Get Reviews! discussion

It's competition time, folks.

The best review for October 2019 will win a $20 Amazon Gift Card (USD). By best review, I mean the most interesting review to read regardless of the star rating. Reviews must be for books written by members of this group.

I'm posting the prize, so I'll be judging too. Please remember to post links to completed reviews in the member reviews thread.

This will include reviews for any other book if the author of that book joins our group in October. You can vouch for new members to be added to the group by posting a link to their Goodreads author page below. I'll send them an invite.

Have fun.

Do we have a list of who is in the group?

Ian wrote: "Do we have a list of who is in the group?"

You can view it from the group home page. Here's a link: https://www.goodreads.com/group/89388...

Not that I have a previous review to submit, but will previously submitted reviews be allowed? Or does it have to be a new review posted in October?

Better make it any new review posted in October. Otherwise I'll be chasing my tale.





... ahem.

Michael wrote: "Better make it any new review posted in October. Otherwise I'll be chasing my tale."

LOL!

Someone quite rightly asked what my criteria is for a good review.

1. Not too short, not too long. About 150 to 200 words. Nobody wants to read an essay before buying a book.

2. Entertaining. A review should take the reader on a journey. A review is a bit like a flash fiction piece in itself. I go by the old rule of beginning, middle and end.

3. A sense of the story and plot without spoilers.

4. A personal touch. Nothing speaks louder than what it did for you personally.

5. We're writers. Who needs a bunch of rules?

Michael,

Just in case nobody competes,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Can I nominate Bill Cook's review of Curmudgeon Avenue?

If Bill is a member, why doesn't he do it himself? If his review were to win, who would get the $20 if you enter it? Just curious :-)

I'm considering all reviews posted in October - as long as they're linked here or in the normal links to member's reviews thread.

So Kat, Norma, Connie (x3), Bill and Ian are in the running. I've also posted quite an exceptional review IMHO (lol).

David wrote: "Can I nominate Bill Cook's review of Curmudgeon Avenue?"

Michael wakes up one morning. After a strong coffee his vision clears sufficiently to read his emails. David Rose has posted on the competition thread. Michael opens the thread as reads David's post. He doesn't completely take in what he has read. He feels there is something else he must do first.

As if drawn by a power beyond his control, he navigates to the list of people who are members of Get Reviews! There he finds David Rose's profile. At the bottom, right hand side of the listing is a hyperlink. It reads: make moderator. The temptation is overwhelming... Michael's finger wavers over the mouse button. A little voice says, "Click it, Michael! You must click the link!"

What should Michael do?

Only if you want an invisible, absent moderator who ceases to participate in any way at all...

David wrote: "Only if you want an invisible, absent moderator who ceases to participate in any way at all..."

Invisible? You are a man of many talents, Mr Rose.

My first impulse was simply to say, "Don't you dare!" - and then I realised what your response to that would be. :)

Okay, Mr Rose. Here's my compromise. I've had three reviews this month, so I'm feeling the need for some democratic fairness in choosing a winner. Kathy suggested Olympic type judging. Me, her and a volunteer will score the reviews out of ten. Highest score takes the prize. Consider yourself democratically volunteered as judge three.

Something about this bothers my understanding of what constitutes democracy, but I can't put my finger on it. Mainly because this is the internet...
Okay.

Thank you for your support, Mr. Rose! Just remember that you're contributing to world peace...er, more and better reviews when the hate mail begins to arrive! :P

K.S. wrote: "Thank you for your support, Mr. Rose! Just remember that you're contributing to world peace...er, more and better reviews when the hate mail begins to arrive! :P"

Kathy, my name is David. Mike is the only one who calls me 'Mr. Rose', I suspect because it tickles some odd humorous bump above his elbow. ;)

A haiku dedicated to Mr Rose

Mr Rose Mr Gardner
It tickled the bump of one
This elbow puzzle

Back to the serious business of awarding the prize. The scores are coming in. As soon as we have them all, we'll announce the winner.

And the winner is...

Jonathan Eaton with a combined review score of 8.67 out of 10.

Narrowly ahead of Connie Lacy who had an 8.33 out of 10.

Also pipping our resident lurker by a small margin, with Kathleen Garlock scoring an 8.00 out of 10.

Overall, we all felt the standard of the reviews being written by this group is very high. Any of our 14 reviews for the month was a worthy winner. You're a great group of people and talented writers.

Jonathan, PM me the email address you use for Amazon and I'll order you up a gift card.

Thank you for having this contest to encourage reviewing! What a win for the entire group, and of course Jonathan, who wrote the awesome review! Congrats!

I second Mike's comments about the quality of reviews coming from our group members. And congrats to our winner!

Wow and thanks!

Congratulations, Jonathan!

It was a great review. Thoughtful, sincere, and very readable. It's a level of writing to which we all can aspire. No surprises there, especially to anyone familiar with Jonathan's work. Especially Outlaws and Worse.

Great job all the way round! Keep those reviews coming, folks! We help ourselves when we help each other!

Here's a link to the winning review for anyone who missed it. It ticks the boxes: gives a sense of the story and style without adding spoilers, talks about the writing, what was enjoyable and why, and makes objective criticisms. Most of all, it's an enjoyable read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...