Quote:
Originally Posted by Ea
So far, the samples I have seen (Amazon + others) have been the first 5-10% of the book. Also, as far as I know, they're supplied by the publisher, not the seller.
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IMO it doesn't matter who selects it, if it's not the potential buyer. (Or maybe I should say, if it's someone who wants to sell the book.) The fixed method you mention comes a close second to a random sample, but it's not quite as good. As I recall from a writing class, the start of a story was supposed to 'hook' the reader-so logically speaking, it should be more interesting than the rest of the book and thus not a very good sample.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk
But I don't demand my money back every time I'm disappointed by the full movie after an exciting preview, as much as I'd like to *cough*phantom menace*cough*
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No more do I, but I'm not trying to justify the returns mentioned by the OP, I'm trying to point out why samples selected by the seller (or by someone interested in selling the book, whether the actual seller or not) aren't the best choice to judge the overall quality of the book.
But, as with much of life, you made do with what's available. I'd very much like Amazon (and others) to provide random samples (or present a table of contents & allow potential buyers to select, say, two chapters-or something like that). But they don't so I do the best with what they do provide. I just don't try to say it's good enough, because IMO, it isn't. But it is what's available.