What kills a book for you?

[Caesius]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

It's not about the Kobo, per se, it's about the way particular covers are designed, so that if you happen to be randomly browsing your library in pictorial mode only, you can't read the title because it's in a tiny font with no contrast to the picture. But since I mostly browse my library in "Text+covers" mode I rarely pay attention.

Cover artists need to pay attention more, and realize that sometimes people will want to see book titles when a picture is only 40x70 px

Take for instance this novel cover: Picture the same image in grey scale and if you were browsing it by the cover only, can you tell what the title is?

It is for this reason that the majority of eBooks in my eLibrary have eCovers (sorry) that I created new, or edited from the existing covers -- I enjoyed giving them new pictures and text. It was unfortunate that the eReader died. But I have the whole eLibrary (including said covers) backed up for when I finally replace it.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by Patricia81

The long descriptions could kill a book for me. Long descriptions are really boring for me.

agreed. i've found that those types of books are usually part of the apostrophe filled and made up word club. see: almost every DAW release.


if an author can't get to the gist of what a book is about without filling the entire back cover, then its probably a bloated mess i want no part of.

[nazariel]

3) Creating a set of rules for your world, then breaking them because they became hard to follow.

6) Sudden unexplained major shifts in character of the main characters.

- Complicated beginning, to many character or to many things going on at the first 15 pages with on character description.

- Romance being to lovey dovey, Too much discussion about emotions and feeling

- Killing or writing off my favorite character.

-Pointless and incredibly long descriptions.

[Pinecone]

Poor spelling and/or grammar.

Technical flaws, if you don't know the technical details, ASK someone who does. I don't mind bending the technical details if done well, but just basic things wrong irritate me.

Poor continuity, from chapter to chapter or book to book (in a series) details change.

Over pontificating. I still have not been able to get through Clancy's "Executive Orders."

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by Caesius

It is for this reason that the majority of eBooks in my eLibrary have eCovers (sorry) that I created new, or edited from the existing covers -- I enjoyed giving them new pictures and text. It was unfortunate that the eReader died. But I have the whole eLibrary (including said covers) backed up for when I finally replace it.

I too, have done the same, and reconverted them with my covers (on Calibre). I actually have fun doing that.

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by benham

Crimes against children.

+1. I just have to stop reading, and I won't pick up the book again.

It happened again a week ago with "Fourrure", the first book of Adelaide de Clermont-Tonnerre, that had very good critics in France . It was on the run for some of the Grand Prix Littéraire, and the plot seemed very interesting, so I bought it (and e-books are more expensive than paperbacks or even hardbacks in France ). Good beginning, but then, at about a third, there comes the pedophile scene (never mentioned in any reviews). I could not get past that.

I am so fed up of this. Aren't there any creative writers anymore, are there only crimes against children left to draw and keep a reader ??? Plus, how sick is the world that those are the things people would want to read about ?