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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 3
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 34
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Think I'm gonna second that.
I posted my book, and saw it instantly on the new book site, which was handy, and got one very nice and constructive review and then...it disappeared. Even I can't find it. (I mean, I CAN find it because it's on the top of my page, but I have no idea how YOU would find it.)
Meanwhile, I want to do my own critiques of similar types of books, figuring that would get me folks who might crit mine in turn.
So I click on BOOK SEARCH. I click on UTOPIAN. I click on SOFT SF, and only one book comes up each time. The same book, and it's had 12 reviews. He doesn't need me, and I'm sure he doesn't have time to crit me.
Is this the only guy who has written Dystopian soft SF? No, because it's not mine, and I did too. My book is buried, lost somewhere deep in the bowels of bookland.
What the tarnation am I doing wrong?
HELP, please. Thanks!
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 222
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This is on the Regular user's guide to Book Country in this forums, but I'll just CP the entry for you so you don't have to dig around for it.
As an addition, you can also click books and then click search books and select the exact genre you want, but I think the genre map would help you find what you're looking for, momgotshocked -- hope this helps.
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For those new to Book Country, welcome!
I wrote a guide to Book Country on my blog, but there are enough questions going around that I thought that I would take a moment to write up a quick guide for everyone who finds this part of the site. I'm not at all affiliated with penguin, this site -- I'm just a user like everyone else. I just tend to be OCD and hate seeing people confused on how to make use of a great resource like this one.
This is from the perspective of someone who was in the private beta and figured it out on her own, so this may not exactly jive with how the staff originally intended the site to work, but this is what I do to get the most benefit from it:
The first thing you should do is complete your profile as much as possible. Make sure you put all the genres that you like so you can get the best exposure to the books you want. This will also help other users find you.
The first thing I suggest that you do is take a look at the Books option in the left pane of the website. This is how you find new reading material. The page you land on when you click the Books link is the hub of the site. This shows the highest rated books and the books that are most commonly recommended to friends. These are often good reads -- or reads that could use work and others recommend them for reviews.
However, I suggest you click the Genre map before you look at favorite or Buzz books. The Genre map is one of the most brilliant parts of the website. By clicking the type of story you want to read, you are taken to a map that shows all books in that specific category. Landmark books are marked with L so you can easily check for books that are like bestselling favorites. When you click the box with your genre type, just click select this genre to go to the map.
I hang out in the epic / high fantasy category, but that is just my preference.
Once you get onto the genre map, you will see different colored squares. These squares show the color associated with a sub-genre within the category you have selected. Just click your mouse over one of the squares -- any one will do, even an L. From there, you will get the title and the author of the book. If it is a L book, or landmark book, it will show the actual cover of the novel. Clicking the book will bring up the pitch for the book and options to read & review, find similar books and view book details. I recommend you just click read & review and get started with reading if you like the pitch.
You can adjust your position on the genre map by clicking the red fountain pen nib in the mini map panel on the left side of the page, or by dragging the central genre map around. I find it is easier to use the mini map.
Once you go to read, a overlay window will appear with three text boxes on the right hand side. If you have read this book and reviewed it before -without- major changes being made by the author, you will get a "Thanks for Sharing" text. If not, you will have the three text boxes I mentioned before. There will be star ratings below each one that will unlock if you've written enough to warrant starring the category. All books will have an Overall category, but the author selects two fields they want feedback on.
At this point I am going to side-step and mention something about critiquing on Book Country. This site is really here to help writers improve and prepare for the world of publication. Rating high to get a high rating back just doesn't work. Be honest, rate honestly, and only give five stars if you would buy this book without a doubt or hesitation. If you would pay up -- right that moment -- with your credit card, rate it 5 stars. If you feel that it is publishable, or that it needs little work or just really liked it, then I would recommend 4 stars. Obviously, rate your stars as you like, but inflating the stars doesn't help anyone.
Be honest, be harsh... don't be mean. The more indepth your critiques are, the likelier that you will get similar feedback. Writing thorough critiques helps -you- improve your skills as a writer as well. The more you're able to identify problems in another person's writing, the better you will become at identifying those same problems in your own.
This is all my opinion of course, but this is what I do.
Personal opinions aside, back to the guide. Next, I recommend that you visit the People tab. You want to connect with people who write and read in the genres that you write and read. This will expose you to their writing and allow them to send you recommendations. You can follow a writer to see what they post, but connections allow you to get all of the news of a person and allow them to suggest a recommendation of books, discussions and comments that might be of interest to you.
I don't get a lot of recommendations, but when I do, I tend to make good use of them or critique. Especially if it is a recommendation of work that is not of the person sending it. I get a mix of that, and I find I will critique almost anything recommended to me if I get the time.
Once you start getting connections, you will begin being able to make use of Books You're Following. You need to click the follow button for the book you follow, but this will update you whenever a change, comment or critique/review is written of a book. I almost always check out what others are saying about a book I follow. This lets me know if my review was suitable for the book and it helps me improve my reviewing skills.
The biggest thing about this site, once again entirely my own opinion, is that you get out of it exactly what you put into it. It takes time and effort to do the critiques and reviews, but it is well worth the effort at the end of the day for me.
I strongly recommend following discussions that you are interested in. As the site grows, it can get harder to check the conversations you want to follow. The following discussions panel lets you see exactly what is going on with the discussions that you are interested in.
That is the basic 'core' of the site. It is pretty easy, but as you play with the site, it will get easier to use.
I hope this helps a little for those who have questions.
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 34
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Yikes. I appreciate the effort.
I'm so slow. I've noodled around the genre map (which I agree is so cool) but I still can't quite figure out how that allows me to find a book that is similar in stye to my own and not already had a million reviews.
So, for example, say I do want to find my own book. If I didn't know my name, or the title, what would I do? It should be listed under SF dystopian with side orders of realistic and light, and honestly at this point I've added like a million tags just to see whether I could get it to come up ANYWHERE.
Can you? (pretend you don't know my name until after you find it -- no fair searching under momgotshocked :0)
Then, what I'd love would be a step by step guide to find ANOTHER SF dystopian light with similar tags. (No, not Ravelled Sleave of Care -- I checked it out, he's good, but he has 12) I want a barely-reviewed one.
I'm sorry I'm such a blockhead. I just can't get the hang of this stuff. I'm old and crotchety and computer illiterate.
Thank you!
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 222
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Sure did find it. Here is what you do:
Click books.
Click Search.
There will be an Any Genre box. Scroll down in this box. Select Dystopian SF.
Look at the box to the right of the Any Genre one.
Scroll down. Click Light.
Your story shows up in the #4 spot.
The less tags you add, the easier it is to find stories that have not been reviewed. So, if you're interested in Dystopian SF, just click that in any genre box like you did before. Hit the x where it says light to get rid of that search category.
You can also just search for light stories of all genres. You don't have to specifically select a genre to use those sub-category search options.
If you want to check for stories that have not been reviewed yet, click rating twice. Clicking once will sort by highest, the second click will sort by lowest first. If there are stories without reviews in that category, they will float to the top when you click it the second time.
I suggest you review stories based off of your interests. If you click books and scroll down to the bottom of the page, there is a section for stories that have no reviews, but you will be more limited to genre in that case.
Does this help?
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 34
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Oooh! I'm trying it now! (gotta print out your reply to refer while I noodle)
THANK YOU!!!
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 222
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You're welcome!
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 34
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Yay! It worked. But, I see what was going wrong for me, tho I don't understand why:
At first I tried what you said and - nothing. Same old result. Then:
After you get into the spot where you see the three boxes (any genre/any tag/any peer review) right above is a line that says "search books" with a little magnifying glass thingy.
Somehow, in all my fiddling, I clicked on that a bunch of times (didn't put anything into it -- just kept clicking) and finally, magically, a million new choices appeared. I was able to finish with your instructions and lo, there was Triads, #4!
So I clicked on that 'search bar again and it seemed to erase all but a few SF books from the choice. In fact, after I found mine, I happened to clicked on it again.
Now when I go into that area, as far as I can tell, I am the only person who has written a dystopian light SF! (Take that, ravelled sleave of care!) In fact, in all of book country there is only 1 sf book: mine.
(At least there are 6 romances!)
I can't explain it, but at least I know that if I bang enough times on that bar i can find other books. Sigh. I wish I knew what I was doing.
Thanks again!
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 222
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It sounds like you have a search field that is still selected that is really narrowing the choices down.
On the page with the search dialogs, make sure you click every x in the three windows (Any Genre, Any Tag, Any Criteria)
Alternatively, click the small All Book Country tab at the top and search through there. That might be easier.
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 3
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Thank you all for these helpful responses. I was away for the weekend and I was surprised to see all the help waiting when I came back today. Thanks! Now I have to dive in and learn to navigate.
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 34
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Well, I am one of those pathetic folks who is contented to drive the car without ever really understanding what is happening under the hood (it's why I have AAA). So, I've found a way to make it work, thank you to RJBlain. Perhaps this will help someone else, too.
Just want to clarify for some other poor, misguided computer-incompetent soul: it's the RETURN key I pound on the SEARCH bar to make the books appear, not the mouse click.
I've already found another book to edit.
Thanks again!
MGS
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