Quote:
Originally Posted by rkomar
The "praise for" stuff is meant to convince browsers to buy the book, so including it in the sample makes sense from the publisher's point of view. Personally, I would prefer if that section was completely left out since I never read it, but the publishers seem to think that it's useful. I wonder if there are many book-buying rubes out there who fall for that malarkey?
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Point taken. Like you, I never read it, but I agree that there's clearly a good reason for publishers to include it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschwartz
reviews should be shot at birth?
And maybe the reviewer as well, as I've never seen one that's useful.
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Perhaps we should distinguish professonal reviews (published in established newpapers and magazines) from the so-called reviews that appear on Amazon and elsewhere. The latter are more often comments rather than real reviews. They tell us whether the "reviewer" likes or dislikes the book, but they rarely give any critical insights as to the book's quality (with a few notable exceptions). I rarely take any notice of them. I do read "professional" reviews, but I don't even glance at the "praise for" pages, because the only thing they tell you is that the publisher is skilled at quoting arbitrary phrases out of context.
Mike