Review Group discussion
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Group 241. General - Mod. Trish
Mod
Since this is General, my other two books still fit, d..."
That seems like a fairer compromise if you are willing, Gene. A general round is for everything, so that's not a problem. It would be better for you to get 4 reviews.
Thanks.
Trish
Mod
I was looking at the wrong page! I have read both of Gene's novels. I can read one of the othr books, if that helps resolve matters
Mod
Sure if people are happy to use Audible instead of reading - if not then the traditional method is fine too!
Congrats, Gene!
Trish
Mod
Laura and Gene - if you are both happy with that solution we can move forward.
I think E.M. will want a couple more people saying everything looks good to them before we get the ball rolling.
Thanks.
Trish
Mod
Okies looks like we are good to go!START DATE: 07-Feb-20
END DATE: 01-May-20
Round 1 – post your review by 28-Feb-20
Round 2 – post your review by 20 -March-20
Round 3– post your review by 10-April-20
Round 4 – post your review by 01-May-20
As AUTHORS you SEND your book file to:
241-01__J.E. Rowney
Thomas O. for round 1
Gene Kendall for round 2
Laura Koerber for round 3
Ian Canon for round 4
241-02__Mary E. Hughes
J.E. Rowney for round 1
Thomas O. for round 2
Gene Kendall for round 3
Laura Koerber for round 4
241-03__Balroop Singh
Mary E. Hughes for round 1
J.E. Rowney for round 2
Thomas O. for round 3
Gene Kendall for round 4
241-04__ Cathy Perkins
Balroop Singh for round 1
Mary E. Hughes for round 2
J.E. Rowney for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4
241-05__ Alex Canna
Cathy Perkins for round 1
Balroop Singh for round 2
Mary E. Hughes for round 3
J.E. Rowney for round 4
241-06__ Bianca Sierra-Luebke
Alex Canna for round 1
Cathy Perkins for round 2
Balroop Singh for round 3
Mary E. Hughes for round 4
241-07__ Ian Canon
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 1
Alex Canna for round 2
Cathy Perkins for round 3
Balroop Singh for round 4
241-08__ Laura Koerber
Ian Canon for round 1
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 2
Alex Canna for round 3
Cathy Perkins for round 4
241-09__ Gene Kendall
Laura Koerber for round 1
Ian Canon for round 2
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 3
Alex Canna for round 4
241-10__ Thomas O.
Gene Kendall for round 1
Laura Koerber for round 2
Ian Canon for round 3
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 4
As REVIEWERS you will receive books for review from:
241-01__J.E. Rowney
Mary E. Hughes for round 1
Balroop Singh for round 2
Cathy Perkins for round 3
Alex Canna for round 4
241-02__Mary E. Hughes
Balroop Singh for round 1
Cathy Perkins for round 2
Alex Canna for round 3
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 4
241-03__Balroop Singh
Cathy Perkins for round 1
Alex Canna for round 2
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 3
Ian Canon for round 4
241-04__ Cathy Perkins
Alex Canna for round 1
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 2
Ian Canon for round 3
Laura Koerber for round 4
241-05__ Alex Canna
Bianca Sierra-Luebke for round 1
Ian Canon for round 2
Laura Koerber for round 3
Gene Kendall for round 4
241-06__ Bianca Sierra-Luebke
Ian Canon for round 1
Laura Koerber for round 2
Gene Kendall for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4
241-07__ Ian Canon
Laura Koerber for round 1
Gene Kendall for round 2
Thomas O. for round 3
J.E. Rowney for round 4
241-08__ Laura Koerber
Gene Kendall for round 1
Thomas O. for round 2
J.E. Rowney for round 3
Mary E. Hughes for round 4
241-09__ Gene Kendall
Thomas O. for round 1
J.E. Rowney for round 2
Mary E. Hughes for round 3
Balroop Singh for round 4
241-10__ Thomas O.
J.E. Rowney for round 1
Mary E. Hughes for round 2
Balroop Singh for round 3
Cathy Perkins 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 :)
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.
Trish Butler will be modding this round so PM her with any issues ongoing, please, or post them to this thread..
I haven't checked prices yet but if a book is on kindle unlimited or is below five dollars I will buy it and the authors don't have to send it to me Gene Kendall for round 1
Thomas O. for round 2
J.E. Rowney for round 3
Mary E. Hughes for round 4
Mod
Gene Kendall for round 1
Thomas O. for round 2..."
That is very generous of you, Laura.
Some people do like to do this, it gives the review on amazon that all-important 'verified purchase' tag. It isn't required, however, so don't feel obliged.
Trish
Mod
As E.M. mentioned, I'm taking over from here (lucky lucky you!). I have a few more pointers for you if you can stand to read on just a little more before getting stuck in.
First and most importantly, thank you to E.M. for setting up this round and handing it off to me.
I'm here for questions/problems if you have any. Post here or send me a message via my profile page. Bear in mind that though I am a Brit I'm on the east coast of the US, so if I don't answer straight away, I might still be in bed! LOL
Trish Butler
Here are a few things/reminders.
Participation in these groups means being willing to write a proper review for the books you read. Whilst we don't have any set rules on such things, it is expected at the very least a review should say what was good about the book in your opinion and (unless you have given 5 stars) what you struggled with as a reader. If you feel any of your reviews might not meet this minimum, it is very easy to edit in another paragraph to be sure you are doing so.
When writing a review for others consider if you would feel satisfied by it had someone written it for you. An overly brief review can seem dismissive and disrespectful to another group member. If you are not familiar with how to write reviews please check out this post on the topic.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
General note: please be aware when posting links to Amazon in this thread, that you need to delete everything after and including the letters 'ref' in the URL. If you don't, Amazon knows anyone clicking on that link is in some way connected with you as that information is your personal account link information.
Feel free to post the Goodreads link to your review while you are still waiting for the Amazon review, but when you get the Amazon review link please post it separately rather than updating your original post. I only get a notification for new posts, so am not aware of edits made and then have to hunt them up if it's been a while.
If you are a newbie, don't be afraid to ask questions. My experiences in this group are that everyone is really friendly and happy to help.
Thanks for spending a moment to read this. I hope you enjoy the experience and have fun!
Enjoy your day.
Trish
I participate a lot in these groups, and I hope you all won't mind if I air a pet peeve. I don't think it is fair to write a review that is a personal "I liked/disliked" based on reaction to the genre. We have been assigned books to read. Mostly like they will be books we would not have chosen on our own--which means likely to be books we don't actually like, to be blunt. So, to me, the review is not about whether or not I liked a book. It's about whether or not the intended audience would like the book. An example: I got a review which criticized my dystopia for being too negative. That's like criticizing a mystery for being mysterious. I get it that the reader didn't like dystopias--but the review should not have been based on her personal reaction to the genre.
So my opinion is reviews should be based on how a reader who likes the genre and subject matter would react. Is it well written? Well edited? How is the pacing? How well did the author meet his/her intentions? In other words, is a book that is meant to be exciting actually exciting? Is a book that is meant to be introspective and contemplative actually thought-provoking? Would the intended audience for this book find it satisfying?
Thank you for letting me vent. Happy reading!
Cathy. I’d rather just receive a pdf direct to my email, please.
Mod
Laura,
Thank you for your points. I appreciate you taking the time.
There have been some incidences of people being concerned about reviewing a book not in their wheelhouse in the General round - that is why we have the speciality rounds as well AND why we have added to the wording on the very first startup post before anyone signs up. The GENERAL round could mean you read any type of book, from non-fiction to children's too extreme violence and erotica.
If anyone has any questions regarding writing a review, then they should look at the link I've posted in message #63 or contact me via PM
And don't forget a mystery can be too complicated and therefore too mysterious - even for the fanatical mystery lover.
Thanks
Trish
Mod
241-04__ Cathy Perkins
Balroop Singh for round 1
Mary E. Hughes for round 2
J.E. Rowney for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4
Please send me your email address (PM on my author pag..."
Hey Cathy,
I appreciate you have a plan to share your book with your reviewers and if they are happy to follow your instructions that is fine. However, when you signed up you did agree to provide reviewers with a minimum of a PDF file to read and if the reviewers (as J.E. has confirmed) would prefer that way of reading your book then please comply.
I understand you might wish to have more control over your book content. Another option would be to gift a copy from Amazon directly to the person - of course that is at a cost to you, but that's my preferred method when I'm in a group.
I would also suggest you contact everyone via PM rather than on here. Giving your email on here (where anyone joined to this group can view it) opens you up to spammers.
Thank you.
Trish
Trish wrote: "Cathy wrote: "To my review "team"241-04__ Cathy Perkins
Balroop Singh for round 1
Mary E. Hughes for round 2
J.E. Rowney for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4
Please send me your email address (PM on..."
Of course, you're right. I thought it might make it easier for people to get the books. I hate getting a pdf and will convert it for my personal use.
PDFs for all :)
J.E. wrote: "Cathy. I’d rather just receive a pdf direct to my email, please."Will be happy to send it that way. Please send me your email addy
Trish, Mary's bok is not available as an ebook yet and I hate reading novels as pdfs Is it okay if I review one of her other books? Mary suggested this, so she doesn't mind.
Mod
Will be happy to send it that way. Please send me your email addy"
Thank you, Cathy.
T
Mod
Laura/Mary
Rule #5 in the rules that you all agreed to when signing up states that "You can provide (and accept) at least PDF files." So to be fair to Mary you should read the book she signed up with.
Do you know you can send a PDF file to your Kindle and read it that way? It's not really any different to reading an ebook. I find sometimes the text is small and can't be changed, so I change the font on the word doc to about 22pt before I save it as a PDF and that works for me. If either of you need some help in sorting that out I'd be happy to provide some details on a PM. Let me know.
Thanks.
Trish
Mod
Thank you, Thomas. That is very generous.
Trish
Mod
241-04__ Cathy Perkins
Balroop Singh for round 1
Mary E. Hughes for round 2
J.E. Rowney for round 3
Thomas O. for round 4
Please send me your email ..."
Cathy, sorry I missed this second message in with the others tonight. I did not mean for you to put the kibosh on all your plans, just to offer your idea as an alternative.
Providing everyone gets a copy to read in a format they are happy with (minimum being PDF) then that's fine with me.
Thank you.
Trish
Trish wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I will purchase the books I need."Thank you, Thomas. That is very generous.
Trish" Hi Thomas, my book is under KindleUnlimited. Thanks for opting to purchase.
Trish wrote: "Laura wrote: "Trish, Mary's bok is not available as an ebook yet and I hate reading novels as pdfs Is it okay if I review one of her other books? Mary suggested this, so she doesn't mind."Laura/M..." okay trish thank you
Cathy, I hope you see this. I tried to send a message via your good reads page, but was unsuccessful How would you like to receive my book? I can gift it to your kindle, send a pdf, or send a mobi. Please give me your email and state your preference! You can message me through my goodreads page Thanks, Laura
Hi Cathy, please share your email. Thanks, Balroop.
Mod
Hi Cathy,
Please change your GR settings so you can receive PMs from everyone.
"Rule #8 Your Goodreads profile allows people to message you, i.e. your profile is not set to private."
Thank you.
Trish
Mod
PLEASE get your books to all the people who are reviewing you as soon as possible. Some people read very quickly and like to get all their reviews done so they can move onto another round. Don't wait for a round to be finished.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.
Trish
Cathy, I can’t message you, so I can’t send my email address. If you can change your settings and then message me with what email address you’ll be sending from, I’ll send you my Kindle email address to receive it directly.
Thanks
Jayne
Hi Cathy, I don't know how to contact you, your profile doesn't have the option of sending a message.
Mod
Hi Balroop,
If you are ready to start reading, feel free to go to a book you have received for another round and come back to Cathy's after that when she has sorted out her profile.
Thanks.
Trish
Balroop wrote: "Hi Cathy, I don't know how to contact you, your profile doesn't have the option of sending a message."Same here.
Mod
Same here."
You're Cathy's second read, Bianca. Hopefully, she will change her settings before then.
Thanks.
Trish
Trish wrote: "Balroop wrote: "Hi Cathy, I don't know how to contact you, your profile doesn't have the option of sending a message."Hi Balroop,
If you are ready to start reading, feel free to go to a book you..."
Thanks Trish, I'll go to the book in the second round.
I have not received books from Cathy or Mary yet.
Mod
Hi J.E.
Same instruction for you as to Balroop. Feel free to start reading a book from another round if an author is slow in getting their book to you.
Same for everyone.
You must get your book to your reviewers as quickly as possible, please. Everyone reads at a different pace, don't wait for round deadlines to take action.
Thanks and enjoy your Sunday.
Trish
PS - Cathy, we are still all waiting to hear from you. Please PM me and advise me of your situation. Thank you.
Round 1: Ghosted by J.E. Rowneyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re..."
Thank you, Thomas! First out of the gate.
:D
T
Round 2: The South Tower: An alternate history of 9/11 by Alex Canna https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review posted at Amazon too. here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
I haven't got the book for Round 1 so far.
Color me confused. Both Mary and Jayne (JE) contacted me with no problem and have both received the book. Balroop please contact me and I'll be happy to send you a review copy.
J.E. wrote: "I have not received books from Cathy or Mary yet."Jayne - I sent the book to you via return email (responding to the email you sent me). Did you not receive it?
Cathy. Yes I received it when you sent jt, which was after I posted here to say I hadn’t received it yet.
Hi Alex, I've been trying to contact you but can't get a message to go through. I need a copy of your book.
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review posted at Amazon too.
I haven't got the book for Round 1 so far."
Thanks, Balroop!
If you don't have round 1 book in time move on to the next. It will all work out in the end.
Don't forget to get me the Amazon link as soon as you have it. :D
Cheers.
Trish
Mod
Balroop please contact me and I'll be happy to send you a review copy."
Hi Cathy,
Glad to hear from you again.
Am I right in assuming that Mary and J.E. have contacted you via the email address you left on here but have since deleted?
We need to be able to contact you through PM on Goodreads, so please change your settings so we can do that. I just checked again and I can't message you on here.
Thanks.
Trish
Mod
I've been trying to contact you but can't get a message to go through. I need a copy of your book."
Cathy,
I can message through Goodreads Alex just fine. I wonder if you can't because you can't receive PMs either?? Not sure exactly if that is how it works.
Please try and sort that out. Let me know.
Thanks.
Trish
Review Group
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Since this is General, my other two books still fit, don't they? I'm okay with not receiving a review from Laura, but if that causes a problem, I could send her one of these other two books (though they are for niche audiences.)
:)