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Book Country > How to use Book Country

New to Book Country? FAQs not covering everything? Here's a place for you to ask questions and get tips about navigating the site from the Book Country team.

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A Regular User's Basic Guide to Using Book Country

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Posted on 5/1/2011
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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.
Showing 1 to 10 of 42 comments
2 years, 18 days ago

This is fantastic, Rebecca! Thank you so much for writing this up for all our new Book Countryians! :) You rock.
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2 years, 18 days ago

Nice work, Rebecca! I especially like, "If you would pay up -- right that moment -- with your credit card, rate it 5 stars."

That is a really helpful way of describing a rating and one I follow, too, although there are books I've rated at 4 stars that I'd buy.

The rest of the guide is super-helpful for folks unfamiliar with BC. Rock on!
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2 years, 18 days ago

I was wondering, if you request to connect with one of the members here on the site, how do you know if they have accepted your request? Do you get an email confirmation-or is there a way to check the status of your request on the website? Thanks for the putting together the guide. It is very helpful.
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2 years, 18 days ago

@ Zia Ahmad

Once you go to request to connect, every time you view their profile, you will see a small line stating 'Connection Request Sent". This means they haven't sent it. Once they accept your request, they will appear in your connection dialog. If you want to make certain you can see someone even if they don't accept the connection, request to connect AND follow them. They'll disappear from your following dialog when they accept the connection request.

Hope that helps!
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2 years, 17 days ago

Question: Must I follow every book I review, or are they added to my profile somewhere automatically- the latter makes more sense, but I can't find any panel where my reviewed books are listed for me to see.
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2 years, 17 days ago

You'll need to follow every book you review if you want to check back on the book. There is a suggestions thread in the report beta issues discussion thread if you'd like this feature and want to suggest it there. :)

I tend to follow the books I review because I want to be able to answer the writer's questions if they have any.
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2 years, 17 days ago

@Blain Yes I found the thread. I'm surprised that the makers didn't see the need for this when the main focus of this site seems to be reviewing and critiquing!
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2 years, 17 days ago

Well, it is still currently in beta, and that is what beta testing is for -- to find stuff like this out. :)
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JSF
2 years, 14 days ago

How can I get a list of all the books? It'd be nice to have them with their descriptions but even a stark list'd be useful.
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2 years, 14 days ago

The closest you can get to a full list of all books is to click Books -> Search

The list of books that show by default with no selections in any of the search panes is the complete list of books currently available on the site.
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Showing 1 to 10 of 42 comments
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Connections are your friends and colleagues on Book Country who you have allowed additional access to your work. Accepting a Connection request lets that member read all of the fiction you’ve posted (there is no word limit). Connections can also view who you are Connected to, as well as the books, People, Discussions, and Industry Topics you are Following. You can also receive Recommendations from your Connections and make Recommendations to them.

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Share your general thoughts on the book. Did the writer categorize the book accurately on the Genre Map? Were you engaged by the material? What really worked and what needs work? Comment on whatever else you like.

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When writing your review of a published  book, please bear in mind that the author is not longer revising the project. For example, you may want to write your review as if you are giving your opinion to other potential readers.

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How to Use the Book Country Reader
Use the right and left arrows to move forward or backward through the book you’re reading.

You can also use the tabs at the bottom of the Reader to customize your reading experience. Use the tab on the far left to pop open the Table of Contents. The remaining tabs—from left to right—allow you to perform searches with the text, increase the font size, and change the font type from Serif to San Serif. The bar at the bottom of the page lets you see how far you are in the book; you can also use the slider to move backward and forward through the text.

And lastly, if you’re a Book Country member and are logged in, the Peer Review fields will open up next to the text of the book; you can use it to take notes as you read and save them for later when you want to write your Peer Review.

  • Click the left arrow to view the previous page.

  • Click the right arrow to view the next page.

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