The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for There's a Rooster in My Bathroom!: A Quest for Meaning in the Bathroom, the Boardroom and Beyond
Because There's a Rooster in My Bathroom! 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.
Mercy Bolo
Although quirky, this book's cover didn't entice me to read it. The OBC review dissuaded me when it mentioned that this is a self-help book derived from the author's life experiences. A self-help book doesn't appeal to me, so I won't read the rest of the book. When I read the first ten pages, I liked that the author mentioned that as you go through life, you get great reminders from things you learned in the past. I noticed no errors in the text, so I will conclude that it underwent professional editing. There's nothing I disliked about the bit I read, so I wouldn't change anything about it.
First Ten review added on October 11, 2021, at 4:12 am by Mercy Bolo.
Dzejn_Crvena
Outside this program, I would have sampled this book based on the title because it sounds like a funny metaphor. The OBC review convinced me to read and buy this book. It contains the author's experiences that motivate the readers to reinvent themselves while experiencing failures. Thus, I'm looking forward to reading about what to do when I unexpectedly get fired from a job. I particularly like her passion for sharing what she learned in her life. The sample mentioned her journey in Moldova as she served in the US Peace Corps. In the last part of the sample, she talked about completing a marathon.
I believe the book needs another round of editing. I found an error on Location 212: "And, you truly love LA in one of its' finest moments." I suggest removing the apostrophe.
First Ten review added on October 11, 2021, at 3:57 am by Dzejn_Crvena.
Eunice Geres
A collection of stories from the author's experiences are not one I'm interested in. I definitely wouldn't have picked this up for the cover and the blurb. As for the ten pages, it didn't persuade me to finish the book. I didn't like anything. But that's not the book's issue. I just really don't prefer this. On second thought, I actually like the quotes found at the end of each chapters. I didn't find any grammatical mistakes. I also don't have anything to recommend. The first three chapters are technically okay. I just didn't like it, personally.
First Ten review added on October 10, 2021, at 7:47 am by Eunice Geres.
Catherine Hsu
If I had not read the sample as part of the First Ten program, I would not have read the book. I think the cover art is great but it doesn't seem like my genre from the blurb. After reading the sample, I have not changed my mind. I think I am not only still not that interested in the book, but also more editing is needed. A line reads "You truly love LA in one of its' finest moments." "Its'" is incorrect. That is the main thing I would change, and there was nothing specific I liked. The official review on OnlineBookClub did not affect my decision.
First Ten review added on October 10, 2021, at 4:27 am by Catherine Hsu.
Michelle Menezes
The last thing I expected when I saw the title and the cover was for the book to be from the self-help genre. I thought it would be a comedy. The blurb didn't interest me even though the Official OnlineBookClub review had positive things to say about it. After reading the first ten pages, I have decided not to read the book, as it does not belong to my preferred genre. I liked that the author has written about her personal experiences and then connected them to the advice she wanted to give. This made the content relatable and easy to understand. She has mentioned about the marathon she participated in, the theatre awards she was a part of, and writing a theatrical review for a paper. While it is well written, it's just not something I want to read in detail. I don't think the book needs any improvement, and I didn't find any errors, so it seems professionally edited.
First Ten review added on October 10, 2021, at 2:41 am by Michelle Menezes.
Joseph Mutuku 1
Every day we see people of all age groups tend to seek the meaning of life. Trish Ostroski has penned an insightful book, and I can easily confirm that from what I have read in the first ten pages. I have liked the introduction section; it was well written and riveting. Trish Ostroski’s stories are accompanied by life lessons and, therefore, effective and relevant. Someone may ask whether I’ll finish reading this book. Well, not really; I’m not into self-help books. I think both the book’s cover page and the title were catchy. Moreover, I think the book was professionally edited; I found zero errors within the first ten pages. Reading the sample did very little as far as convincing me to read on is concerned. The official Online Book Club review, however, was insightful—enough to answer most of the questions I would have before selecting this book. I think the sample of the book is great, and even the Amazon description is also praiseworthy. I have no advice for the author.
First Ten review added on October 10, 2021, at 1:27 am by Joseph Mutuku 1.
Stephanie Runyon
The title is an eye catcher. I would have sampled the book because of the title sounding funny. I learned more about Los Angeles and some of its culture that I did not know before. I encountered no errors and believe the book has been professionally edited. I have no suggestions for improvement. The OBC review did not influence my choice to pass on this book. While inspirational, I lack interest in self-help books currently.
First Ten review added on October 9, 2021, at 6:36 pm by Stephanie Runyon.
Astral Magi
Before I had read the first ten pages, I was charmed by the cover and title. I would have bought the book based on how I felt about the title. My initial reaction was validated after reading the official OBC review and the first 10 pages. I plan to read the entire book since I believe it is one of the most valuable self-help books I have ever encountered. What I loved the most was the author's utilization of real-life examples. There were no errors, and I couldn't think of a way to make any improvements. This book was professionally edited.
First Ten review added on October 9, 2021, at 4:46 pm by Astral Magi.
markodim721
I would choose to read a sample of this book because of the title and cover. The title of the book is witty and provocative, just the way it fits this type of book. The cover of the book is designed wittily and matches the title. I’m not going to read the book because it’s not the genre I prefer. Reading the sample didn’t change my mind from my original guess. While reading the sample I have noticed only one typo (Double -: At the time, the earthquake seemed devastating -- and it was.). I like that the author stated that running a marathon is your own race and that she made a comparison with life. It’s great to have a quote from one of the famous people at the end of most chapters. I believe that these very quotations summarize the entire chapter. I don’t think anything needs to be improved in the book. The book has an Official OnlineBookClub review.
First Ten review added on October 9, 2021, at 2:33 pm by markodim721.
Valkyrie9
In There's a Rooster in My Bathroom!, Trish Ostroski shares fantastical stories from her life. The cover is comical and speaks to the tone of the book. The blurb on Amazon tells the reader all they need to know about the book. If I had not read the sample, I would probably not pick up this book, as I don't usually enjoy memoirs.
Having read the sample and the OBC review, I don’t think I will enjoy this book. What I liked most about the sample that I read was how the author dedicated each mile in her marathon to someone or something specific. I am going to start applying this in my running races as well. Since I noticed seven errors in just the first ten pages, I do not believe the book was professionally edited. An example is an unnecessary apostrophe in “And, you truly love LA in one of [its’] finest moments.” Although I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s humour and intent that I saw in the sample, I did not enjoy the sample enough to read the rest of the book. I think the author could improve the book by sending it for another round of editing.
First Ten review added on October 9, 2021, at 1:57 pm by Valkyrie9.
This book appears to have been Book of the Day more than once. Only responses from the most recent Book of the Day focus group are shown. Older responses have been hidden by default to avoid confusion. If you would like to also view the older first ten responses, you can unhide them by clicking the button below.
Total ~ 20%
There's a Rooster in My Bathroom! earned a score of 20%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 20% 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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