Cover for Trust Me, I’m a Careworker

The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Trust Me, I’m a Careworker: Extracts from a Diary of a Careworker

Because Trust Me, I’m a Careworker 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.

SPasciuti

419577
I’ve never been especially fond of biographies and therefore don’t read them often. Despite the intriguing title, the cover and description didn’t endear me immensely to the book initially. After reading the sample I find that I am interested in the book, but not so much so that I feel excited to read it. I have more of a vague inclination to do so.

The story begins with some random, and from what I can tell, unrelated pieces of the author’s life before finally moving into the diary entries detailing the transfer of career from caterer to care worker. I wasn’t overly impressed by the diary format, but the book does appear professionally edited. I like the idea, but I’m not eager to read it and resultingly feel rather torn. For now I won’t be finishing it, but I feel that I might come back to it at some point in the future.

First Ten review added on June 13, 2018, at 2:06 am by SPasciuti.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Jgideon

640415
The title of the book is very unique and it caught my attention. I would have chosen to read the sample of the book based on the cover because it gives a hint about what the book is about. I did enjoy reading the sample. I plan to buy and read the whole book. Caregivers go through a lot of hurdles in their lives and the book provides information about such. What I liked most about the bit that I read are the author's honesty and his diction. The book is professionally edited. It has an official OnlineBookClub review that I saw.

First Ten review added on June 13, 2018, at 12:53 am by Jgideon.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

briellejee

309975
The title may not be appealing enough and might drove off fiction and adventure genre lovers, but having read the review, I realized I need to read this book. The official OBC review highlighted the different wonderful stories embedded in the book in the world of healthcare, which I am very interested in, thus I decided to read this. I expected to find common musings and ramblings like what I do in my diary, but after reading the sample, I realized that this has a touch of good style writing, which made me like it even more. The different patients the author encountered are very interesting and diverse, starting from George who has clinical depression and to Jarvey, the one with the dementia. Each story, each character gives a perspective in different aspects of life that could certainly help me. I would buy it, finish reading it then read it again if I have the means. I did not find any noticeable errors. I want to thank the offical OBC review for giving such a thorough review that helped me in changing my mind to check this out.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 11:21 pm by briellejee.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

ccrews0408

472114
Based on the review, had I not read the first 10 pages, I would not have read this book. I don't normally read non-fiction memoirs. Now that I have read the first 10 pages, I still don't plan on reading this book. Though the career of a healthcare worker is very admirable, I don't think I want to read about it. I think it was nice how he was inspired by George to switch careers especially late in life. There was a sentence break between chapters 4 and 5. There was an official OnlineBookClub review.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 9:53 pm by ccrews0408.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kendra M Parker

654688
I had seen this book as an option to review, but it did not really appeal to me when I read the blurb about it. The title was interesting, but I usually prefer to read fiction. The official review was interesting since it was quite flattering, but it did not really take me to the point where I really wanted to dive into the book. Reading the first ten pages of this book, I was interested to learn that the author had such a diverse history, going from catering to owning a grocery, to public service and care worker. The first story about his time with the man who told him he could leave set the tone, but it was a bit confusing to me what the point was. I think the chapter formatting issues did not really help the matter, either. As much as I agree that careworkers are underpaid and under recognized, I think I will pass on this book. I’m just not that interested in reading more right now.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 9:47 pm by Kendra M Parker.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

RebeccasReading

444118
This is not a book I would have normally read. I don't have an interest in the topic. After reading the sample, my opinion is the same. There was nothing in the sample that interested me enough to make me read more. I think it's a really nice concept to tell these stories. However, it's just not something that catches my attention.There were some formatting issues--the header for #5 is in the middle of a sentence. It may not have been professionally edited.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 9:41 pm by RebeccasReading.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

AA1495

104697
Had I not sampled the book, I would not have read it. I usually read pure romance books. However, the title made me curious about the plot of the book. Further, I found the image on the cover (of the caretaker holding the patient's hand) touching. Having read the sample, I liked how the author described the twists and turns in his own life, in the introduction. This helped me connect with the author, and made me curious about what the author had to say. One of the issues I had with the book was the lack of an index (or the "contents" section). I usually prefer going through the table of contents to get an idea of the structure of the book. The book seems professionally edited. However, since I do not read the genre usually, I do not think I will buy the book today.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 9:33 pm by AA1495.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Chelsy Scherba

75151
I like the pace at which the author describes his life and what brought him into care work. It’s nice to hear the lessons he learned from his new job and experience the fulfillment he did coming into his true purpose in life. It is sad that most of the people in his book are deceased now, but it’s so nice to see he was able to help George out of his depression and provide loving support for the elderly. This book is pleasant and inspiring and I will put it on my list for future reading. The editing looks perfect, I didn’t notice any errors. I like memoirs but don’t search for or read them a lot. In general, I would think the subject matter of this book would be sad or depressing, but it looks like the author mostly focuses on the positive or amusing parts of his job. I wouldn’t have guessed that before reading. The review was positive and made me interested in sampling this book.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 5:34 pm by Chelsy Scherba.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

DancingLady

505388
I’m not into non-fiction and memoirs very much so this book didn’t initially interest me. I was pleasantly surprised by the author’s excellent conversational flow. The first 10 pages breezes by just like if I were listening to someone tell me about their life and what they do. I didn’t find any errors. It was very informative how different employers treat their workers and how little attention is given to the practicalities of staying on such a tight schedule. I would enjoy listening to this if it were an audiobook, but I do not have time to read it.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 10:14 am by DancingLady.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Cristina Chifane

418146
Without the first ten program, I would not have read this book because I am primarily interested in reading fiction and academic books. I like the title as it explicitly relates to the topic as described in the Amazon blurb. However, I would have changed the cover and used a much more clear picture to reflect the topic. With no editorial reviews and one customer review, only reading the sample can give you an idea of the author's writing style. The chattering, informal tone used by Christopher Bulteel is a good choice for a book one might suspect it deals with serious matters in a careworker's life. The story flows smoothly and it becomes a tribute to those whom the author calls "the unsung heroes" in our lives. Although careworkers are underpaid and undervalued, they dedicate themselves entirely to the people they help. From this perspective, the author has done a wonderful job in writing this book and raising people's awareness of the careworkers' difficult lives. The diary extracts are very well written and give the story the necessary touch of authenticity. I have enjoyed Jarvey's story and the author's initiation into the home sitting service. Nigel's story was very emotional for me and I completely understood the author's attitude to those who deny sick old people the right to a peaceful life. I only found two minor mistakes in the sample. I agree with the OBC reviewer that they did not spoil the pleasure of reading. Even if I do not usually read this kind of stories, I would like to continue reading Christopher Bulteel's book.

First Ten review added on June 12, 2018, at 3:36 am by Cristina Chifane.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

britt13

360292
This book seemed highly reviewed, this includes the official review. I did not think that I would be reading it though because I am not enjoying non-fiction at the moment. That being said I do think that it is dealing with an important topic. I was excited to be able to read the first ten despite my feelings. After reading them I feel that it was constructed pretty well. You do not get too deep into the story with just the introductory type stuff. I only for one "error". I say it in quotes because I am not sure it is actually an error, but it makes the sentence feel awkward. It states "I was born to the sound of a dawn chorus on 20th April in the year 1949." If 20th is going to come first it feels like it should flow "on the 20th of". Like I said, I think it is a personal preference. Anyway like I said I think it seems to have promise as a novel but I will not be reading it right now, maybe down the road I will change my mind.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 10:51 pm by britt13.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Samantha Simoneau

638408
Prior to reading the first 10 pages, I was interested in reading this book because of the blurb. I like it when people tell their life stories and his sounds intriguing. There's a bit of name-dropping in the blurb, but that doesn't bother me. There are a couple of missing commas, namely after "warnings" and "committee," but that's not a big deal. There's only one customer review, which disappointed me, but it's 5 stars. When the customer review described the book as "humorous," I was excited to check out the sample. After doing so, I love this book. I'm not going to download it because I don't want to spend the $3 and change and it needs some editing. There were missing and misused commas and apostrophes (i.e. "Dads' shed," and missing commas before nonrestrictive phrases beginning with "which"), missing hyphens (i.e. "home cooked," "life threatening," "6 to 7 year olds"), a semicolon that should have been a colon, missing spaces (i.e. "June2004"), misspellings (i.e. "lived" for "loved"), and there are abrupt numbers that completely interrupt the text in the Amazon sample. This makes for very distracted reading, although I was charmed by the book. The stories are written very conversationally and the descriptions of people and surroundings were simply wonderful. There is an official Online Book Club review, which I read, but the reviewer must have read a very different copy because he/she gave it a perfect rating, so there must not have been so many errors in that one. I would have immediately downloaded it if it was free, but if I'm going to pay for something, it needs to have fewer editing problems than this book does. I am already attached to Chris, though, and find him and his "patients" very interesting and I believe the book is relevant and worth reading, ultimately. Not today, though.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 10:21 pm by Samantha Simoneau.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

kfwilson6

517343
Personal diaries are not something I typically care to read, and Mr.Bulteel's stories working as a care worker are just not something that capture my interest. The cover of this book needs to be redone to be more appealing and relevant. After reading the sample I can say there is more than the cover that needs to be redone. There are numerous missing commas and hypens. There are numbers I assumed to be section breaks placed in the middle of thoughts or even sentences. The first story in which Mr.Bulteel meets his first patient is not at all interesting. I found it quite slow and boring. I don't care to read any more anecdotes by Mr.Bulteels.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 8:43 pm by kfwilson6.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Elizabeth Pass

622142
The cover didn't interest me. The synopsis and review were only mildly intriguing. I didn't want to read this book. After reading a few pages, I still don't want to read it but I enjoyed it more than I thought. I liked the humor mixed in but I didn't care for the rambling narrative. When the senile old man locked his wife in the garage and commented about finally putting the pigs away, I laughed out loud. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to convince me to keep reading. I did not find any editing mistakes.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 7:55 pm by Elizabeth Pass.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

CrescentMoon

56447
After reading the blurb, I wouldn't pick this book up because I'm not really a fan of the nonfiction genre. I like reading mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels and this one seems more like a book about anecdotes and experiences being a care worker. After reading the first ten pages, I did notice some minor grammar and spelling errors. In the second paragraph, there should be a comma after the word results. Also, meagre should be spelled as meager. However, these errors were minor and I didn't feel like they detracted from the story. I like how the author first describes how he initially started in the catering business but then transitions into why he decided to go into being a care worker after so long. I think the writing flows well. I think people interested in reading more about the careworkers and their professions would enjoy reading this. However, this book isn't for me.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 6:16 pm by CrescentMoon.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

lavellan

403587
I probably would have read the sample of Trust Me, I'm a Careworker even if it had not been a part of The First Ten program. The Book of the Day review was very positive. The book seemed like it was professionally edited and I did not notice any errors while reading. I enjoyed the honest tone the author used to write his narrative. I would have liked to have learned more about the circumstances that caused the author to switch careers. I will not be buying the book today because I'm not very interested in the subject matter.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 4:02 pm by lavellan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kristy Khem

533451
The title and cover design did not interest me and the blurb was only mildly interesting, so I would not have chosen to read this book. However, after reading the first ten pages, I changed my mind. The excerpts are quite enjoyable and the author can really write descriptions well; particularly, I liked the brief portrayal of the cottage kitchen on page 8. I really liked how the excerpts are written as short stories, complete with detailed accounts of the characters and their dialogues. Unfortunately, I saw many errors in the sample which included lack of close quotation marks on page 8 and no spacing in the date on page 6. The last line of the penultimate paragraph on page 5 runs into the last paragraph mid-sentence and is also indented. The words, ‘Hotel and Catering Management,’ all needed to begin with capital letters because it is the name of an academic course. The book seems interesting, but because of the multitude of errors, I would not continue to read this book unless it is edited professionally.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 3:51 pm by Kristy Khem.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

melissy370

371338
Initially I would not read this book. Even though I have worked in a similar field, it is not what I typically read. The sample did change my mind and I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Because of that, I would like to read the rest of the book. The stories are relatable because I have worked with dementia patients as well. Although I do not understand why a woman would leave to go to the hairdresser when she knows her ailing husband is missing, the part about getting the pigs in was hilarious. There were a few problems I saw in the narrative. There was a missing quotation mark and the word "love" was missing a "e".
Also, the breaks in the storyline by the chapter numbers were odd.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 2:23 pm by melissy370.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

cpru68

517613
The title is so appropriate for this book because many people who suffer from dementia do not realize that their world has changed. They don’t know why they need help, and they many times cling to what is familiar, so for a stranger to show up and help them means that trust must be built. The difficulty with this, like what the author wrote about, was that by the next morning or even the next minute, you are no longer remembered. With much humor and compassion, this book has been written. I worked in a long term care facility for ten years. I was sixteen years old and spent a lot of time doing housekeeping on a floor where all the patients had dementia. This author’s stories took me back to those days of needing a huge sense of humor and a warm heart. There are some formatting issues with this book, however, and it would be such a shame to not fix them as the storytelling is fantastic. For instance, the numbers placed along the way could be removed. In fact, in one instance, a number 7 was cutting right into the dialogue I was reading. If those numbers were removed, the book will flow better. Also, do another round of punctuation check especially with commas and proper placement. I think this book will be a great help to many. Due to an already overflowing shelf of books to read, I must pass for now.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 2:01 pm by cpru68.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

desantismt_17

604219
I found this book’s title cute, even if it didn’t much hook my interest. The description didn’t call to me either. I’m not much for memoir-type books. Before sampling, I wasn’t interested in reading. After sampling, I have decided to pass. The book appears professionally edited. I noticed only one missing hyphen. The author’s writing is clear and crisp. It drew me into the events, even though I’m not interested in the rest. The description of childhood fun and the summary of how many changes went on in the author’s life makes for a fascinating beginning to what sounds like a heartwarming collection. There isn’t much in the way of dialogue, which, depending on the story, doesn’t necessarily bother me. But I felt it was worth noting. The OnlineBookClub.org review I read had many good things to say. This just isn’t my kind of book.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 1:21 pm by desantismt_17.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kat Berg

330891
I would not have chosen to sample this book based on the cover or title. I would have just assumed that there was really nothing of interest in the pages, but imagine my delight when I began reading and discovered rich description, earthy prose intermixed with clever dialogue. I do not always like when an author indicates an accent in their writing, but in this case, it worked really well. My favorite part of this story was the contrast the author made between Florrie, the perfectly motherly looking character, her surroundings and her startling language. I felt like I was there. The thing I liked least about this book is that it did not seem professionally edited. There are chapter breaks put haphazardly throughout the book. One time it occurred in the middle of a sentence! (p. 10) There were missing possessive apostrophes (p. 8), formatting issues where there is a paragraph break in the middle of a sentence (p. 9), missing commas (p. 13), and mistaken words ("if," instead of the correct "is" on p. 21). The writing is strong enough that I don't mind these issues too much, but it would be fantastic without them. I felt compelled to finish the first little story and would enjoy reading an edited version someday. The only reason I am not going to read it now is that I have too many books already on my plate. If I had a lazy day with nothing else to read, I would possibly pick this one up. I did read the official OBC review.

First Ten review added on June 11, 2018, at 1:21 pm by Kat Berg.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

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.

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Total ~ 14%

Trust Me, I’m a Careworker earned a score of 14%.

In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 14% 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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