Quote:
Originally Posted by Exer
A random person on a forum using caps and describing a book in a confusing and commercial manner; does not piss me off.
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Does it make you want to buy the book?
I wouldn't call this trying to sell the book in a
commercial manner because people in the business of selling books try for effectiveness, not confusion. They want us to think well of them and write their ads accordingly. They tell us what their books are about and why we should buy them. They make it easy for money to migrate from our pockets to theirs. This ... doesn't.
When it comes to basic questions about the book -- the kind of things I want to know about
any book before I buy it -- the ad gives me no information.
Is this book in a genre I'm interested in? I don't know.
Is this book available for my ebook reader? I don't know.
Is this book DRM-locked? I don't know.
Is the author someone I want to support? That part I can tell, and the answer is not good. He thinks he's better and more important than other posters here, which doesn't put him on my good side to begin with. He's telling me what I think and what I feel, and I haven't liked anyone doing
that since my mother tried the "you like broccoli" line on me (didn't work). Then there's the Flash, which -- although it ran headlong into my Flashblock add-on and died the death of all forced content -- still made the attempt, and I don't like things that play commercials at me without my permission (hence Flashblock).
And, of course, the author didn't even bother to include a link to his book -- just a link to a vanity press website where we're expected to search for it, although as of last night when I posted, the site's search function was broken. (just checked: still is)
Actually, at least for me, the Flash link was broken too (it may or may not be for other people; Flashblock can do some strange things). But if it had worked, a YouTube video would have played a loud commercial at me. If I'd been reading MobileRead while a spouse was asleep (normally, MR is a quiet sort of place that doesn't wake anyone up), or on a break at work where other people don't want to listen to commercials, or if I just had a headache, and I looked at this thread, expecting it to be well-behaved like its others, then I very well
might have been pissed. It's just plain rude to subject people to loud, blaring commercials (with copyright infringement!) without any warning and where they have no reason to expect them.
I didn't sit through the commercial (if I wanted to watch YouTube, I'd watch YouTube, not read MobileRead) so I still don't know if the book is in a genre I enjoy, available for my ebook reader, DRM-locked, or in fact something I want to buy or not. I can't even find out from the vanity press website. However much he may have impressed himself with his own importance, the author failed miserably on the one thing, the only thing, that matters: selling me his book.