Phantomimic's Blog

My Review of the Fargenstropple Case by Lia London

8/30/2012

Meet Chief (of should I say Chef?) inspector Terrence Morgan who is recruited to come up to Bloome Manor and solve a most baffling and also seemingly trivial mystery involving the excitable Lady Chatterly. The good inspector thinks he will have this one nailed in no time at all, but little does he know that he is about to embark on an adventure that will have him bitten by ferrets, falling on ashes, singing to hounds, wearing ladies clothes, and pursuing a love interest.

This book is an interactive fiction co-creation by author Lia London and several collaborators. The twists and turns of the plot are as funny as the British-sounding names of some of the characters including Mr. Crumbfellow, Mrs Moulderswich, and of course Millicent Fargenstropple. Reading this book reminded me of the BBC comedies that I used to watch with my family on NPR. The Brits have always been adept at capturing in everyday language the nuances of the human condition ranging from the solemn to the silly, and the author does a good job of reflecting this here.

Lia should be commended not only for writing a great story and doing it very well, but also for coordinating all the moving parts of this interactive experiment. The book is well formatted, has a functional table of contents, and each chapter has a distinctive title, which is something I always like because it makes navigating back and forth among the chapters easier.

If you want to relax, and have a good time “The Fargenstropple Case” is the book for you!

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Do Goodreads Reviewers Lower the Rankings of Books on Amazon?

8/9/2012

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I want to address an issue that I have been thinking about. On Amazon the ranking of books takes place according to the following system:

5 stars: I love it.
4 stars: I like it.
3 stars: It's OK.
2 stars: I don't like it.
1 star: I hate it.

However, consider the ranking that is used at the website Goodreads:

5 stars: it was amazing
4 stars: really liked it.
3 stars: liked it.
2 stars: it was OK.
1 stars: didn’t like it.

So here is the issue. The “average” rank in Goodreads is 2 stars (“it was OK” is in between “liked it” and “didn’t like it”). This is because the Goodread’s scale is skewed. The “good” side is covered by 3-5 stars, while the “bad” side is compressed into 1 star.

I have seen that some reviewers that post their reviews on Goodreads often post the same reviews on Amazon. The problem is, for example, that an “OK” 2 star ranking on Goodreads is not the same as a 2 star ranking on Amazon. A 2 star ranking on Amazon means the reviewer didn't like the book. Similarly, sometimes I have been left scratching my head when I read a positive review on Amazon and then see the reviewer gave the book 3 stars (it's OK). Often after checking I have found that the reviewer has posted many reviews on Goodreads where 3 stars mean they like the book. I know that the meaning of the stars in both websites "pops up" when you move the cursor over them, but I think many reviewers that are accustomed to the Goodreads system often don't take this into account.

I am not saying that one system is better than another, but there is a reality. If you go to the major book blogs you often find that they require a minimum rank of 4 stars on Amazon (not Goodreads) to consider featuring your book when you do a free promotion. Each day 3,000 books go free on Amazon and the competition for advertising space is fierce (unless you pay for it). So if we go by this “rule” you can see how ranking books on Amazon using the Goodreads scoring system can lower the ranking of books and create problems for authors. This is especially true in the first few months after publication when a book is vulnerable to swings in the rankings. Just consider that to neutralize the effect of one 3 star review (bring it up to 4 stars) you need one 5 star review. To neutralize the effect of a 2 star review you need two 5 star reviews. And as we know, unless a book is an overnight sensation, getting reviews is slow, hard work.

Of course I realize the above is an oversimplification and it is unfair to single out Goodreads reviewers. Many reviewers have their own system as to what the stars mean, and you can just as easily make the opposite argument (i.e. that Amazon reviewers flocking to Goodreads undeservedly inflate the ranking of books). Also the general ranking of books at Goodreads does not seem to be lower than on Amazon. I researched several books on both websites and found the ranking could go either way.

However, it would be nice if major sites like Amazon and Goodreads would harmonize their systems to avoid this ambiguity that can have potential adverse effects on the work of authors.

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Review of Molly Greene's Novel Mark of the Loon

8/9/2012

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In her debut novel Molly Greene introduces us to Madison Boone, real estate agent extraordinaire who also “flips” houses in her free time. Madison falls in love with a cottage that is being sold in unusual circumstances, and she is able to buy it with the assistance of her no-nonsense lawyer friend Gen. But as Madison embarks on yet another remodeling project, the past of the house begins to unfold piquing her curiosity. However she is not alone. A motley crew of characters in the neighborhood and beyond is also interested in what Madison finds, and their interest grows as she unravels the mysteries behind her dwelling and its former owners. These mysteries are of course eventually resolved, but perhaps the most important mystery that Madison solves is that about her own self.

The book sports a superb cover by Jan Marshall. It is very well written and formatted, and all the characters are believable - from the sleazy Levi Velasco to the flamboyant Genevieve Delacourt. I liked how the author weaves the symbolism of the ever present Loon into the story, and connects it to the past owners of the house and to Madison. I also liked her vivid descriptions of the cottage with its lush gardens set in California’s Sonoma County. For example: “An English cottage right out of the Shire was set back in the midst of a clearing. Built of native stone, it looked as if it had been picked up by a tornado in the Cotswolds Judy Garland-style and plopped down here among the rainbow hues of the wild abandoned garden.” Reading passages like these makes images appear in your mind as though you had taken a picture, and there are many more where this one came from.

Mark of the Loon has intrigue, romance, friendship, mystery, danger, and even a little touch of the supernatural thrown in for a very pleasing read, and I recommend you treat yourself to the experience!

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The Mystery of the 3 Star Reviews

6/8/2012

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I was looking at the patterns of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 star reviews of books on Amazon and I noticed something interesting that I want to share with you.

When you look at a book’s Amazon page there is a graph that displays the number of total reviews a book has, distributed by the number of stars. Taking my own book, the Sun Zebra, as an example, the graph looks like this:

This is an example of the type of graph you get when readers like a book. There are many 5 star reviews and a much lower number of reviews with fewer stars. However, even 42 is not a lot of reviews for statistical purposes, so I will concentrate here on books that have 200 or more reviews.

The first such book I want to show you is “Wool” by Hugh Howey. Having a book with this many reviews and almost a 4.9 average is a significant accomplishment for an author and a sure sign the vast majority of readers loved the book. A large bar of 5 star reviews is characteristic of very popular books.

The converse is also true. For example, Robert Jordan’s “Crossroads of Twilight” is an example of a book a lot of readers bought but the majority didn’t like. Here you find a situation where you have a large bar with 1 star reviews.

I also wanted to see how these graphs looked in books with intermediate ratings. For example, could I find books with large bars of 4 and 2 star reviews? After skimming over 4,000 books on Amazon that I searched by “popularity” and “reviews of 1 star or more,” to my surprise I found none. The most common way in which a book gets an average rating of 4 is because the number of 4, 3, 2, and 1 star reviews counteract the effect of the 5 star reviews such as in the case of “Loving Frank” by Nancy Hogan.

Likewise, I could not find any book with a rating of near 2 with a prominent bar of 2 star reviews. The way a book ends up with an average rating of 2 is that the number of 5, 4, 3, and 2 star reviews bring up the average counteracting the effect of the 1 star reviews such as the book “Trace” by Patricia Cornwell.

I was especially interested in 3 star reviews because these indicate that, in theory, the book is neither very good nor very bad. Surely I would find a book with 200 or more reviews and a prominent 3 star column, like this example that I made up:

That was not the case.

The way a book ends up with a rating of around 3 on Amazon is if a lot of people like it but an equally large number of people hate it. Such is the situation of “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L. James. Here there are 2 large bars at opposite ends of the scale: 5 stars and 1 stars.

However, the situation doesn’t have to be this extreme. Take the book “Mile 81” by Stephen King. Here the 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 star reviews are nearly all the same, and the graph is a near flat line.

I want to state that the reason I didn’t find it is that I may have missed it (I only checked 4,000 books and there are more than one million books on Amazon). So please if you know of any book with 200 or more reviews and a prominent 3 star bar that stretches past all the others, please leave a comment and let me know.

But let’s get to the point of this post. If my observations are true, what does this say about the psychology of the reviewer? Why does an average book achieve a neutral rating of “3,” not by the majority of the reviewers giving it a 3, but rather by half of the reviewers rating it above 3 and the other half rating it below 3? Is this a reflection of our polarized society where we can’t find a middle ground on anything?

What do you think?

Note: the links on the books are provided just so you can check them out. I do not advocate you buying them except, of course, my own. : ^ )

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Some thoughts on Soliciting Book Reviews

4/26/2012

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I want to share my experience and some thoughts about soliciting reviews for my book The Sun Zebra. As of today (04-26-12), my book has 37 reviews. I will divide the reviews into first, second, and third tier.

First Tier

In this tier I include 40 people I contacted for review whom I met via Scribd.com, Twitter, or Goodreads. In this tier I also include reviews I requested from 3 people who downloaded my book during a free promotion and wrote to say they loved it.

Of the 43 people I contacted in the fashion described above, 30 (69.8 %) have written a review.

Second Tier

The second set of people I contacted are “dedicated reviewers” and also are people I haven’t had previous contact with. I have sent out 212 individual review requests to these reviewers. This is the response I‘ve had.

27 (12.7 %) agreed to review my book.

34 (16.0 %) declined with the most common reason being that they were too busy.

11 (5.2 %) either said they were too busy but I could try again later or offered another option such as a book feature or an interview.

12 (5.7 %) said they were not reviewing my genre.

128 (60.4 %) have not replied yet to my request.

Of the 27 people who agreed to review my book, as of today only 5 (18.5 %) have written one.

Third Tier

These are reviews I did not solicit directly. So far I have had 2 unsolicited reviews from people who downloaded a free copy during my promotion.

To sum it up, of my 37 reviews 30 (81.1 %) are first tier, 5 (13.5 %) are second tier, and 2 (5.4 %) are third tier

I did my free promotion about 2 weeks ago. I gave away 19,000 plus copies of my book. If you lump the 3 people who wrote to me from whom I solicited a review with the 2 unsolicited reviews, you can see that all those copies I gave away have so far only gotten me 5 reviews. Maybe with more time I will get more reviews, but I am beginning to think that the vast majority of the people who downloaded the book have not read it or don’t care about writing reviews (positive or negative). For me the take home lesson is that beginning authors like me cannot rely on unsolicited reviews.

But books need reviews to compete effectively not only for readers but for promotional slots (books with high rankings and many reviews are given preference over those with lower rankings and fewer reviews). So how do you get them? My experience with tier 2 doesn’t look very good either. Contacting these reviewers was a lot of work. The majority did not bother to respond, and many of the 27 reviewers that committed to a review informed me that they have long lists of books to review and it would be months before they got to mine.

So that leaves the beginning author only with tier one as the most important source of good reviews that can be obtained in a reasonable amount of time. It is important for a beginning author to have a sizable number of tier one contacts before publishing. To obtain them you have to be sociable. Read what people write, comment on it, tweet or like their posts, write reviews for their books, get involved, become friends, but be sincere. People familiar with your work who are willing to read it, give you feedback, and write reviews are one of the most important assets for a beginning author.

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My Review of "First Kiss" a Book of Poetry by Barbara Alfaro

4/13/2012

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This book of poems might have never made it. It could have been thwarted by a disbelieving second grade teacher who accused the author, then a little girl, of plagiarizing a poem she wrote for an assignment. Or it could have been stifled by an education that strongly discouraged any desire for recognition. But thankfully for us, Barbara found her way. “First Kiss” is her first e-book of poems some of which were available previously in her print book “Singing Magic.”

This e-book is a collection of 24 poems that cover a diverse number of topics, and the author weaves them all dexterously into a pleasing multicolored tapestry. There are poems about family and friends, and about the hardships and rewards of love and growing up (including that “First Kiss”). There are poems inspired by photographs, and beds, and sculptures, and others that just celebrate everyday life in all its glory.

Many of the poems are surprisingly simple but yet very effective in delivering their meaning such as “Carnival Music” and “Spinning.” Other poems including “K-Street,” “Castle Cats,” or “Jewels on Her Hat” resemble snapshots of frozen time. But the ones I enjoyed the most were poems like “Oddly American”, “Afterlife” or “Before Dark”. They have layers within layers, and as you peel the layers metaphors spin out and soar in every direction. My personal favorite is “A Child’s Poem,” which is in part about that incident with the second grade teacher, but it goes much deeper. You finish reading this poem and the last words resonate like an echo inside your head.

The book is well written and formatted. The cover art by Michele Bulatovic is superb. The table of contents allows for easy navigation among the poems, and the links all work. Barbara in the introduction quotes President John Adams telling his son that he will never be alone with a poet (book of poems) in his pocket. If that is so, make sure you include Barbara’s “First Kiss” in yours!

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You can also read Barbara's guest post on my blog here.

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My Review of "Shades of Love" by Sunny Lockwood

3/18/2012

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There may have been a simpler time in the past when it comes to many things. A time where something was either black or white, not shades of grey. But alas, it is doubtful that this was ever the case for the subject matter of this book: love.

In this book Sunny Lockwood presents to us six stories of individuals seeking or reexamining love. The characters of the stories are engaging and the author imbues them with considerable depth. Some of the characters are mired in relationships with contradictions and/or conflicts. Others are seeking that special someone who hasn’t arrived. There are all shades of love here: love for mates, for spouses, for parents, and for family. At times dramatic and at times funny, Sunny’s book is an in depth exploration of this most exalted of emotions within the human condition.

In the story “Something Special” a daughter struggles to come to terms with the particular style of her mother’s love towards her. In “Hilda’s Secret” a woman holding a terrible secret reexamines her life and her marriage. “My Worst First” is an autobiographical account of a first date that goes terribly wrong, while “Longing for Love” is the story of a lonely woman who seeks to fulfill her right to be loved, but first has to deal with the handicap of her disability. In “The Door” a daughter and a father struggle to accept each other. My personal favorite is “Love’s Echo” where a man staunchly opposes any intrusion of his past into his present.

The book is well written, has a functional table of contents, and a “Preview” section both at the beginning of the book and at the end of each story that presents a synopsis of the stories with a link to each one. If you want a short enjoyable romantic read that is not “black and white,” then Shades of Love is the book for you.

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My Review of "Broken Birds" by Jeannette Katzir

2/12/2012

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For the purpose of this review the author provided me with a Microsoft Word copy of her work, so I have not read the actual e-book.

This book is intended both as a memoir and a portrayal of the effects that the holocaust had on its survivors and their children. The first fourth of the book centers on the lives of the author's mother, Channa Perschowski, and father, Nathan Poltzer, beginning when these lives begin to unravel. Channa was taken by her brother Issac to join the resistance against the Nazis at the tender age of 12 while Nathan at age 18 was deported to a concentration camp. They both managed to survive their brutal ordeal but they lost their family and friends. These chapters were harrowing to read.

Eventually Nathan and Channa traveled to America, met and got married. When their first son was born Nathan thought to himself that "Hitler had not won" because his lineage would continue. As it turns out, even though Hitler indeed had not won, his poison had become embedded deeply in both Nathan and Channa.

The rest of the book chronicles how this poison affects their marriage and their children resulting in a deeply divided and dysfunctional family. Hence the title of the book: "Broken Birds." Jeannette Katzir deftly describes in minute detail and analyzes how her parent's insecurities, unresolved anger issues, and a mistrust of strangers verging on paranoia slowly spread over the years into her and her four siblings affecting everything from their choice of spouses to how their own children were treated.

We often have the notion that if a person survives a period of intense hardship that person can face whatever life throws at them. The author in this book dispels that myth. The skills that one may develop to survive a war may not be the ones required during peacetime to have a healthy marriage and raise balanced children.

Overall reading Jeannette Katzir's book was a powerful experience. It is both a very intimate look at the inner workings of a family affected by the holocaust and a slice of history that documents very trying times for a group of people persecuted for their race.

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My review of Joyce Faulkner's Book Losing Patience

1/16/2012

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In this book author Joyce Faulkner treats us to a breathtaking and eclectic collection of short stories. They range from the complexity of dealing with the challenge of modern day relationships to seduction, betrayal, murder, and revenge, from the mundane to the afterlife and the supernatural, from individuals fighting to bring to the surface the trauma in their lives and come to terms with it, to those hiding terrible secrets: this book has it all.

The stories are well written and very engaging. A few are shocking in their brutal honesty and others shy away from a "happy ending." A character asks in the story "The Menagerie", "Whoever said life was fair?" another character declares in the story "Unforgivable", “Sometimes there are no good choices...only a bunch of bad ones." Often the best we can hope for is resolution and closure, and that is what many of these stories are about.

Some of the stories are structured around individuals coming to grips with feelings. Dealing with a estranged family including an ill mother (Winding Down), with the memory of an abusive father (Unforgivable), with being overweight and self esteem (Fattie Mattie), with the death of a relative (Empty House) and with returning home after war (Just Hold Me). Particularly heartbreaking and painful to read was "Infinity", where women deal with rape and its aftermath.

The stories "Lilith" and "One Chittendon Drive" deal with classical monsters while others like "Chance" and the title story "Losing Patience" deal with perhaps the most complex, terrifying, and least understood of all monsters: ourselves.

Among my favorites are: "The Brafferton", where two warriors from different ages and realms share their stories with each other. "Elizabeth Rose", where the perfect punishment for a bigot is dispensed. The humorous "Rubber Dome", where a widow decides to reactivate her sex life in a very matter of fact way but with an unforeseen result, and "In my Fashion", where a woman receives an unusual gift.

My only qualms about the book are a glitch with my copy that prevented me from navigating directly to the table of contents and another glitch where the first page of each story was displayed without the title upon clicking the table of contents. However, these did not detract from the experience of reading the book.

This book is not a "light read", it will not distract you from real life, rather it will propel you into the thick of things and make you think. If this is your mindset, then Joyce Faulkner's "Losing Patience" is the book for you.

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Review of Manhasset Stories by Suzanne McLain Rosenwasser

12/23/2011

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Can you name all the children in your Kindergarten class? Suzanne McLain Rosenwasser can, and the name of the bus driver, and the policeman, and even the garbage man! In this great book the author describes with exquisite detail what it was like to live in Manhasset, Long Island in the three decades following the 1950s. This is not only a memoir but also a portrait of small town, America as it changed along with the world around it.

The book is made up of twelve 2-3 page stories (and one recipe), two of which have been featured in the New York Times, and one of which earned a Long Island Press Association Award. The stories cover everything from vacationing at beach 9 where the hotdogs were so crisp they snapped when bitten, to the author being a "popover girl" at Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Inn Restaurant. There is even a (very) short mention of slumber parties at the convent of Our Lady of Grace where some of the girls went (gasp!) skinny dipping in the pool while the nuns slept.

Alternating between nostalgic and funny, this book is an examination of the glue that holds a community together in the midst of change, and of the values, experiences, and metaphors which over the years turn children into adults who have a clear sense of belonging. The author's writing is so casual and engaging that when you are reading you feel she is talking while seated next to you.

Whether you want to read Manhasset Stories as entertainment, as history, or as a blueprint for jotting down reflections about your own life, you will not be disappointed. Buy Suzanne's book and join her in her quest to seek old Manhasset in the shadows of memory.

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