07-10-2013, 02:48 PM | #106 |
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07-10-2013, 03:46 PM | #107 | ||||||||||
Grand Sorcerer
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(And no. The dying sacrificed hero/god coming back to life is not a specifically Christian theme; it dates back to Osiris at least.) Quote:
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07-10-2013, 04:14 PM | #108 |
Maria Schneider
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speaking of red flags...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DR7HJ48/ Seriously? (in case it gets updated--the title currently says "New Title 1" as in a placeholder... |
07-10-2013, 04:29 PM | #109 | |
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The blurb is not very good. "Daniel is a troubled young man, recently divorced, parents gone. There are men looking for him. They go to the bar he frequents, ask his ex wife where he is, even follows him shopping for groceries. Daniel is worried of why these men are after him. Find out what these men want from him and where he goes to find out." It comes down to "Man is being followed. He's worried." That he's troubled isn't all that interesting. Being worried about being followed is pretty obvious. "Find out what happens next" isn't what a blurb is for. With a title of ICU, I would guess that it has something to do with a hospital, and the picture looks like it might be a waiting room at a hospital. But we get nothing of that in the blurb, and there really ought to be. The cover certainly doesn't give the impression of someone being chased. But not noticing that you still had the generic string in place of a title trumps all of this. Last edited by QuantumIguana; 07-10-2013 at 04:33 PM. |
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07-10-2013, 04:33 PM | #110 | ||
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This, of course, is what traditionally-published authors are railing about when they talk about the evils of self publishing. This, of course, is not what's cutting holes into traditional publisher incomes. Nobody's rushing back to buy more of this. |
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07-10-2013, 04:51 PM | #111 | |
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07-10-2013, 05:23 PM | #112 |
Guru
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If the men are following him while he's doing groceries, why do they need to ask his ex-wife where he is?
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07-10-2013, 05:59 PM | #113 |
o saeclum infacetum
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Along those lines, but not as absurd:
First, the author friended me on Goodreads. And then somebody rated her book, guess how many stars she gave herself? How do authors not understand that kind of behavior will only make me look less kindly on her book? |
07-10-2013, 06:51 PM | #114 |
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RE: ICU ("New Title 1")
This is great writing - absolutely stunning, but to get its full impact you should read it as formatted by the author.
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07-10-2013, 07:22 PM | #115 | |
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They would generally have their own segment of hell that was similar to the place and time that they lived in, but when they got killed they could end up anywhere and have to trudge back to their own particular Hell. Lot of religions gone into in great depth on occasion, but not in my mind religious themed books. Although some might say that the very fact that Hell is mentioned in the title makes them a 'Christian' book series Helen |
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07-10-2013, 09:07 PM | #116 |
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Nevermind.
Last edited by Synamon; 07-15-2013 at 09:54 AM. |
07-10-2013, 10:14 PM | #117 | |
Plan B Is Now In Force
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07-11-2013, 06:55 AM | #118 | |
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07-11-2013, 09:14 AM | #119 | |
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Shari |
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07-11-2013, 09:34 AM | #120 |
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More on ICU ("New Title 1")
Yesterday as a more-or-less knee jerk reaction I posted a one-line "review," as it were, praising this short story, which is available free on Amazon. In what couldn't have been a more inauspicious debut, the story appeared in this thread as an extreme example of a bad blurb and an even worse cover, a cover so bad it seemed to be a joke (presumably it will be replaced). Intrigued, and expecting it to be even worse, I went to the preview, but after reading just the first few paragraphs was immediately struck by the writing's freshness and originality, and downloaded the entire story, which did not disappoint. Yes, there are typos and other glitches, and an occasional awkward phrase, but for me the author's raw talent and energy swept all that aside.
Today I went back to the author's account on Amazon, and though it lacked a biography, I deduced from the author's other writings that she is a woman, middle-aged and from the style of her writing almost certainly black - in my mind a saucier, less-polished version of Terry McMillan, who with editing and more discipline I think has the potential to go just as far. In yesterday's post I also noted that the story is best read maintaining the author's formatting, specifically by selecting the two-column mode and a medium font size (on Amazon's cloud reader, where I read the story), which limits the words per line to about 10 or less. I believe all of us would agree that at least a competent cover and passable blurb are needed to simply get the reader through the door, but for me, it doesn't stop there - formatting is critically important in the sense that it is not noticeable when correctly done, but a distraction when it isn't. Here's an example. In another thread, I was directed to Baen e-books, a boutique website for SF buffs, and while there, and with blurbs fresh in my mind, I looked at them, as well as sample previews of the e-books offered for sale. While the cover art, blurbs and writing were all first rate, the previews (the presentation) fell short by not having an option (or if there was one I wasn't able to find it) to reduce the line length to that which we're accustomed to seeing in a print book, a flaw that is self-correcting in the print book, but does not present the author's work in the best light when viewed online. |
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