We had a tough start to the year, because my husband, Mark, skied off a mountain on my birthday and broke his leg.
In the aftermath of being a full-time carer to an incapacitated husband and four dogs, I almost missed the fact that my latest book, Building The Beast: How (Not) To Build An Overland Camper had not only been selected as a finalist in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, but had WON bronze in its adult non-fiction category! I even received a rather lovely bronze medal in a velvet-lined case. You can see me showing it off in The Wishing Shelf Winners’ Gallery here.
Besides being a non-profit award run by an author for authors, and supporting blind children, The Wishing Shelf Book Awards also offers feedback on authors’ work, as well as general feedback from the judges on the entries in all categories, which is very valuable to established and aspiring writers alike. The Wishing Shelf also shares the specific feedback from its entries on BookBub and Goodreads, which is excellent social proof for to help struggling authors get their books and message in front of more readers.
Below, I share both the specific feedback on my book, Building The Beast, and the general feedback for all entrants.
The feedback demonstrates that I owe MAHOOSIVE THANKS to my cover designer, 100 Covers, and my editing and ARC (advance launch) team, since both of those aspects of the book got FULL MARKS!
I would also like to congratulate all of the other winners in my category, Adult Non Fiction, and the winners in all the other categories in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. If you want some natty book recommendations, I suggest you check them out!
And to all published authors out there, whether you won an award or not, you are AMAZING. As I explored in my previous post, DOES EVERYONE HAVE A BOOK IN THEM? – you are part of that exclusive one percent of people IN THE ENTIRE WORLD who succeeded in bringing your dream to fruition.
Well done!
Wishing Shelf Reader Feedback on building the beast: how (not) to build an overland camper
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Building The Beast: How (Not) To Build An Overland Camper
Author: Jacqueline Lambert
Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 15
Stats
Editing: 10/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 5/5
Of the 15 readers:
15 would read another book by this author.
15 thought the cover was good or excellent.
15 felt it was easy to follow.
15 would recommend this book to another reader to try.
15 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
15 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
continued
Of all the readers, 8 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘subject knowledge’.
Of all the readers, 6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
Of all the readers, 1 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘clarity of message’.
Readers’ Comments:
“This felt very honest. It reminds me of ‘house renovation’ – whatever you THINK it’s going to cost, add 200% to it! Funny, light hearted, and very addictive reading. Loved it!” Male reader, aged 55
“Being a bit of a fixer upper myself, I know many of the pitfalls of renovating a large object. It was interesting to see how they coped – and often didn’t – but kept on plugging away anyway.” Male reader, aged 44
“This book could put anybody off DIY for life! Very funny. Enjoyed every page.” Female reader, aged 32
“It you are thinking of converting anything to anything, read this book first. It might prevent you from taking the wrong path. I particularly enjoyed this book as it was 1. Honest, 2. Highly original and 3. It did make me laugh.” Male reader, aged 66
“This book inspired me NOT to covert a truck to a camper. But I did enjoy this family’s story.” Male reader, aged 42
“I don’t know how they kept going. What a fun read – with plenty of suspense too. Will they succeed? Or won’t they?” Male reader, aged 29
To Sum It Up:
‘Inspiring, funny, and insightful – what more can you ask for!? A BRONZE MEDAL WINNER and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
GENERAL FEEDBACK
Many thanks for entering your book in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. The award is run ‘not for profit’ and we work very hard to try to help authors/publishers who enter to promote and/or improve the books.
Firstly, I’d like to give you the general feedback given by the readers (from the last few years).
Most the readers felt the covers were very good or excellent. The artwork was often compelling and the fonts imaginative and enticing. However, blurbs still seem to be a problem for selfpublished authors; they tend to be overly long and, as a result, do not do the job i.e. hook the reader in. As we suggested last year, try to keep in mind ‘who the potential reader is’ and ‘try to focus on persuading that potential reader to buy the book’. Remember, a blurb is not a ‘summary’ of the plot, it is ‘persuasive language’.
Another problem the readers highlighted was formatting. A number of the books entered had such narrow margins, it was difficult to see the first word of a line. This resulted in a few very annoyed readers!
Generally, editing seems to be improving year-on-year as more and more authors realise the pitfalls of ‘self-editing’ and employ editors to do a professional job. There were still a good percentage of books (particularly the children’s books) that had very basic grammatical problems. Writing speech, it seems, is very difficult for a number of writers.
The readers also made a number of other comments:
- More and more authors/small publishers seem to be experimenting with fonts for the story. That’s OK but every so often a font is picked which is very difficult to decipher. This, basically, kills the books for the frustrated reader.
- Many of the books felt ‘rushed’, particularly over the last few chapters. The readers felt a story, particularly an adventure story, should end ‘BIG and EXCITING’; if it is rushed and ‘all over in a page or two’ the reader feels let down.
- A number of the rhyming picture books had problems. Basically, although the text rhymed, the authors had problems with rhythm. Also, be careful not to ‘force’ the rhyme by altering a sentence structure so it will rhyme. Finally, try not to let the rhyme control the plot of the story. i.e. I want this to happen next but I can’t get it to rhyme so I’ll change the story so it WILL rhyme.
- Our younger readers noticed a large number of the adventure/mystery/fantasy books started with description of setting. They felt this was not very ‘grabbing’ and did not ‘hookthem into the story’. They suggested ‘speech’ would be better.
- Many of our adult readers were disappointed by the length of a few of the books. They felt that a few independent authors, in a hurry to get the book on Kindle, will attempt to finish the story in 25,000 words. Consequently, the books felt rushed. The readers advise ‘Don’t rush it. Develop the characters; allow the reader the opportunity to care about what happens to them.’
- Regarding ‘non-fiction adult’, although the books entered were generally excellent, a
number of them had ‘such small type they were almost impossible to read’. I know it is tempting with a very long book to pick a tiny font size – it keeps the cost of printing it down – but not so small the reader needs a magnifying glass.
Building The Beast is the comic memoir of a crazy idea. It follows the true story of how one married couple bought a 6 x 4-wheel drive, 24.5-tonne army truck blind off the internet to convert into an off-grid home-on-wheels fit to undertake an expedition to Mongolia with The Pawsome Foursome, their four dogs.
Reviewers have described it as, “A quixotic twist (on the ‘renovating an old house’ story)”, “Hugely Inspirational!” and “So much more than the build. So far away from a ‘how to’ manual.”
Within months of release, Building The Beast was awarded a Readers’ Favorite 5* seal and was a finalist in the Page Turner Awards 2024.
Building The Beast is Jacqueline’s seventh book. Her previous books follow the couple’s life since they quit work, rented out their house, sold most of their possessions, and set out to tour Europe full time with The Pawsome Foursome.
All have received multiple 5* reviews. Her third book, Dogs ‘n’ Dracula: A Road Trip Through Romania won the Chill With a Book PREMIER Readers’ Award and was a finalist in the Romania Insider Awards for ‘Best Promotion of Romania Abroad.’
As with all of Jacqueline’s books, Building The Beast is available to purchase as an e book or paperback on Amazon, or you can read it for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.
the wishing shelf Book awards
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is run by award-winning children’s author Billy Bob Buttons (Edward Trayer), who says, “I want this award to be where the ‘big boy’ publishers go when they want to find the next bestseller.”
It is recommended by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and also supports a very worthy cause, Blind Children UK. If you are an author, you can enter the 2025 Wishing Shelf Book Awards here. It costs just £59/$75 to enter the awards, or £109/$140 if you want feedback, quotes, and reviews on Bookbub.com and Goodreads.
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is different from other book awards.
It is also the only independent book award which is not ‘in it for the cash’. Wishing Shelf is not the front for a dodgy vanity press which plans to sell you lots of stuff. “You will not be charged for the certificate or asked to buy dodgy stickers for the cover of your winning book. I will not be trying to sell you a bogus editorial service, a licensing fee, or promise to publish the winners’ books if you pay me a ton of cash. If you win, you win. The entry fee is there to cover the costs of the Award, not to fill the pockets of the organisers.”
Firstly, Edward says, “We think this Award is the only independent book award run by an independently published author.”
It is the only independent book award judged by schools and groups of readers who love to read, and not by anonymous so-called experts.
About Jacqueline Lambert
Jacqueline (Jackie) Lambert is an award-winning travel writer and blogger. A dedicated adventurer, B.C. (Before Canines) she rafted, rock climbed, and backpacked around six of the seven continents. A passionate windsurfer and skier, she can fly a plane, has been bitten by a lion, and appeared as a fire eater on Japanese TV.
A.D. (After Dog), she quit work in 2016 to hit the road permanently with her husband and four pooches.
To date, they have toured more than 20 countries.
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The Fab Four at Mortzburg Castle, Germany
Jacqueline Lambert 