends with whom I share many interests, but it’s common for some of us to disagree wildly (i.e., 2-star versus 5-star) about a book. Thirteen readers is a decent sample for me to conclude that there is definitely an audience for Laika in Lisan, but I don’t know who that audience is! Not everyone will love it–that is true of all books–but I haven’t yet discovered what the people who do really enjoy the book have in common. As of yet, no clear similarities have emerged. (Identifying commonalities is also made harder by four of the book’s 5-star ratings coming from complete strangers, so I know nothing about them.)
Basically, I need the help of Netflix’s famous movie recommendation algorithms… (Goodreads does have a recommendation system, but as far as I know, it’s not as sophisticated at Netflix’s and it can’t estimate how much a person will like a single item.)