The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Bending Nature: A different kind of vampire novel
Because Bending Nature 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.
truebookaddict
I would have at least sampled this book based on the blurb and the reviews. It sounded like an intriguing twist on a vampire tale.
Yes, I will read the whole book. I found the story very engaging so far.
The editing is good, at least in the first ten pages. I noticed no typos or grammatical errors.
As I said, the story is engaging. The main character is very likeable. I know that this is a young adult read, and it does really read like it, but sometimes it's nice to be reminded about what being a teenager felt like. I think that's why many young adult books are popular among the older crowd. I cannot suggest any improvement.
First Ten review added on August 27, 2016, at 4:46 am by truebookaddict.
Cjgarland89
This is a well written and exciting first ten read! I definitely was caught off guard by the statue cracking and revealing a creature of some sort quite randomly. It was a great attention catcher. He book does appear professionally edited and revised. I will be finishing this book in the next few days, very good read so far.
First Ten review added on August 26, 2016, at 1:27 pm by Cjgarland89.
ashley_claire
Even though this book has decent reviews and really nice cover art, it would take a pretty special teen vampire novel to grab my attention. That's just not a genre I'm particularly interested in. The book seems well edited and I definitely think there's an audience for this book, it's just not me. I liked the twist on a vampire somehow coming from a statue, but it wasn't enough to overshadow that I felt no connection to the main character right off the bat. So far the book is what I would expect from a young adult vampire novel, and I won't be continuing.
First Ten review added on August 26, 2016, at 1:24 pm by ashley_claire.
Heidi M Simone
Due to the cover, the title, genre, blurb, and reviews, I most likely would have sampled this book even without this program. However, after sampling the read, I don't believe I will be continuing this read. It mostly has to do with the maturity of the protagonist. I feel this would be a great book for teens, and they could easily relate to it. However, when a teenage girl states: "People just didn't understand me.", the read becomes too immature and cliche for my taste.
I believe the idea of a vampire coming from a statue is interesting. However, I feel the maturity of the young girl could be improved.
First Ten review added on August 26, 2016, at 11:17 am by Heidi M Simone.
CataclysmicKnight
This was one of those books where I counted out the ten pages, highlighted where to stop and then went way past that mark. The book is well-written and right at the end of those ten pages is a major hook that made me want to keep reading to see what would happen. The main girl's reaction to the action was excellent, and while it seems this may be more on the romance side of things to my liking I definitely want to see how this will all go down!
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 7:37 pm by CataclysmicKnight.
Serena [Poetree]
I would not have chosen to read this book, because I don't like vampires, and several reviews mentioned poor character development, a rushed beginning, and some pretty glaring errors (grammar, missing words, etc.). Based on what I have read, I still do not wish to read this book. Julie is a very shallow character, thinking only about flirting and checking out men's backsides. Although the beginning did seem rushed, I did not notice any obvious mistakes in the text, though that doesn't mean there aren't some later on.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 6:03 pm by Serena [Poetree].
CrescentMoon
Based on the title, cover, and the blurb, this book is definitely one that I am interested in reading. I am a huge fan of young adult and I think the blurb is actually very interesting. The statue of Michael coming alive to save a young teenage girl is a storyline that I have not read or heard of before so I like the creativity. I just bought the book and I definitely have plans on finishing it. After reading the first ten pages, I definitely can say I enjoy it so far. I actually was surprised to find the amount of humor that I did. There is quite a bit of funny dialogue and the main character's thoughts are really funny and it is enjoyable to read in her point of view. So far, this book also does seem professionally edited which is a plus.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 5:35 pm by CrescentMoon.
Gravy
I like the cover. The style and colors are not what I would typically associate with the subject matter, but it oddly fits.
There were a few instances of sentences not being separated properly, but otherwise seemed fine.
The flow of the writing suffered from the character's continual forays into her dark imagination, and her actions weren't believable.
I do like the premise, and might have enjoyed the book if not for the aforementioned flaws. I won't be continuing with this book.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 5:16 pm by Gravy.
Annelore Trujillo
After reading the blurb and genre, I did not want to read this book. I'm really not into vampire novels. I did not change my mind after reading the first ten pages. I thought that the writer has some good description in there, but it was not enough to change my mind. I also liked that I couldn't find any grammar errors in the first ten pages. If you are into fantasy and vampire books, this would probably be a great book for you. However, it's just not the book for me.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 1:56 pm by Annelore Trujillo.
Kourtney Bradley
I was automatically interested with Bending Nature due to the caption on the front, "A new kind of vampire novel." I've always been drawn towards vampire themed books, and this one is no exception. Reading the first ten pages, I'm automatically drawn in. I know I will finish the book, because I have to know more about this statue, and if it's really a vampire inside. The editing all seems to be done well, although this does seem like a "young-adult" novel due to the attitude and thoughts portrayed by the main character, Julie.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 12:12 pm by Kourtney Bradley.
Vermont Reviews
I did read the preview first 10 pages. As well as reading the reviews. Some I thought were a little bit harsh. Many times authors take and expand upon plots that they have seen and read about from other books. Not sure if you did that or not. But I did enjoy the preview enough to download your book. I do want to finish the story. I like the artwork of the cover. As far as the editing goes it looked ok to me so maybe you fixed it since the harsh reviews were done. I must say that I did enjoy reading the preview. As I am sure I will enjoy the balance of the book. Glad to see that you've made the book of the day.
Vermont Reviews
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 11:36 am by Vermont Reviews.
braver
If I was going based on title alone, I would have passed. A different kind of vampire novel? No thanks. I was not impressed with the beginning of the book either. The writing struck me as inelegant and blunt, and there was no story development: Julie loves the statue and a couple pages later he's alive. I expected more build up. I also really didn't like that the author called out the "open gayness" of San Francisco to have Julie comment that it doesn't bother her - just don't mention it then.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 10:59 am by braver.
gali
I probably have sampled this book as I find the premise intriguing. The cover isn't that eye-catching though. The sample started well enough, giving us background about Julie and leading to the wakening of the statue. I enjoyed the first pages, and didn't find any major errors. I am not sure this book is for me though, as I am not too interested in reading about romance between a besotted teenager and a vampire. Also, I didn't connect to the writing. I won't be finishing the book at this point.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 10:59 am by gali.
L_Therese
Vampire books aren't usually my thing, so I wasn't very hopeful about this one. The beginning pages reminded me of the Twilight novels in that we have a protagonist who claims to be shy, plain, and emotionally troubled and who is mysteriously attracted to something completely unattainable because it/he is just so pretty. There were also some inconsistencies that bothered me in the characterization of the protagonist (i.e., she claims to be shy but works as a docent). This book is clearly designed for a much younger reader (high school at the latest), and it isn't going to work out for me.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 10:27 am by L_Therese.
bookowlie
Vampire fantasy novels are not my cup of tea so I would likely not read this book. That being said, the Amazon summary blurb is well written and gives a good idea of what the book is about. The last line is a bit throwaway, particularly since the quote is not attributable to anyone. For all I know, it's the author that wrote that you should "set some time aside..not be able to put this one down." I enjoyed reading the sample pages which are written in a nice, conversational style. I think readers who enjoy this genre would like the book. However, I am going to take a pass on this one.
First Ten review added on August 25, 2016, at 10:27 am by bookowlie.
Total ~ 40%
Bending Nature earned a score of 40%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 40% 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.
Go to main Bookshelves page for Bending Nature
