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Alyssa Miranda · 07-11-2013, 09:34 AM

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.

07-11-2013, 09:34 AM	#120
Alyssa Miranda Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 1121282 Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: New Jersey Device: Kindle and Nook	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.