Authors - quit doing this! - Page 2

gmw · 01-09-2014, 12:47 AM

princess_ducky, I think your comment "New authors and even not so new authors should not try to emulate the big names in this way as I believe it backfires." is very appropriate.

There is advice out that tells people new authors to go out see what works in the genre and try to emulate that - but like so much similar advice, you have to fill in all the things it doesn't say for yourself.

Like you, there are some well known authors whose books I buy pretty much regardless of the cover or blurb - they're just an automatic "I want that." And this lets the publisher get away with quite a lot - horrible clipart covers and blurbs that mean or say very little of use to a new reader. A lot of the time it looks like filler more than anything else. The publisher appears to be saying "we know this will sell anyway, but it needs a cover, so just fill it up". Such choices should not be emulated by those still trying to find an audience.

princess_ducky · 01-09-2014, 02:03 AM

gmw, you are right, the cover should lure readers to read the description (except for my favorite big names Rowling, Robb, Ward, King and then the description could just be the word "buy" 100 times and I would buy it since I don't bother reading the description or looking at the cover anyway.)

If I see more than 10 words of a review snippet before the actual description I refuse to buy it or download it if it's offered for free. Don't even get me started on the new trend of groups of authors having a free 'partay' with all of the links to the other books offered for free in the description area before I can find out about the book I originally clicked on. That was what originally irritated me enough to start writing the post.

I have had tons of feedback via social media about the post but I find it funny that only 1 person out of the 1000+ views even admitted to doing the practice. To tell the truth she wasn't even one of the authors I was complaining about and her descriptions were not overloaded with reviews anyway.

eschwartz · 01-09-2014, 02:18 AM

Well, I think the covers are still important. Granted, the description I'll only read to find out what the book is, but covers are how you recognize the book when you see it. It makes it easier to recognize your books on your bookshelf/eReader, and a lousy cover is very much noticed. In fact, there is a stupid trend among publishers -- especially Penguin -- to replace the cover inside the actual book file with a generic ugly cover. Penguin goes one step further and shows you a picture of a penguin -- really helpful, isn't it?

Lots of people are bothered enough by that that the first step for reading the book is to change the cover with calibre. See this thread, which evolved into this discussion. The suggestion was offered that people should make a point of returning the books for a refund and giving feedback on this.

In other words, covers are important!!!

HarryT · 01-09-2014, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, I think the covers are still important. Granted, the description I'll only read to find out what the book is, but covers are how you recognize the book when you see it. It makes it easier to recognize your books on your bookshelf/eReader, and a lousy cover is very much noticed. In fact, there is a stupid trend among publishers -- especially Penguin -- to replace the cover inside the actual book file with a generic ugly cover. Penguin goes one step further and shows you a picture of a penguin -- really helpful, isn't it?

I care far less about covers. The cover is never a factor in my decision to buy or not to buy a book; the description definitely is a factor.

gmw · 01-09-2014, 05:42 AM

I fall in some vague middle ground regarding covers. Except for the very rare (and seemingly getting rarer) very special ones that you feel like mounting a wall, the cover becomes almost completely irrelevant after I've read a book. With paper books it's just something to hang on to, with ebooks it's just an icon to click on.

For selecting books to buy the cover may have some influence, although most often (for me) it's a negative one rather than a positive. Some covers have a "yuk" factor that just turns me away. But it's not usually a big thing for me, more often than not I'm looking at a book because of what I've heard about it elsewhere (such as here), and so I'm going to look beyond the cover anyway.

As an author still trying to gain an audience, my own reading/buying habits appall me. How is a new author ever to get noticed if everyone selects books the same way I do? Thankfully there are some readers out there that take bigger risks, so I live in hope that eventually that will grow into the sort of word of mouth that attracts readers like me.

Dr. Drib · 01-09-2014, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must admit that I do find it irritating when the "Description" of a book on Amazon is simply a list of quotes from reviews of it. The description should be a synopsys of the plot of the book, not tell me what people think about it - that's what reviews are for!

I would call that the height of laziness and narcissism.

If an author can't write a synopsis of his or her own book, then that author should think about peeling bananas for a living - although, on second thought, that might be too complicated a task.

gmw · 01-09-2014, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I would call that the height of laziness and narcissism.

If an author can't write a synopsis of his or her own book, then that author should think about peeling bananas for a living - although, on second thought, that might be too complicated a task.

And then they can write a book about it, with a review from George's friend Ape.

Dr. Drib · 01-09-2014, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmw

And then they can write a book about it, with a review from George's friend Ape.

Now, that's a book I would buy!

princess_ducky · 01-09-2014, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I would call that the height of laziness and narcissism.

If an author can't write a synopsis of his or her own book, then that author should think about peeling bananas for a living - although, on second thought, that might be too complicated a task.

That is it exactly! Listing other people's opinions is the height of laziness. It just makes me wonder if the book is really any good since they are working so hard to tell me other people think it's fan-freaking-tastic.

Anna Drake · 01-09-2014, 10:11 AM

I haven't used review quotes for my blurbs, but I have been using them in my feeble marketing attempts. I bet the same advice works there, as well. Thank you for the info.
I thought I'd just toss that out in case someone else is doing the same thing.

And for whatever it's worth, I'd rather write a full-length novel than attempt to write a three-paragraph blurb. Ugh.

princess_ducky · 01-09-2014, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Drake

I haven't used review quotes for my blurbs, but I have been using them in my feeble marketing attempts. I bet the same advice works there, as well. Thank you for the info.
I thought I'd just toss that out in case someone else is doing the same thing.

And for whatever it's worth, I'd rather write a full-length novel than attempt to write a three-paragraph blurb. Ugh.

Where do you use them for marketing? In tweets? On your site? On another book site?

I think review snippets do have a place just not before the book blurb, and I am not discounting their value only the placement in a book description.

Dngrsone · 01-09-2014, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Drake

I haven't used review quotes for my blurbs, but I have been using them in my feeble marketing attempts. I bet the same advice works there, as well. Thank you for the info.
I thought I'd just toss that out in case someone else is doing the same thing.

And for whatever it's worth, I'd rather write a full-length novel than attempt to write a three-paragraph blurb. Ugh.

I get you. You spend all this time crafting a novel, and there is just so much stuff that has to be in there... how can you possibly condense it all down to a handful of sentences?

arjaybe · 01-09-2014, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

I get you. You spend all this time crafting a novel, and there is just so much stuff that has to be in there... how can you possibly condense it all down to a handful of sentences?

I thought it was just me. I try, but I can't seem to generate as much text as seems to be called for by the book blurb/description critics. I don't know why, have no rational explanation, could not defend my failing if called upon. I just find creating a description to feel unnatural and uninspiring. I know I should overcome that and just do it, but so far have not been able to come up with more than a minimal result.

At least it's good to know that it's not just me.-)

rjb

gmw · 01-10-2014, 03:20 AM

I think writing blurbs is a common problem, and it seems to be one you can't pay someone else to do! Whatever I try, it always seems to come out as either too flat or too trite. In our defence, even the traditional publishers often make a hash of it.

latepaul · 01-10-2014, 04:53 AM

From an author's point of view I can see how writing a good blurb can be a challenge. However from my pov as a reader I can tell you that a flat trite blurb that at least lets me know roughly what it's about is still way way better than lots of review quotes that essentially just say the book's good. Because again, I am talking about cases where there's no information about the book content itself. Having already clicked through from a list to the book page if I still can't tell what the book is about other than guess from the title and cover then I'm going give up. At least if there is a blurb I might decide to read the sample.

What I would say is whatever you put on that page please double-, triple- check grammar, punctuation and spelling.

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01-09-2014, 12:47 AM	#16
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	princess_ducky, I think your comment "New authors and even not so new authors should not try to emulate the big names in this way as I believe it backfires." is very appropriate. There is advice out that tells people new authors to go out see what works in the genre and try to emulate that - but like so much similar advice, you have to fill in all the things it doesn't say for yourself. Like you, there are some well known authors whose books I buy pretty much regardless of the cover or blurb - they're just an automatic "I want that." And this lets the publisher get away with quite a lot - horrible clipart covers and blurbs that mean or say very little of use to a new reader. A lot of the time it looks like filler more than anything else. The publisher appears to be saying "we know this will sell anyway, but it needs a cover, so just fill it up". Such choices should not be emulated by those still trying to find an audience.

01-09-2014, 02:03 AM	#17
princess_ducky Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 11368 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Texas Baby Device: Fire, Nook Color, Kindle 3	gmw, you are right, the cover should lure readers to read the description (except for my favorite big names Rowling, Robb, Ward, King and then the description could just be the word "buy" 100 times and I would buy it since I don't bother reading the description or looking at the cover anyway.) If I see more than 10 words of a review snippet before the actual description I refuse to buy it or download it if it's offered for free. Don't even get me started on the new trend of groups of authors having a free 'partay' with all of the links to the other books offered for free in the description area before I can find out about the book I originally clicked on. That was what originally irritated me enough to start writing the post. I have had tons of feedback via social media about the post but I find it funny that only 1 person out of the 1000+ views even admitted to doing the practice. To tell the truth she wasn't even one of the authors I was complaining about and her descriptions were not overloaded with reviews anyway.

01-09-2014, 02:18 AM	#18
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Well, I think the covers are still important. Granted, the description I'll only read to find out what the book is, but covers are how you recognize the book when you see it. It makes it easier to recognize your books on your bookshelf/eReader, and a lousy cover is very much noticed. In fact, there is a stupid trend among publishers -- especially Penguin -- to replace the cover inside the actual book file with a generic ugly cover. Penguin goes one step further and shows you a picture of a penguin -- really helpful, isn't it? Lots of people are bothered enough by that that the first step for reading the book is to change the cover with calibre. See this thread, which evolved into this discussion. The suggestion was offered that people should make a point of returning the books for a refund and giving feedback on this. In other words, covers are important!!!

01-09-2014, 05:42 AM	#20
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	I fall in some vague middle ground regarding covers. Except for the very rare (and seemingly getting rarer) very special ones that you feel like mounting a wall, the cover becomes almost completely irrelevant after I've read a book. With paper books it's just something to hang on to, with ebooks it's just an icon to click on. For selecting books to buy the cover may have some influence, although most often (for me) it's a negative one rather than a positive. Some covers have a "yuk" factor that just turns me away. But it's not usually a big thing for me, more often than not I'm looking at a book because of what I've heard about it elsewhere (such as here), and so I'm going to look beyond the cover anyway. As an author still trying to gain an audience, my own reading/buying habits appall me. How is a new author ever to get noticed if everyone selects books the same way I do? Thankfully there are some readers out there that take bigger risks, so I live in hope that eventually that will grow into the sort of word of mouth that attracts readers like me.

01-09-2014, 10:11 AM	#25
Anna Drake Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 2175016 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: rural Illinois, USA Device: Kindle	I haven't used review quotes for my blurbs, but I have been using them in my feeble marketing attempts. I bet the same advice works there, as well. Thank you for the info. I thought I'd just toss that out in case someone else is doing the same thing. And for whatever it's worth, I'd rather write a full-length novel than attempt to write a three-paragraph blurb. Ugh.

01-10-2014, 03:20 AM	#29
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	I think writing blurbs is a common problem, and it seems to be one you can't pay someone else to do! Whatever I try, it always seems to come out as either too flat or too trite. In our defence, even the traditional publishers often make a hash of it.

01-10-2014, 04:53 AM	#30
latepaul Wizard Posts: 1,270 Karma: 10468300 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: a variety (mostly kindles and kobos)	From an author's point of view I can see how writing a good blurb can be a challenge. However from my pov as a reader I can tell you that a flat trite blurb that at least lets me know roughly what it's about is still way way better than lots of review quotes that essentially just say the book's good. Because again, I am talking about cases where there's no information about the book content itself. Having already clicked through from a list to the book page if I still can't tell what the book is about other than guess from the title and cover then I'm going give up. At least if there is a blurb I might decide to read the sample. What I would say is whatever you put on that page please double-, triple- check grammar, punctuation and spelling.