Also, as an added note real quick, if you are worried about the feedback you receive from your group, we highly suggest talking with them about this. We have specific channels set up for each reading group on Discord so that you and your team can talk about the kind of feedback you'd like to get or just discuss each others' books.

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What do you like about the club so far?

Founders' response: We really don't have anything to say to the answers we received to this question other than that we are happy you all seem to enjoy certain aspects of the club. We will share some of these kind comments below though. Thanks again!

Survey Response: "I really like my group"

"The community and feedback"

"I've gotten so many writer friends that I never thought I'd have and I've gotten so much great feedback on my work"

"Good frequency of rounds, reasonable commenting requirements that make it ideal for seeking casual feedback (nothing too intense or rigorous), weekly requirements are reasonable, very nice extension/hiatus policy"

"I like being in the same group each week so we can get reviews of more than just the beginning of our stories."

"I like the community, and the help you get with improving your work."

"I love that we can help each other grow with feedback :)"

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What don't you like about the club?

Survey Response 1: "There are some weaker groups, or at least some groups that are very, very minimal in feedback/have extremely dry stories that don't interest me, and the bookclub can really feel like a chore when In those groups"

"Feedback is often poor quality. Many times, I've received feedback that is incredibly generic ad could be slapped on any story. When they do attempt to say something specific to my story, I've gotten a frustrating number of thoughtless comments (such as spelling characters' names wrong or missing very basic details that are outright stated in the text).I wouldn't mind if this only happened every once in a while as sometimes it takes time for people to learn how to deliver thoughtful feedback or maybe they just don't feel well. However, the frequency of this issue feels like it should be raising red flags to the admins. It's gotten so bad I've seriously considered leaving the club (I basically only stay to get my engagement numbers up at this point...)."

"Sometimes you don't get to finish stories, and some members aren't too helpful with their comment (though most are). And it can be stressful sometimes."

Founders' response: As for the issue of poor or generic feedback, we completely understand. This has in fact raised red flags for quite some time. The issue is that we have no way to force someone to put in the right amount of effort. We give notes to encourage members to give their feedback everything they have, but that hasn't seemed to help. It's an issue that has been just as frustrating and discouraging to us as it is to you. The only option we have left at the moment (and is one we will most likely begin soon) is to start deducting notes, Idol status, and possibly even membership for those who continue to do this. But that can take time and might result in the club shrinking in numbers, leaving few options for partners and groups. talking with your group on Discord in your groups' designated channel is a great place to address these issues. You can ask them to focus on specific elements or ask them questions that they could answer in their end-of-chapter comment. This is what the group channels are for, so feel free to use them.

As for stories you don't enjoy reading, unfortunately, that just comes with the territory of book clubs. You're not going to like everyone's story just like not everyone is going to like yours. It's something you kind of have to accept when joining a club like this.

And for finishing stories, our groups are kept together for a long period of time to help with this issue. However, when one group finishes each others' books, that means we need to move them and put someone else in their place. We try to keep people together in order to finish but a lot of it boils down to how many chapters or books someone has. We honestly try to do our best, our most recent switch was the first major one in almost 6 months, but we apologize if this has been an issue for you.

Survey Response 2: "It's a lot of reading each week. Maybe having only 3 weeks of rounds, then one round off could be good to help reset after so many reviews."

Founders' response: This actually isn't a bad idea. Breaks can be extremely helpful and may even give members time to make edits. We will be considering this as a possible option. Thank you!

Survey Response 3: "I think sometimes the feedback can be a little harsh (with little to no praise in the comments and mostly only pointing out the negatives) which is not great for a writers spirit."

Founders' response: We understand your concerns and do encourage pointing out positive points as well as those that need work. But in joining a club like this, you're asking for honest feedback. If someone is simply expressing tough love, don't take it as an attack right away. Read their comment from a non-biased perspective. Ask yourself, is this rude or honest? Is the reviewer using harsh words that tear my work apart? If they aren't and they're just giving their true thoughts and feelings, then take a deep breath. Not everyone is going to be a fan, and if you want to be a writer, you need to learn how to take critiques that aren't always favorable. A great tool to use here is our Discord server where you can communicate with your group directly and ask for specific types of feedback. That's not to say you should be asking for nothing but praise, but if you wish for them to focus on a specific element, you can definitely discuss this with them.

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What would you like to see more of or have added to the book club?

Survey Response 1: "Special events or group projects"

"Maybe some writing events would be fun. And encouragement of Fanfiction."

Founders' response: We love new ideas for events and projects, but could maybe use some more details as to what exactly you'd like to do. Group writing projects where maybe we start a story and each member contributes a line to keep the story moving? Weekly/monthly writing prompts? At the moment, we do have our writing festivals that work similarly to NaNoWriMo. These festivals take place every three months with the next one starting in July.

As for encouragement of fanfiction, again, we're not entirely sure what is meant by this but if a clear explanation is given, we'd be happy to take a deeper look into this. Though if you love Fanfiction be sure to drop a line to anytime, as she does in fact write fanfiction on the side and highly encourages it.

Survey Response 2: "More thoughtful feedback, more effort to pair people with similar stories and/or skill levels together (e.g., keep teen fiction writers together, don't saddle someone who gives thoughtful comments to someone who barely phones it in)."

"Not sure. The ability to choose genres to read? But then again, it's good to be challenged with things outside of ones comfort zones too sometimes."

Founders' response: In regards to grouping people based on genre, as the second quote says, it's good to be challenged with things outside one's comfort zones. Not only that, but we simply don't have enough of each genre to do that nor would it guarantee you'd get quality feedback.

As for grouping people based on skill level or quality of feedback, that was actually something we took into consideration during this last regrouping. We tried to put those who give the same level of feedback with each other. It's not a perfect system, but it's new and we hope it works.

Survey Response 3: "I'd like if there were optional/fun questions to answer about the chapters we read each week. I remember Tatted Trouble had something like that, and it was really fun and gave me something new to comment on each week."

Founders' response: This is a great idea and something we will be considering now. Thank you!

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Is there anything you wish our community offered outside of the actual book club?

Survey Response 1: "I do really enjoy the competitions and stuff"

"I wish there was an awards. A review book would also be cool."

Founders' response: We actually have both of those! Our awards for 2021 was finished not long ago as we had trouble keeping judges, but we are planning our 2022 awards to start this summer, possibly in July. We are also planning new ways to make our awards run smoother than last time. We also have a review book though we only have one active reviewer at the moment who is already swamped with review requests. The best way for our review book to do better is for us to get more volunteer reviewers, which we strongly encourage anyone in the club to do.

Survey Response 2: "Group projects and events"

Founders' response: Again, we would love some more specifics so that we can try to do this and introduce more fun things for the club.

Survey Response 3: "Maybe more community building activities on Discord like question of the week activities and stuff like that. I almost never open the Discord at the moment because it doesn't seem useful."

"Maybe an lgbtqia+ authors section in the discord as I always feel rather isolated from the other LGBTQIA+ authors on wattpad?"

Founders' response: These are both great ideas that we will be discussing how to implement. Our only concern is that even if we introduce these elements, we can't guarantee people will participate as participation has been a bit of an issue within the club. But it is definitely something we can try!

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If you have collect music notes, what would encourage you to spend your notes on club prizes/awards?

Survey Response: "Just more feedback on my book, or BoTW"

"I don't even remember what prizes are available. Make them more visible"

"Book cover designs and the chance to get Book of the Week."

"Better prizes, easier to read note chart (don't get fancy with the graphics, focus on making it easy to read quickly!), shoutouts actually being effortful (nobody will want them if you don't tailor them to the person and/or story)"

"I'm not sure, maybe just reminders in the discord, like an @everyone tag about the prizes and music notes every once in a while, because I forget that I have them to use."

"BOTW. That's pretty much it."

Founders' response: So, first off, we notice a theme here of BOTW or more feedback. All Idol members will get the chance to be BOTW and when the list is completely finished, they'll get more chances. if you wish to speed up this process, we do offer a prize of skipping the BOTW lottery and becoming BOTW in the next round. Selecting this prize costs 4 music notes but can only be done once every 3 months to give an opportunity to others. After it's been 3 months since your last turn at BOTW, you can purchase this reward again.

As for more feedback, we do also offer the reward of a five-chapter review in our review book for 7 music notes. THAT SAID, as we mentioned in a previous answer, we only have one reviewer who is already swamped and unable to take requests right now. This is where having more volunteers would be EXTREMELY helpful! Outside of this option, we are open to more suggestions to provide more feedback in exchange for music notes.

As for making an easier note chart or making the prizes/notes more visible or posting reminders in Discord, we will definitely look into these. Though currently, our prizes are neatly listed at the end of our "Idol Quality+Prizes" page and as for the note chart, we're trying to implement a method that will be easy for us to update(so we can do it on time each week). Currently, there's nothing fancy about the note chart, it's simply a screenshot of what we personally use to keep track of the notes, but we understand how it can be hard to see due to size and will try to fix this. Reminders in Discord are very easy though and we have no problem doing this.

In regards to shoutouts being tailored-made for the author, we can try our best, but if it's for a book we have not personally read, all we have to go off of is the blurb. To help us with this, when purchasing a shoutout, giving us a rundown of the story or sending us some highlights for us to mention would be a big help.

And to the mention of book cover designs, though we are not pros at making covers, we could open a graphics shop. We are completely open to this idea. Covers might be offered though we can't promise miracles(just look at some of the founders' covers for a general idea of what we might be capable of), but other graphics are for sure an option.

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Are there any club prizes/awards we don't have that you would want?

Survey Response 1: "Make them more relevant."

Founders' response: Unfortunately, without specifics, it's hard for us to know what you mean or how to do this.

Survey Response 2: "Book covers, comments on stories, basically stuff with a guaranteed payoff (exposure means nothing if it does not result in reads...)"

"I think being able to request graphics for our stories (like chapter headers, thanks for reading banners, covers, etc.) would be cool to exchange music notes for. I'm not sure how much work those would be and if it is a feasible prize, though."

Founders' response: Again, we do have a review book that offers reads and sometimes comments from the reviewer as well, but again, we only have one reviewer who is already swamped and unable to take requests right now. This is where having more volunteers would be EXTREMELY helpful! Outside of this option, we are open to more detailed suggestions to provide more feedback in exchange for music notes.

As for graphics/covers/ect, we love this idea and are planning to do this soon. So, thank you!

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Out of all the answers we received, over 57% said they'd be willing to help with the remaining saying they would not. To those who are and left their names, we will most likely be contacting you. There seemed to be a concern about having to leave your group if you volunteered to be an admin, and we want to assure you that this is not an issue. We have several admins who participate in other groups outside of the one they admin.

If you did not take the survey but would like to offer your help as an admin, future awards judge, reviewer, or just offer your help brainstorming ways to improve the club, please reach out to any of our three founders , , and .

We also want to express our own frustration and discouragement with some of the comments some members leave in their groups' books. We want to encourage you to really give your partners everything you have but we can't force you. So with that said, we will start deducting music notes and idol status to those who are skating by while others work hard to offer honest feedback. We will also be grouping together those who choose to take this path so that the rest of the members who are working hard can receive the benefit of thoughtful feedback.

(If you'd like to take the survey yourself, there is a link in the Members' channel of our Discord. All surveys are anonymous unless you choose to offer your help and leave your name.)

Thank you - Founders