Guess what I spent the morning doing?

Buondì.

Guess what I spent the morning doing?

Not writing this, obviously, as it’s nearly one p.m. (Italian time) and I’m just beginning.

Nor taking an online lesson, no such luck.

No indeedy – in fact, I spent about three hours sending emails to many of the people who’ve bought ebooks in the last month or so, asking for reviews.

Bet you thought that happened automatically, didn’t you?

Well it doesn’t.

I have to manually keep track of who has bought what since the last time I got around to asking for reviews, then prepare an email for the hundreds of titles in our shop, or at least the ones that have sold in any significant number.

Each email takes a couple of minutes. Some go to a whole bunch of people, like last week’s ‘Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto‘, others to many fewer, such as ‘Un’indagine molto privata‘ (published a year or so ago and now largely forgotten…)

Obviously I have a standard ‘Please review EBOOK TITLE’ email template, but it’s still a thankless job as as most people don’t respond.

I reckon I get perhaps one review back per hundred emails sent, which is dispiriting.

I try to vary the emails I send out, hoping that one day I’ll stumble on some magic combination of words that’ll generate a wave of ratings and comments!

But so far, that elusive formula remains hidden from me…

Anyway, I mention this for three reasons:

1.) If you’re browsing our shop and looking at something that has, say, half a dozen reviews, be aware that that means that HUNDREDS of people have probably bought it. No kidding! Perhaps most of them hated it – but not enough to spend thirty seconds telling us so.

2.) And if, a few hours back, you received an email asking you to review an ebook you recently purchased or downloaded for free, think of me sitting at my kitchen table in my pyjamas, freezing my feet and numbing my fingers, and then, when pity has welled up in your heart, show mercy: leave a review.

3.) Last but not least, I mention this because we have a FREE TRIAL ONLINE LESSON offer coming up. It’ll be in the second week of February and, clearly, it would be interesting to hear what existing online students think beforehand. Which will give us a chance to fix anything broken. Or an excuse to drink wine, if everything is going just fine.

Lucia (our teaching manager) will be writing to current online lesson students to ask/beg you to help us with this, but I thought I’d get my two cents’ worth in now as well.

Check out the existing online lesson reviews by clicking the links below.

Then, if you’d like to leave your own, there’s even a ‘How to…’ page:

10 x Online Italian Lessons | 5 x Online Italian Lessons | 1 x Online Italian Lesson

How to leave a review

OK, I can see someone at the back there, hopping up and down in their seat and waving their arm in the air.

Yes, child. What is it? Do you need to pipì?

You bought an ebook but didn’t get an email?

That’ll be because I haven’t got to that letter of the alphabet yet.

Or perhaps because you were one of very few people with the exquisite good taste to add that particular ebook to your cart.

Either way, your enthusiasm is noted and, yes of course, your feedback will be very welcome!

Locate the title or titles you purchased on our Catalog page, or by searching for it (use the search box to the right of the logo at the top of each page at https://easyreaders.org/ ).

Then follow the instructions here: How to leave a review

P.S.

There’ll be a half-price ‘Book of the Week’ offer this week, but I didn’t get around to it today for the reasons explained above.

If anyone has a suggestion as to which title it should be this time, do let me know….

A mercoledì, allora.