Cover for A Dream for Peace

The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for A Dream for Peace: An Ambassador's Memoir

Because A Dream for Peace 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.

Ann Ogochukwu

2074422
A Dream For Peace is a memoir about Dr. Ghoulem Berrah's diplomatic work around the world. The book starts with homages from a few friends cum colleagues and then proceeds with an account of the author's early life.
I sampled this book only because of this program. I don't fancy memoirs unless I'm interested in the author or their work. In this case, I was not interested in the author, and I didn't like any particular thing about the book, so I won't be completing this book. I did see an OBC review.
I didn't notice any errors in the bit I read, and I don't think this book needs any improvement.

First Ten review added on May 31, 2021, at 4:49 am by Ann Ogochukwu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

smolbird

2020805
Seeing on the cover that this book is a memoir, I would not have read it outside of the program. Its official OBC review gave it a high rating, but it didn't make me interested in reading the book. Based on the first ten pages, I found the book to be well-edited, as I didn't notice any errors. I liked that it is evident that Dr. Ghoulem Berrah is an admirable person with good ambitions. However, I disliked how monotone the book was. I couldn't help but feel uninterested in reading it. Thus, I won't be reading any further. I have no suggestions for improvement to the author, as my disinterest in the book may only be because I'm not big on memoirs.

First Ten review added on May 31, 2021, at 4:38 am by smolbird.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Howlan

1471486
I would not have read the book without the program, as I do not enjoy reading biographies. The first chapter outlines the marriage customs of native Algerians, the narrator's early education, his mother and the love she had for the narrator. It also included the narrator's early childhood and one instance of racism the narrator witnessed in middle school. The narration is good and easy to understand. However, I am not going to buy and read this book as I do not enjoy reading biographies. No typos were found in the first ten pages. I found nothing to improve in the first ten pages. The Official OBC Review is present, and the reviewer rates it highly.

First Ten review added on May 30, 2021, at 1:59 pm by Howlan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Rayah Raouf

1999381
I would not have chosen to sample the book due to the genre. It is a political book, and I do not read political books or any books related to the government. I will not read the whole book. I am not the intended audience for this book. I did not enjoy reading the sample, and I would only read it if it was part of a course requirement. I noticed no grammatical errors in the sample. Therefore, the book seems to be professionally edited. I like the pictures included in the book. I cannot think of any improvements to be made. There was an official review. However, I still do not want to read the book.

First Ten review added on May 30, 2021, at 11:34 am by Rayah Raouf.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Iva Stoyanova

1815771
If I wasn't part of this program I wouldn't have chosen to sample or read this book. I wasn't attracted to the title, nor the cover or the genre. I don't typically read non-fiction and this book is not an exception. Also, the cover and the title suggested a boring read. My thoughts were that the book is probably related to politics and that it's maybe an autobiography of the man from the cover. So, I wasn't interested in the book at all as I don't like reading about politics or autobiographies. What's more, the official review gave me a good idea of the book too and supported my thoughts. So, I will not buy and read this book. As I mentioned above, I don't like books about politics or biographies of diplomats. Also, I didn't change my mind after reading the first ten pages.

I think the book is well edited. There wasn't anything I liked about this book. However, I'm sure people interested in politics and African history will enjoy this book. The book will also be appreciated by readers of memoirs or those interested in the life of a gifted diplomat. Finally, I have no suggestions for improvement.

First Ten review added on May 30, 2021, at 8:05 am by Iva Stoyanova.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Jorge Leon Salazar

1225511
The book begins with an extensive prologue by H.E. Monsignor Justo Mullor García, from which an interesting profile of the author Dr. Ghoulem Berrah is obtained. He is Muslim but demonstrates broad respect for other religions. In the first ten pages a biography of H.E. Monsignor Justo Mullor García is presented. Next, there is a homage to the author in which relevant aspects of his personality and works are mentioned. Then, the author comments on some aspects of his childhood in Algeria, when it was under de rule of France.
The highlight of these first pages is the trait of religious tolerance of the author and the Ivorians. Reference is made to the peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The construction of a catholic church and a mosque in the same place is impressive. The official review stands up the variety of things the author has achieved, which have been in diverse fields like science, religion, and politics.
The editing looks prominent as I didn't see any errors. I think the cover and title would capture the target audience as they directly suggest the memoir of a man who has made peace efforts. Overall, I didn't see anything that I believe could be improved. Dr. Berrah's memoirs seem attractive. However, it didn't completely catch me, so I guess I won't read the rest of the book.

First Ten review added on May 29, 2021, at 10:26 pm by Jorge Leon Salazar.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Mariana Figueira

1878669
Before reading the first pages of the book, I wasn't interested in it because I don't like memoirs nor autobiographies. After sampling the book, I became a little bit curious when the author stated that he was born in Algeria, but not enough to read the rest of the book. I think the prologue was unnecessarily long, maybe that could be improved. This novel seems professionally edited and has an official Online BookClub review. There's nothing, in particular, I enjoyed about it.

First Ten review added on May 29, 2021, at 4:45 pm by Mariana Figueira.
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 ~ 0%

A Dream for Peace earned a score of 0%.

In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 0% 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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