Review Group discussion

GROUP 14 - moderator Anne Carlisle
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

START DATE: 29 June 2013

END DATE: 21 September 2013

Please remember the commitment you are making to your fellow group members. If you don’t think you can manage to do 4 book reviews between these dates please let me know now. I will find someone else for this group and you will be able to choose a later group that will be more suitable for you. 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 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 reviewer in a format the reviewer can manage. When the file is received, please post a GR link to the book in this thread so that the author has confirmation that reviewing of the correct book has started.

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 by 29 June 2013.

When you have posted your review on GR please post a link to your review in this thread.

All reviews of 3, 4 or 5 stars must be posted to GR, Amazon .com and Amazon.co.uk.

If the rating is 1 or 2 stars, the review must be posted to GR but the author should be asked if they want the review to go to Amazon or not.

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

DON’T FORGET TO POST THE GR LINK TO THE BOOK(S) YOU WILL BE PUTTING FORWARD FOR REVIEWING

In the next post are the listings for the 4 review rounds, the who reviews who stuff. You don’t have to put forward the same book for every round, but you can only ask for one review per round.

Happy reviewing, everyone :)

If I’ve missed something that results in you being asked to review someone who has already reviewed you, please let me know asap. ‘Sign in’ by pasting the GR link to the book you want reviewed, and start swapping books ready for round 1 once I’ve posted that we’re all signed in and there are no clashes needing a rearrangement of the order.

Member Links
Eric Dulin http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Kori Chubb http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/17...
Michele McGrath http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Nicolas Wilson http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
David McMullen-Sullivan http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Zrinka Jelic http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Allie Cresswell http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Hock Tjoa http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
S.R. Howen http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Wayland Smith http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/16...

The four rounds you have signed up for:

R1 end 20-Jul-13
R2 end 10-Aug-13
R3 end 31-Aug-13
R4 end 21-Sep-13

ROUND 1
Eric Dulin reviews Kori Chubb
Kori Chubb reviews Michele McGrath
Michele McGrath reviews Nicolas Wilson
Nicolas Wilson reviews David McMullen-Sullivan
David McMullen-Sullivan reviews Zrinka Jelic
Zrinka Jelic reviews Allie Cresswell
Allie Cresswell reviews Hock Tjoa
Hock Tjoa reviews S.R. Howen
S.R. Howen reviews Wayland Smith
Wayland Smith reviews Eric Dulin

ROUND 2
Eric Dulin reviews Michele McGrath
Kori Chubb reviews Nicolas Wilson
Michele McGrath reviews David McMullen-Sullivan
Nicolas Wilson reviews Zrinka Jelic
David McMullen-Sullivan reviews Allie Cresswell
Zrinka Jelic reviews Hock Tjoa
Allie Cresswell reviews S.R. Howen
Hock Tjoa reviews Wayland Smith
S.R. Howen reviews Eric Dulin
Wayland Smith reviews Kori Chubb

ROUND 3
Eric Dulin reviews Nicolas Wilson
Kori Chubb reviews David McMullen-Sullivan
Michele McGrath reviews Zrinka Jelic
Nicolas Wilson reviews Allie Cresswell
David McMullen-Sullivan reviews Hock Tjoa
Zrinka Jelic reviews S.R. Howen
Allie Cresswell reviews Wayland Smith
Hock Tjoa reviews Eric Dulin
S.R. Howen reviews Kori Chubb
Wayland Smith reviews Michele McGrath

ROUND 4
Eric Dulin reviews David McMullen-Sullivan
Kori Chubb reviews Zrinka Jelic
Michele McGrath reviews Allie Cresswell
Nicolas Wilson reviews Hock Tjoa
David McMullen-Sullivan reviews S.R. Howen
Zrinka Jelic reviews Wayland Smith
Allie Cresswell reviews Eric Dulin
Hock Tjoa reviews Kori Chubb
S.R. Howen reviews Michele McGrath
Wayland Smith reviews Nicolas Wilson

We have a couple of slightly unusual circumstances. I'm logging in on Kori's behalf as she has some urgent family business to attend to and is not sure of internet access while she's away.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
She has Michele's book with her to review while she's away.

Eric - I have Kori's book file so PM me the address to send it for your Round 1 review.

Zrinka would like to submit her new book which will be published on 15 July, so David - please start with your Round 2 review and come back to Zrinka's. Obviously the round 1 end date won't apply for you.

Looks good to me, Jay.

If it's OK, same as last group, I'd like to spread my reviews among a few different works. For later rounds, I'll probably send out copies of Nexus, but if I don't have an ARC by the time your round is up, you can review whichever one of my short stories or novels you choose.

Nexus

Here's the link to the book I'm submitting for this round.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

Jay wrote: "If I’ve missed something that results in you being asked to review someone who has already reviewed you, please let me know asap. ‘Sign in’ by pasting the GR link to the book you want reviewed, an..."

Hi Jay,

Not sure if I understand. In the post you say that all reviews must be posted by June 29th, but then it says that the last round of reviews ends on September 21st. Am I reading this wrong?

Zrinka, if I'm reading it right, the start date is June 29th, to give them time to make sure there's no duplicate pairings, or other problems. The review deadlines are staggered through September 21st. That's my understanding, anyways. See ya in Round 2.

Also, I forgot to post the other titles available for review, if Nexus isn't available, or isn't to the reviewers' tastes.

Dag
Whores: not intended to be a factual account of the gender war
Selected Short Stories Featuring New Corpse Smell
Selected Short Stories Featuring Cockfight

Zrinka wrote: "Here's the link to the book I'm submitting for this round.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18..."

Hi Zrinka - is this the new one early or the old one? You can delay if you want all 4 reviews to be of the new one, as per message 3. Choice is yours :)

I have two books right now that I am looking for reviews for. The first, The Wizard's Heart is a light fantasy/romance.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

The second, Medicine Man 1: The Chief of All Time, is a literary work, American Indian, supernatural suspense, with historical elements.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...


Your choice, I would prefer some reviews on The Wizard's Heart, but if it isn't your sort of book, and you prefer a more literary work, then Medicine Man may work better for you.

Thanks!

Hi Jay
In round 3 Nicolas is down to review me but I am currently reviewing his book in the Indie Review Initiative group. Can you organise a swap?

Assuming Jay can work her magic, the book I'm offering for review in all four rounds is Game Show, just released.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

Nicolas wrote: "Zrinka, if I'm reading it right, the start date is June 29th, to give them time to make sure there's no duplicate pairings, or other problems. The review deadlines are staggered through September 2..."

Thanks for doing that, Nicolas - groups gel really well when there are members like you willing to dive in and help out :)

Allie wrote: "Hi Jay
In round 3 Nicolas is down to review me but I am currently reviewing his book in the Indie Review Initiative group. Can you organise a swap?"

If this is the only clash, I'll step in and do it. Thanks for letting me know, Allie.

Thanks, Jay. Let me know if you need me to review anything else instead. You've got an IOU for a random review if this group, or another, needs it. Apparently I've been too absorbed in my revisions. I completely forgot I'd sent Allie a copy for review!

Thanks Jay. If you PM me with your email address and preferred format I'll send it along. I can do pdf and Mobi.

You're both welcome - I'll be free to think of other things after Monday, when the button to PUBLISH will have been clicked for the group anthology for WaterAid.

If you want to repay any favours, not that I think there's anything to repay, that's just the way we work together, but if you do just tell all your friends to spread the word:
http://ofwordsandwater.wordpress.com/
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
https://www.justgiving.com/Of-Words-A...

Consider it done

Thank you :)

Howdy everybody. My submission is a short story - a second installment to a dark murder/comedy series I've begun. I'm tweaking it a little before the 29th. It's available on here at GR's.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

Thanks, David.

Looks like we're just waiting for Hock, Eric and Wayland to sign in now.

Ok, attempting this.

I THINK I'm doing it right.

My book being put forward is:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

In My Brother's Name.

Once I get clever (ie, get someone much more competent than I to help me) I will try and get the actual cover picture in there.

Was this right?

Condemned

I'm not sure if that's Eric mentioning his book or judgement on my post... :P

Wayland wrote: "Ok, attempting this.

I THINK I'm doing it right.

My book being put forward is:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

In My Brother's Name.

Once I get clever (ie, get..."

That's right, Wayland, thank you :)
If you want to get your cover, or anyone else's, in a post use the add book/author from the link above the comment box and make sure you look at the options offered - one of them is cover. The default tab is book, the default option button (which you need to change) is for the title so click on the cover button.

Eric wrote: "Condemned"

Thank you, Eric.
Very funny, Wayland!

Michele wrote: "I have now finished Nic's Round 1 short stories and posted reviews on both Amazons and Goodreads."

Thanks, Michele. Will you post the link to the GR review here please? If we all post the links as we do the reviews we'll be able to navigate to them easily.

I see Hock still hasn't signed in, but I hear he's been collecting the books for his reviews. I'll give another reminder to come and say hi to you all.

Once Hock has signed in I'll hand over to your group moderator, Anne Carlisle. If you need any help, and can't help each other in the first instance, the link to PM her is right at the top of message 1.

I've just been PMed with a query about line editing the work. I think my answer may clarify things for all of you so here it is:

We're not asking for anything like that much work. We're assuming that we're dealing with finished, published work, and just giving reviews as we would for any book we'd purchased on Amazon or wherever. The difference is that we are ensuring we do it in a totally honest, non-reciprocal manner. We're also getting the books free, and hopefully being as supportive of each other as we can. Believe me, an honest review can sometimes be very disappointing for the author, but that's how we learn to do better. My work improved most after the reality check of my worst review. Be objective, and give supporting evidence. Don't just say 'it's brilliant' or 'it's dire' - say why you think so. If you're in any doubt, have a look back through previous group threads - the links to all the reviews are there. We've had some really excellent ones done.

If you want to PM the author with an offer of further help that is up to you. All we want is a review here on GR (all reviews), on Amazon for any 3* and above, and any other sites you both agree to.

Don't forget those GR review links here on the thread so we can all see them.

Thanks :)

Here's the link to my book for your review. It is a play set in pre-liberation China...

Thanks, Hock.

You're all signed in and good to go as a group now so I'll hand you over to Anne. If you're wondering about something best post it here as probably not only will someone else be wondering the same thing but someone else in the group will have the answer. If between you there doesn't seem to be an easy solution PM Anne and she'll help out.

Happy reviewing, everyone :)

Hi, folks,
I've met a number of you before. Welcome to the Group!

We try to be self-reliant here, but if I can help with anything, let me know. Just to underline how this works, it is the writer's job to get the book to the reviewer in the e-format he or she requests. It's also a good idea to confirm that your book has been received, as not all reviewers will automatically email you back.

Good karma demands that you do all the reviews that are assigned to you, even if one of your reviewers goes MIA. This happens from time to time. In such a circumstance, we do have a list of reviewers-only (below the Registration list) whom you may ask to pinch-hit in such a circumstance.

Happy reading and reviewing! Be honest, but be kind.

Anne

Here are the links to my review for SR Howen's book 'Medicine Man'
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Chief-Time-...
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
May I remind group members that it helps our rating as Amazon and Goodreads reviewers if people register that they have found our reviews helpful or 'like' them. There's a button you can click underneath the review to do this. Personally, the Amazon UK reviewer ratings are more important to me than the US ones but (if you DO find the review helpful), please could you visit Amazon and say so?
I loved the book, by the way!
This is my Round 2 review. I couldn't get hold of my round 1 book until today so I made a start with the next one.

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

Reviewed David for round one. Well, I passed it to my wife, since he wanted editorial critiques, and she's far stronger at that than I am.

Note: That review is for the prequel story to the one David has entered. The wife decided to review both, since they're short, and she thought it might help make sure she was giving him the best feedback.

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

And there's the review for David's second story, the one actually entered in the group.

Allie wrote: "Here are the links to my review for SR Howen's book 'Medicine Man'
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...
Amazon US: http://..."

Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed the book. Medicine Man 2 comes out this month.

Here is my review of Wayland Smith's In My Brother's Name:

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

Here are the links to my Round 1 review of Hock's play.
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-High-Emp...
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
If you find the review helpful, please say so by clicking the links on Goodreads and Amazon UK.

Here is my Round 2 review of Condemned by Eric Dulin.

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1F39ZE5...

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

Anyone know how to post a review on Amazon UK without buying something there?

Just find the book on Amazon UK and click on the reviews icon as you would to see others' reviews. At the top there's a 'create a review' tab.

Allie wrote: "Here are the links to my Round 1 review of Hock's play.
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-High-Emp...
Amazon ..."

Thanks for your review!

p.s. I clicked on all the like buttons I could find!

Allie, Nicolas, S.R., Michele, thanks so much for posting reviews. -Anne

Jay wrote: "Zrinka wrote: "Here's the link to the book I'm submitting for this round.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18..."

Hi Zrinka - is this the new o..."

It's the new one, not available for purchase just yet, but my publisher provided me with "clean" copies in PDF and Mobi for review purposes.

Here's the link to my review of round 1, The Game Show

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

My review of Eric Dulin's Condemned is up:

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

Just finished review of S. R. Howen's The Chief of All Time, Medicine Man, vol. 1
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
also on Amazon.

My review of Allegience, by Kori Chubb, is up at

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

Nicely done story, that.

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

My wife's review of Zrinka's Love Remains.

I think Hock's play is the only thing I've yet to review, since Jay was taking over one of my review rounds. I'll post my review later today, and leave the link here.

Nice chatting with you guys!