The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for The Secret Book of Designs
Because The Secret Book of Designs was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.
Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.
This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.
chocomeiske
This is most definitely not something I would read or be drawn to. Having read the sample only reinstates my intial thought. since this seems to be a complex look at a relationship between a man and a woman who are being rehabilitated for drug use. I didn't particularly like the writing style, it seemed very choppy and disorienting, I will not be reading the rest of this book.
First Ten review added on December 23, 2016, at 6:56 am by chocomeiske.
jungkookblog
I don't think I would've read this book because the plot is very different from my taste. I will not read this book because the plot is not what I like. It seems like it was professionally edited. I liked the details in the book, but maybe it could go in more depth. I did not see a review, and it has affected my decision.
First Ten review added on December 23, 2016, at 3:38 am by jungkookblog.
Catherine Hsu
If I had not read the sample, I would not have read the book. The cover is interesting, but the blurb confused me. After reading the sample, I have not changed my mind. The writing seemed very stylistic, and I was very confused by the amount of grammar mistakes, so I looked in the reviews and it seems as though they were intentional. I did not read an official review.
First Ten review added on December 23, 2016, at 2:28 am by Catherine Hsu.
MarisaRose
When I first hear about "The Secret Book of Designs" I wasn't sure what to think. The cover is very beautiful, but I couldn't really tell what this book was about or what type of genre it fell into. Prior to sampling the first ten pages I would not have chosen to buy this book. After sampling the beginning, I feel the same way. I was unimpressed with the editing; there were a lot of grammatical errors right off the bat. Further, even after reading the first ten pages, I still had no idea what this book was about. I was confused for the most part. I did read the official OBC and it did not sway my opinion of this book.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 10:16 pm by MarisaRose.
Cjgarland89
Without the program I would have sampled this book based on the cover and the OBC review. It is a bit of a different book than I would normally read but the setting of the book and the overall theme does peak my interest. Every now and then I enjoy something different and this definitely fits the bill. I will be buying and finishing this book. I didn't spot any errors in the sample, and it's fairly easy to read.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 8:30 pm by Cjgarland89.
AA1495
Had I not sampled the book, I wouldn't have read it. While the cover seems meaningful, the title didn't interest me. Having read the sample, I thought that the plot was unique. However, the grammatical errors, although deliberate, interrupted my flow of reading. The book seems to be professionally edited. I came across an Onlinebookclub review for the book. While the book seems unique, due to the grammatical errors, I do not think I will it further.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 7:30 pm by AA1495.
Heidi M Simone
The cover is unappealing for me, as well as the title. When I was reading the blurb, I felt it was too wordy and lengthy, which made me lose interest. I don't quite understand the genre 'metaphysical'. Even with the few positive reviews, I would not have sampled this book if it wasn't for this program.
Based on what I read, there are quite a few mistakes that need to be fixed. For instance, "I think he makes his messages and plots so obscure, it felt like he was..." The words 'makes' implies present while 'felt' and 'was' implies past. Then, there is a word missing in this sentence, "I hoping that all of my works.." I believe the word, 'am' should be placed in this sentence. There are others, which leads me to believe this book was not edited professionally.
Overall, I don't feel connected with the main character and what he is trying to accomplish (a sketch, I believe). Therefore, I do not plan on buying this book to read it.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 5:34 pm by Heidi M Simone.
Momlovesbooks
The OBC reviewer did not rate this book very high. There were some grammatical issues and very lengthy details. I sampled a few pages and thought I would come to the same conclusion. I won't be reading this book.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 3:21 pm by Momlovesbooks.
Kourtney Bradley
I love the idea behind this story, as it throws metaphysics together with a romance. I'm not really sure how I feel about the cover of this one though. At first, I loved it, but then I kind of felt like it was a bit too bland for this type of story. I felt like the first ten pages were a bit slow, although I did seem to like the main character, Blaise. Overall, I'm not sure how I feel on this one, so I think I'll pass.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 11:42 am by Kourtney Bradley.
L_Therese
The cover for this book was cool, but it didn't offer me many clues about what I'd be getting into. The review was fairly critical, and it didn't imbue confidence that this would be a great choice. When I read the sample, I was more impressed with the plot's premise than the protagonist/narrator's capacity to engage. Right from the beginning, the narrator was getting caught up in his(?) own head quite a lot. Also, the grammatical errors every now and again made these pages harder to enjoy. If they were consistent, it would be easier to become accustomed to them. Sometimes I enjoy a book more experimental, but it needs to be incredibly engaging to hold my interest. I'm going to pass on this one today.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 7:50 am by L_Therese.
Gravy
This cover is very attractive, and it likely would've caught my eye. The premise sounded interesting, and I was intrigued after reading the official review. Sadly, even if the grammatical errors are on purpose, I can't get past them. They're too sporadic and irregular, which just makes it a chore to read.
I won't be continuing.
First Ten review added on December 22, 2016, at 2:08 am by Gravy.
Kdonegan91
Firstly, the cover art is beautiful and the title sparked my curiosity. However, after reading the sample and OBC review, I will not be buying the book. Poetry and this particular genre are not my cup of tea. I found it difficult to finish the sample because it was difficult to follow. Also, it did not hold my interest.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 8:18 pm by Kdonegan91.
Annelore Trujillo
I probably would not have sampled this book based on the title and the cover. However, the OBC review had me a little more interested. After reading the first ten pages, I will not be buying this book. I couldn't not handle the style of the book. I know from the review, that the style comes from the main character's problem with the drug. However, it is hard for me to read because it seems like it is just unedited. I know this is intended, it just isn't my type of style.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 7:44 pm by Annelore Trujillo.
CrescentMoon
After reading the blurb, I actually do find this story to be intriguing. I would pick it up out of curiosity because the story does sound very unique and original and is a genre that I am a fan of. However, after reading the first ten pages, I don't think this is for me. The writing is really hard to get into. I like direct language and although the fancy language is done purposely as the characters are supposed to speak that way, it's not my cup of tea.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 7:30 pm by CrescentMoon.
Vermont Reviews
I must say first of all I do love the cover of today's book of the day. The Secret Book of Designs by Catamount Mayhugh. The story plot line about recovering VU addicts in the Red Lion House introducing themselves made for an interesting preview of what is to come in the story. Based on the preview and the reviews of today's book of the day. I would have purchased the book. My reading committment is currently overbooked and therefore I will not be downloading the book. My favorite character in the story's preview was Blaise Joule.
Vermont Reviews
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 7:06 pm by Vermont Reviews.
bookowlie
The cover art is unique and eye-catching, but the word "of" and the author's name almost disappear into the background. Although the summary seems to be professionally edited, I found it a little confusing to follow. The author has a nice, conversational writing style in the sample pages. Unfortunately, I found the story a little hard to follow. Based on the sample, I am not interested in reading further.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 6:38 pm by bookowlie.
Rachel1019
The cover art of this book is really interesting, I like it immensely. I don't fully understand the title, and it doesn't make the book incredibly appealing, but I could overlook that. I read the review on this book on OBC, which puts down the book as being excessive in detail and hard to read because of the writing style. I can completely understand how the reviewer was having trouble. I read some of the book, and while the reviewer said that it is because the narrator of the story was on drugs and it impaired his thinking, the way that it was written is unbearable. It seems like a very eloquent person who makes horrible grammatical mistakes, and it makes it hard to read. I won't read this book, because of that frustration.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 4:06 pm by Rachel1019.
Shelle
The cover of this book looked interesting, although the blurb seemed confusing and all over the place without offering much in terms of plot or characters. The first ten pages were confusing and I wasn't sure where the story was going. Alliterations were hard to follow and I don't know that I like the characters. This book appeared to be professionally edited and error-free.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 4:06 pm by Shelle.
Sarah_Khan
The cover art and the title of this novel are very intriguing, the blurb also does a good job of reeling you in.
Although the plot interested me, after reading the first ten pages, I have to say I was disappointed. The writing is confusing and I found a few mistakes in just the first few pages. I can not see myself having the patience to read a whole book that is written in this style therefore I will not be reading the rest.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 11:24 am by Sarah_Khan.
gali
I probably wouldn't have sampled the book without the program as it isn't a book that I normally gravitate to. The cover is lovely, but the blurb isn't clear enough and too long (due to the editorial review on it). The official review clarified the plot much better. I found the writing style stiff and didn't connect to it. There were many grammatical errors, which according to the official review were deliberated, to show to the side effect of Vu usage. Nonetheless, they made it hard to become engaged in the book. I won't buy the book as the sample didn't draw me in.
First Ten review added on December 21, 2016, at 11:04 am by gali.
Total ~ 5%
The Secret Book of Designs earned a score of 5%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 5% plan to read the whole book.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.
Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.
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