Cover for Once A God

The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Once A God

Because Once A God 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.

Sarah G

78004
I couldn't really understand the link with the cover and the story but that may come in time. A good introduction to the main character was made with a brief history. It seems the book will be a slow builder but has all the ingredients for a good book so I will continue.
There was one editing issue however that I spotted. Not a big mistake. A line has been entered halfway through as if the enter button was caught instead of the space bar.

First Ten review added on July 8, 2016, at 2:56 am by Sarah G.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

CataclysmicKnight

67089
The cover made me think of fantasy, but the title made perfect sense for a rich and powerful man as well. The intro ended up being really tense and made me wonder what was going on as the unknown billionaire was trapped paralyzed in his own body. However, it quickly jumped into a rather elaborate history of his. I'm intrigued by what's going to happen in the book but there wasn't quite enough of a hook for me yet. If I didn't have a bunch of books to read, I'd probably finish it - it's not bad in any way - but as is it would certainly be a while.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 9:09 pm by CataclysmicKnight.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Vermont Reviews

94574
After reading the first ten pages of this book I must say that I was impressed. The author has a style that reminds me of Horatio Alger. He wrote many rags to riches stories. I would like to read the balance of the book based on the first ten pages. The book appears to be professionally edited. No errors were found. This author has interesting characters and a wonderful storytelling way. I have always loved the rags to riches storylines. Well written and kept me turning the pages. I found this book to be a great read.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 8:10 pm by Vermont Reviews.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

truebookaddict

90788
I probably would not have chosen to read this, as it didn't really sound like something I would read, despite the rave reviews it has received.

I will not read the whole book. Unfortunately, I found the back story told too woodenly, the description of the business aspect was far too dry and detailed and I found myself feeling nothing for the characters. One character in particular though I could not stand...Miriam.

Seems to be professionally edited. No typos or grammatical errors spotted.

There is potential in the story. However, I think the author needs to utilize the "show, don't tell" technique more. I felt like everything was being described like reading a laundry list.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 5:46 pm by truebookaddict.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Gravy

60847
The cover and the subject don't match up for me. The cover would seem to fit better for a fantasy.
The sample is very interesting, and pulled me in, but it isn't something I would go out of my way to read. It would take a very strong suggestion from someone who really knows my taste for me to read.
However, that's all just personal bias, I can see how many people would love it.

Overall, very good sample, just not my taste.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 5:35 pm by Gravy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Shelle

89475
Based on the cover, title, genre and blurb I definitely would have considered downloading this book. I usually like rags-to-riches stories. However, after sampling it, my mind has been changed. Within the first 4 pages, I was overwhelmed with the number of characters and backstory and was already confused. The book appears professionally edited and error-free.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 1:01 pm by Shelle.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

bookowlie

63036
The summary blurb is interesting, but it’s a little busy with too many sequential details. I didn’t really care for the cover – it appears to be an abstract picture that tells me nothing. I was underwhelmed by the sample pages and am not interested in reading the rest of the book. There is an abrupt switch back in time to when the main character is in his twenties. It would have been better to format a pause in the writing to distinguish the flashback instead of just switching to an earlier time in the next paragraph. It seemed like the present day scene was too short and the switch back to an earlier time period occurred too quickly (the first page). The sample is generally well written, although there are a few missing commas in sentences. For example, “How long, he wondered had he been this way?” should be “How long, he wondered, had he been this way?,” and “…that his body moved that his eyes could not see” should be “…that his body moved, that his eyes could not see.”

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 12:41 pm by bookowlie.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Rachaelamb1

68907
I don't care for the cover or title of this book. At first glance I thought it was a paranormal romance, which is not something I enjoy. However, the first ten pages were not anything like my first impression. It seems like an old-fashioned small town romance, except for the fact that the main character has a dark past. This, as well as the book's description, makes me think it is going to be a violent book. For that reason I will not be reading any further. It seems to be edited well though.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 12:02 pm by Rachaelamb1.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

L_Therese

49351
My first encounter with this book left me confused. The title was off-putting, but the cover was great. The plot summary gave away a lot (too much?), but the reviews on Amazon were glowing. As I read the first ten pages, the book left me ambivalent. The setting and time period were unclear for a while. Sometimes, it seemed like "Gone With the Wind", and at others, the book seemed to reference a much more modern period. At the end of ten pages, it felt like I knew very little about the main character, despite the revealed back story. Too much plot in the summary coupled with a slow beginning spoiled the book for me. I don't plan to continue reading this one.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 12:00 pm by L_Therese.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Heidi M Simone

76506
I probably would not have sampled this book if it wasn't for this program. The cover is unappealing to me and the genre is not one that I typically read from. The title, however, and the blurb are of interest, as well as the reviews this book were given are positive. Although, after reading the sample, I'm unsure if it has convinced me to purchase and continue reading the book.

The book does seem to be professionally edited. It's good to note that it seems the author is British since his commas are placed outside of quotes rather than inside like Americans do.

I liked how Jonah is reflecting on the day he proposes to Mae with the balance of mystery as to why he was brought to the hospital in the first place. I don't feel much can be improved. I believe the author did a great job in attempting to capture his audience.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 9:07 am by Heidi M Simone.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

gali

50066
I would not have sampled this book based on the cover and title. The blurb and the positive reviews sparked my interest though. The sample started well enough, with the hospitalization of Jonah. The flashbacks that followed were intriguing at first, but then became too detailed and less captivating. I also didn't like the fact that Jonah had an affair while still married to what he called "the love of his life". Based on the good writing and premise, it seems like a nice enough book for fans of the genre. Alas, it isn't for me.

First Ten review added on July 6, 2016, at 9:04 am by gali.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Total ~ 27%

Once A God earned a score of 27%.

In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 27% 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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