Group 233. Out of This World - Mod. E.M.

[E.M.]

The review group is the most successful group for peer reviews on goodreads. It hosts non-reciprocal reading/review rounds of ten authors with a variety of themes and genres, as well as ‘general’ rounds where any book is permitted, from non-fiction, to horror. When a round has ‘now forming’ in the title, there are places available, you can sign up. If it doesn’t, it’s full – look for another round or check back another time.

The Amazon rules state that authors/publishers are not allowed to specifically supply published books in return for reviews on Amazon. To comply with this rule, we don’t insist members review on Amazon, but we do insist that every participant in the round has the capacity to leave a review on their local Amazon store, so we all start with the same options.

The founding principle of the group is honest, non-reciprocal reviews, so please help maintain the integrity of the group by letting me know as you sign up if you have been reviewed by, or have reviewed another author in the group and do check back as the group fills to report any clashes. Usually places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

This is an 'Out of this World' round
Fiction books classified as sci-fi, fantasy, dystopian, paranormal.


Now for the boring stuff, but please read it, it saves a lot of time if everyone is on the same wavelength.
Before signing up below with your Goodreads author and Goodreads book link in the thread below, please ensure that:

1. You have enough time to read and review 4 books within the 12 weeks of time allowed.

2. Your book is currently available for sale on Amazon (not pre-order) and it complies with the individual round theme, if there is one.

3. Your book is fit to be reviewed.
If it is not, due to editing or other issues, you risk poor reviews. This is your problem, not that of the reviewers or the groups. For a small fee, the group admin will look at the first few pages of your book to advise. The number one error new authors make is not having their book beta read and edited, by non-family members.

4. You can submit reviews to Goodreads and Amazon.
Amazon allows only those people who have spent $50 in the last year to leave reviews in each of their stores. If you are unsure about your Amazon reviewer status, try posting a ‘test’ review before signing up. If you are unable to post reviews on Amazon, please do not sign up.

5. You can provide (and accept) at least PDF files.
You are not expected or required to buy the books you are allocated to review, but as this will give a ‘Verified Purchase’ review on Amazon, it is welcomed when you choose to do so. Many authors have books available via KU and others might provide smashwords coupons. Most authors can provide mobi and/or epub files directly by email. Please note: International Copyright laws apply. You cannot sell, or give away material you have received without the author’s express permission.

6. You have completed your reading if you are currently in another review round in this group. You can be involved in the ‘one for one’ list whilst you are in a round.

7. You have an author profile set up before you join.

8. Your Goodreads profile allows people to message you, i.e. your profile is not set to private.

9. You declare any relationship you have with another member in the round.
Amazon will not allow reviews from the same household on the same book or if you are an editor, relative or close friend of another member.

10. You agree that your reviews will be unbiased and honest, whatever the star rating, and you will try to avoid ‘spoilers’. i.e. giving away the finale of a book.

11. You will not ask a fellow author to change a review of your book because you don’t agree with it.
If you think you have a legitimate concern, talk to the mod of your round, NOT the other author. Personal attacks, or pressurising other members WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will result in you being blacklisted.

Please note:
We all want reviews, its why we joined the group. It is bad taste to expect other people to review your book and then not do the same for other people in the group. People that DNF and/or don’t post reviews will find it difficult to get into a subsequent group.

It is not necessary to leave any kind of disclaimer in your review, but ultimately, it is up to individuals. Reviews that state you received a copy ‘in return’ for a review will probably be removed/not allowed by amazon.com. ‘I received a free copy from the author without an obligation to review’ would be more acceptable if you feel the need to add a disclaimer.

Your Goodreads details and the rounds you participate in may be recorded by the admin mod on a database. We do not retain details of email addresses etc.

Allocation is entirely random and there will NOT be any rearranging of the listing to accommodate personal preference. The ONLY circumstance in which you may duck out of giving a review is if YOU provide a stand-in reviewer.

The only way this group can function is if we trust each other to behave honourably. And it IS perfectly possible to give a fair-minded review of a text that does not coincide with our normal choice of reading matter. If you need a few hints/tips, please see this thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I will do my best to fit everyone into the group they request, but occasionally, particularly in the case of our more prolific good standing members, I may have to decline a member request to fit the maximum number of people into a particular round. I will always endeavour to start another round as soon as possible with that member in mind.

It is permissible to review an author more than once if a different book is available.
If you need anything clarified please ask, either by goodreads personal message to me or on the thread below, before signing up. It’s a pain to have to keep rearranging the list because people haven’t read the above.

Your group moderator will be:
E.M. Swift-Hook


Member Links
1. Florian Armas
2. D. Wallace Peach
3. Angela Panayotopulos
4. Thomas O.
5. S.K. Wee
6. William Collins
7. Alex Canna
8. Cameron Ayers
9. Robert A. Brown
10. Jay Saph

Book Links
1. Errant
2. The Melding of Aeris
3. The Wake Up
4. Three Truths and Other Unsettling Tales
5. Absence of Color
6. The Dawnvel Druids
7. The South Tower: An alternate history of 9/11
8. The Truth Circle
9. My First Ten Days in Heaven
10. The Inhibited

[Alex]

Hi there, keen to submit my time-looping thriller, The South Tower.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
First time for me in a review group. Cheers!

[D.]

Hi EM, I'd like to join in with my book, The Melding of Aeris. Thanks!

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[Angela]

Hello EM! I'd love to join this round with my dark fantasy novel, The Wake Up. :)
My book profile: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
My author profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[E.M.]

Welcome Alex, D and Angela.

[William]

I'd love to join with my book, Dawnvel Druids. No clashes so far.

Thank you.

[Jay]

I would like to join with my dystopian novel "The Inhibited"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I have read Angela's 'The Wake Up' in another group.
best jay

[Thomas]

I'd like to join with Three Truths and Other Unsettling Tales.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Since Angela and D. Wallace have already reviewed it, I have an earlier collection that they can review, if needed.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Angela]

Let's see how the ordering goes, but if there's someone who has already read The Wake Up (hi Jay! :)), I also have a historical fiction novel (The Art of War) available if it helps keep things flexible: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4....

[Jay]

hi angela ! :)

[S.K.]

Hi all, I would like to add my fantasy adventure for this round. I have no clashes so far.
Absence of Color https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Author Profile https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[William]

You reviewed me before S.K. but it was a different book so I think we'll be fine. :)

[S.K.]

You're right, William, we should be okay.

[E.M.]

Welcome William, Jay, Thomas and S.K.!

William - you didn't post a link to the exact edition of the book you wanted in the round - I hope I found the right one. Please always add the book link as it saves me some work and ensures it is the exact version you want in the round. Thanks.

[Florian]

I would like to enter with Errant.

I've reviewed Peach, Angela and William.

[William]

Oh sorry, here's the exact link.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Thank you.

[Cameron]

I'd also like to sign up. I'm new to these groups, so ... be gentle.

Book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Me: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dash...

[Robert]

Please count me in with My First Ten Days in Heaven; no clashes.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

[E.M.]

Welcome Florian, Cameron and Robert.

Now we need to check for clashes. Please look at the four people 'above' you on the list (10 ia 'above' 1) and make sure you have never reviewed them. Also, check the 4 below and if you have reviewed them before please make sure they have a book you have not yet reviewed that could do so.

If you are all good, please post that you are. If you have any issues on either of the points above, please post to say what they are.

Thanks.

[S.K.]

This looks good to me

[William]

I've reviewed Jay Saph and Robert A before, but as long as they've got different books we should be fine.

Thanks.

[Cameron]

No conflicts on my end.

[Jay]

I’m 10 if I go up. Angela is 3 and I have reviewed The Wake Up but she mentioned previously another book best jay

[Thomas]

Looks good to me. As mentioned I will provide Angela and D. Wallace with The Seer of Possibilities and Other Disturbing Tales as an alternative title. Please note that I have reviewed Robert Brown before (but not this book). As of now he's in my blind spot, but I'm mentioning it just in case you have to shuffle people around.

[Angela]

Florian and Jay have both reviewed my novel "The Wake Up". I do have another book ("The Art of War") that I can provide, but I would prefer reviews for The Wake Up if possible. If it's doable, please shuffle me a little. If it's an inconvenience and messes up other people's orders, however, just let it be. :)
Thanks in advance for all your consideration and juggling of us all!

[D.]

No conflicts for me.

[D.]

Thomas wrote: "Looks good to me. As mentioned I will provide Angela and D. Wallace with The Seer of Possibilities and Other Disturbing Tales as an alternative title. Please note that I have reviewed Robert Brown ..."

I look forward to the read, Thomas. Thanks for the substitution.

[Florian]

No conflicts for me.

[Angela]

Angela wrote: "Florian and Jay have both reviewed my novel "The Wake Up". I do have another book ("The Art of War") that I can provide, but I would prefer reviews for The Wake Up if possible. If it's doable, plea..."

Looks like a conflict-free zone for just about all, and I'd rather not mess that up. Probably best to leave us as is, then; I'm happy to provide an alternate title to Jay + Florian.

[Robert]

I think I'm good and can provide William with another book.

[Jay]

I checked. William has reviewed "Snack Van", another one of my books but not the one here. best jay

[Alex]

All good for me.

[E.M.]

Looks like we have it all working. Sorry, I can't meet everyone's wishes, but it is a pretty tough gig fitting people in sometimes.

[E.M.]

START DATE: 10-Oct-19

END DATE: 02-Jan-20

Round 1 – post your review by 31-Oct-19
Round 2 – post your review by 21-Nov-19
Round 3– post your review by 12 -Dec-19
Round 4 – post your review by 02-Jan-20

As AUTHORS you SEND your book file to:

233-01__Florian Armas
Jay Saph for round 1
Robert A. Brown for round 2
Cameron Ayers for round 3
Alex Canna for round 4

233-02__D. Wallace Peach
Florian Armas for round 1
Jay Saph for round 2
Robert A. Brown for round 3
Cameron Ayers for round 4

233-03__Angela Panayotopulos
D. Wallace Peach for round 1
Florian Armas for round 2
Jay Saph for round 3
Robert A. Brown for round 4

233-04__ Thomas O.
Angela Panayotopulos for round 1
D. Wallace Peach for round 2
Florian Armas for round 3
Jay Saph for round 4

233-05__ S.K. Wee
Thomas O. for round 1
Angela Panayotopulos for round 2
D. Wallace Peach for round 3
Florian Armas for round 4

233-06__ William Collins
S.K. Wee for round 1
Thomas O. for round 2
Angela Panayotopulos for round 3
D. Wallace Peach for round 4

233-07__ Alex Canna
William Collins for round 1
S.K. Wee for round 2
Thomas O. for round 3
Angela Panayotopulos for round 4

233-08__ Cameron Ayers
Alex Canna for round 1
William Collins for round 2
S.K. Wee for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4

233-09__ Robert A. Brown
Cameron Ayers for round 1
Alex Canna for round 2
William Collins for round 3
S.K. Wee for round 4

233-10__ Jay Saph
Robert A. Brown for round 1
Cameron Ayers for round 2
Alex Canna for round 3
William Collins for round 4

As REVIEWERS you will receive books for review from:

233-01__Florian Armas
D. Wallace Peach for round 1
Angela Panayotopulos for round 2
Thomas O. for round 3
S.K. Wee for round 4

233-02__D. Wallace Peach
Angela Panayotopulos for round 1
Thomas O. for round 2
S.K. Wee for round 3
William Collins for round 4

233-03__Angela Panayotopulos
Thomas O. for round 1
S.K. Wee for round 2
William Collins for round 3
Alex Canna for round 4

233-04__ Thomas O.
S.K. Wee for round 1
William Collins for round 2
Alex Canna for round 3
Cameron Ayers for round 4

233-05__ S.K. Wee
William Collins for round 1
Alex Canna for round 2
Cameron Ayers for round 3
Robert A. Brown for round 4

233-06__ William Collins
Alex Canna for round 1
Cameron Ayers for round 2
Robert A. Brown for round 3
Jay Saph for round 4

233-07__ Alex Canna
Cameron Ayers for round 1
Robert A. Brown for round 2
Jay Saph for round 3
Florian Armas for round 4

233-08__ Cameron Ayers
Robert A. Brown for round 1
Jay Saph for round 2
Florian Armas for round 3
D. Wallace Peach for round 4

233-09__ Robert A. Brown
Jay Saph for round 1
Florian Armas for round 2
D. Wallace Peach for round 3
Angela Panayotopulos for round 4

233-10__ Jay Saph
Florian Armas for round 1
D. Wallace Peach for round 2
Angela Panayotopulos for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4


Please remember the commitment you are making to your fellow group members. If you pull out after the start date for any reason it is the other members who will be faced with the problem of finding a replacement, or missing out on reads/reviews, through no fault of their own. Please don’t ask the moderators to chase after replacements as we just don’t have the time.

It is the responsibility of the author to get their book to their readers in a format the reviewer can manage. Everyone must be able to provide and accept PDF. You may buy or borrow the books you are due to read if you wish, and I’m sure the author will appreciate the verified review, but IT IS NOT COMPULSORY. There are no set dates for the start of each round. You can each work at your own pace, within the limits of the round deadlines.

All reviews must be posted to GR. We also encourage members to post on Amazon. When you have posted your reviews, please post the links to each of your reviews, not the book page in this thread.
The mod of each round will record whether members have posted reviews on Amazon and for the good of all, members who persistently fail to post reviews or DNF reviews to Amazon, will find mods less than willing to add them to subsequent groups.

Postings to other sites are by agreement by both author and reviewer.

If I’ve missed something that results in you being asked to review someone who has already reviewed you, please let me know asap.

To exchange book files, my advice is to use PM to give email addresses to each other (save the chance of spammers getting your addies from this open forum).

Setting up and modding these rounds is a labour of love, with a lot of emphasis on the ‘labour’. If you want to show appreciation for all the hard work we admins put in for the group, you could download one of our books as a ‘thank you’.

Happy reviewing, everyone :)

[E.M.]

Please read this especially if you are new to these review rounds.

Quick 'start-up' summary for anyone new who might be scratching their heads. You are reviewing the four books 'below' you on the list.

You can, of course, choose to buy any or all of the books or read the books on KU, if you are a subscriber and the books are available there. If you can buy it adds weight to your review as it gives the 'Verified Purchase' stamp on Amazon.

However, as not everyone can buy, you should PM the four people who will be reviewing you (the four above you on the original list of names) through their Goodreads author pages. Click on the down arrow beside the 'Follow Author' button under their picture and it opens a menu which will allow you to message them.

Ask what kind of file they would like or say you can only offer PDF, though unless a publisher uploaded it for you, you can always download a .mobi of your own book from Amazon.

Don't forget to ask where to send it so they can give you their email.

The four people who you are reviewing should be in touch with you in a similar way.

Please make sure you have exchanged ALL FOUR books - or have been assured by your reviewers they will buy your book or read it through KU - as soon as possible. Some people read fast and it can be very frustrating to have to wait a long time to get hold of a book you are committed to review.
Don't forget to post the links to your reviews here so you can be signed off for them.

Please post your review to Goodreads, your own Amazon store and any other Amazon stores you might have access to as well.

I shall be modding this round so PM me with any issues please.

[Jay]

I will KU read all my books to review tx jay

[Thomas]

I've purchased the books I need.

[D.]

I've also purchased the books I need. :-)

[D.]

My first round review of The Wake Up (I took a chance and purchased the books early when it looked like the list wasn't going to change). Nicely done, Angela. :-)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2GWTFK...

[Angela]

D. wrote: "My first round review of The Wake Up (I took a chance and purchased the books early when it looked like the list wasn't going to change). Nicely done, Angela. :-)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads...."

Wow, you are fast! :) Thank you very much for the beautiful review!

[S.K.]

Round One - Dawnvel Druids
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

[D.]

Round 2 reviews for The Seer of Possibilities. Creepy read, Thomas. :-)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/RBMVYRB...

[D.]

Round 3 review of Absence of Color. :-) Thanks for the read, S.K.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/RXA7IKD...

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[S.K.]

Round two review of The South Tower https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

[S.K.]

Round Three Review for The Truth Circle
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

[Alex]

S.K. wrote: "Round two review of The South Tower https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re..."

Thanks Susan! Much appreciated!

[S.K.]

Last one! Round Four Review, My First Ten Days in Heaven
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

[D.]

My round 4 review of The Dawnvel Druids. Thanks for all the great reads, everyone.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/R35LX3G...

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Robert]

My review of The Melding of Aires

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

[Robert]

My review of The Inhibited

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...