Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge THE CRIPPLED TANKER by D.A Rayner

This fun feature is a mini workshop. We look at book covers just from their thumbnail pictures at online selling book sites and make quick fire buying decisions. We look from a READERS Point of View and this exercise is very EYE OPENING.

From the book cover we will browse the book description, price and some of the reviews BUT we only have 5 MINUTES.

WE PLAY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Join in and see where it leads.

Grab a coffee and spend 5 Minutes on this exercise.

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from 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?

My 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?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)

Share your post, use #FridayFiveChallenge @rosieamber1 and I’ll help share all relevant posts.

This week, I’ve been reading about a Greek God, so I used her name as my search term to see what interesting books I’d find in my search. My search term was “Hecate”.

The Crippled Tanker (HMS Hecate Book 1)

Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

One U-boat against one destroyer would have been a fair — if deadly — match. But Captain John Murrell’s H.M.S. Hecate was towing a crippled tanker whose cargo was as dangerous as it was precious — four million gallons of high-octane gas!

The U-boat commander was desperate: his career depended on sinking the tanker. If he failed, the Luftwaffe would send new long-range Heinkels to destroy the Hecate and her tow.

Murrell’s cunning fight against incredible odds soon became a nightmarish eternity of cat-and-mouse moves and countermoves. His agonizing duel to the death makes this one of the most brilliant and memorable sea sagas to come out of World War II.

Price: Kindle £1.99 or $2.99

Number of reviews: Published last October it has 7 reviews on Amazon.co.uk and 1 on Amazon.com, all relatively positive.

Would I BUY or PASS?……BUY

Analysis

Not what I started out looking for at all with my Greek Goddess search term. This would be a gamble of a purchase, with the price tag being the lure rather than the book description and number of reviews. Does anyone else think “Hunt for Red October”? (Tom Clancy or the film) From the red book cover and book description? I am intrigued by this book, but wonder if my reading experience will be clouded by the successful film I am remembering? I don’t mind a bit of WW2 reading, so as I said above a gamble read for me.

Here are links to other bloggers taking part in today’s challenge.

Barb has found witty Urban Fantasy Half Way Dead by Terry Maggert

Cathy checked out Debut novels and found The Maker of Swans by Paraic O’Donnell

Shelley has gone for travel: A 1000 Places To See Before You Die by Patricia Shultz