Welcome to the Friday Five Challenge
Rosie Amber’s Friday Five challenge only takes five minutes, so grab a cuppa and join in!
In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?
AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?
The Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….
1) Go to any online book supplier,
2) Randomly choose a category,
3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,
4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,
5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,
6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?
This week I went for ‘Biography and True Accounts’ and clicked on ‘Women’. So many dreadful ‘celebrity’ biographies. Then I saw this:
A beautiful cover, looks very professional and definitely caught my eye. The title doesn’t give much away, although I was a little put off by ‘A harrowing true story of love and betrayal’, but the cover had me intrigued enough to investigate further.
Price: 0.99 in the UK and $1.51 in the US
Book description:
***WARNING*** Contains graphic details of sexual violence and strong language. Some readers may find Love by Deception disturbing, discretion is strongly advised!
Love by Deception shares a compelling true story of how meeting the wrong men can bring not only heartache, but real devastation in the most brutal of ways. K.C. is a successful woman in her thirties, thriving in every part of her life, yet failing miserably with matters of the heart.
We follow her turmoil as we unravel K.C.’s disastrous relationships covering a seven year period when time and time again, she becomes the unwitting, and unwilling victim to four extremely deceptive men. Whilst each man was different in his own way, they were all cruel and conniving . Therefore, she has been given the insight into the effects of verbal, mental, physical and sexual abuse.
Although she has the world at her feet, and a jet-setting career working in the prestigious world of international VIP Aviation, for a Middle Eastern Prince, her ability to find a decent man seems impossible. During the most harrowing times she highlights the importance of life-saving friendships and her determination to never give up hope. Amidst all the drama, K.C. is determined to never allow any man to break her humorous spirit, and to continue her quest to find love with an open and tender heart.
Reviews
Ninety-nine in the UK – pretty impressive for a self-published book. A whopping 177 in the US – 64% 4 and 5 star, but 14% are 1 star. The positive reviews are all very positive – many point to the honesty of the author and her bravery and the fact that she wants to share her experiences in order to warn other women about how easy it is to become embroiled in an abusive relationship. Disappointingly, many of the negative reviews criticise the author for the fact that she goes through a series of abusive relationships, and for her ‘naivety’ at getting herself into these situations. One reviewer calls her ‘nuts’.
Would I buy or pass? PASS
Analysis
I was tempted, just because the negative reviews annoyed me so much. It’s very easy to judge other people when you’ve not been in their situation. And I applaud the writer for sharing her story and for her good intentions and do think it’s really important that women who suffer abuse tell their stories if they can. But I honestly don’t think I could bear to read it – I’d find it far too upsetting. Do really love that cover though.
If you want to join in the Friday Five Challenge pop over to Rosie’s blog to find out more.
Alison Williams Writing 