Feedback For my FMP

I put up a questionnaire filled with a page of my book, and a couple of illustrations. I asked people for their first impressions, and any feedback. I got 30 responses (as of now), but they were varied with age and gender. (You can view the survey here.)

Ages of participants

The lack of features on my character came across as strange to some. I only showed one image of my character, so they couldn't see any development of the character, however. The eyes seemed strange to some people, but when I showed two children the illustrations, they enjoyed the look of the character.

The style of the book was understood by most participants. Many said they liked the simplicity, and how it left the kids imagination to put the character in a scene. I was happy this came across well. Many were also intrigued by the first page, and wanted to know more.

One issue was the size of the font, and the type of font. Many said it perhaps wasn't too child-friendly as it wasn't the easiest font to read. The size was smaller than average children's books. I have reasons for this, which I've mentioned in other blogs, but it was interesting to see people pointing it out.

Three quarters of people agreed, or strongly agreed, with the moral. There were some that did disagree, but it was good too see the majority that agreed with the moral.

Would you buy this book for a child you know? Only 5 participants said no, which helps me the believe my FMP was successful, if 25/30 would buy the book after seeing one page. 20% would only buy it if it was cheap, and after asking what price would you buy it at?, the top responses were under £5 with 47%, and £5-£7 with 39%. One even said they'd pay £11-£15.

Finally, I asked them about the age range of the book. The most popular was 5-6 years old, but some people even said it was suitable for younger teens and adults. The second most popular was 7-8 years old, and the least was the adult age range. The most expected age ranges are very close to my target audience at 6-10 years old, so I'm happy that came through.

One issue with the questionnaire itself is that you can't view the whole book. I wanted to publish an interactive web version, but I didn't have the time. Because only one page is shown, you don't see the character or story develop, and one person even said they wouldn't buy it as they haven't seen the rest of the book.