poorly drawn shorta funny 99 cent ebook thingy

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

Wondered when you'd pop up Moejoe. There's a huge difference between a small typo in an early morning quick and informal forum post when checking through an overnight deluge of something like fourteen full pages of new MR entries (especially on a netbook with a mini-keyboard and with the l/k lying right next to each other between my large finger tips) and a supposeldy serious book pitch.

My sincere apologies if it put you off your breakfast, mate. But a slip like that from a chap like me, with forty-five years of professional writing experience, does seem to underline my point that EVERYONE needs an editor or at least a sound proof reader. I employ editors and proofers for my own published work, by the way.

Some here feel I might be forgiven my LOL *lool*. Few would forgive the errors of an author whose error-peppered pitch is meant to promote his own 'published' book

Neil

PS: You will notice here that the subject line reads 'shorta' funny. Which is not so much an innocent typo as an informal word usage that suggests the exact opposite of what is, presumably, intended -- 'short of funny' not 'sort of funny'. Although I blush over my own wee typo, the effect is nowhere near as damaging as this error and all the others in the OP. I am supposed to be attracted to a book that includes 'poorly drawn' illustrations and is short of funny and from a chap who seems unaware of spelling, grammar and punctuation? N

You know what, I'll take error-prone, awkward grammar and unprofessonial if someone promises me I'll never have to see the words 'free', 'coupon' and 'limited time' on MR ever again. It's not the quirky and incorrect that annoys me, it's the bland, carbon-copied, 'professionally pitched' crap being flogged like Shamwows (tm) in Writers' Corner that really pinches my inch.

[Worldwalker]

How about "powerful" and "compelling"?

If something's powerful, I expect to see its power output given, and some clue how you get that power out of it -- PTO, electric socket, chain drive, what? And if it's compelling, I want to know what kind of compulsion it's trying to set; what it it's going to compel me to eat broccoli?

If it's just a good book (or at least a book that the person flogging it thinks is good, or is paid to claim is good) then tell me what's good about it; don't grab words out of engineering and psychology and use them as though they were synonyms for "good"; they're not (note to the advertising industry: "quality" is also not a synonym for "good", nor is "home" a synonym for "house").

I don't mind free. I don't even mind limited time deals (BVC's sale a couple months back, for instance). But don't make me type in stuff. My mother is one of those people who buys a cartload of groceries for $20 and a stack of coupons; I'm barely able to remember to dig out the Domino's coupon when I summon a pizza.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

How about "powerful" and "compelling"?

If something's powerful, I expect to see its power output given, and some clue how you get that power out of it -- PTO, electric socket, chain drive, what? And if it's compelling, I want to know what kind of compulsion it's trying to set; what it it's going to compel me to eat broccoli?

If it's just a good book (or at least a book that the person flogging it thinks is good, or is paid to claim is good) then tell me what's good about it; don't grab words out of engineering and psychology and use them as though they were synonyms for "good"; they're not (note to the advertising industry: "quality" is also not a synonym for "good", nor is "home" a synonym for "house").

I don't mind free. I don't even mind limited time deals (BVC's sale a couple months back, for instance). But don't make me type in stuff. My mother is one of those people who buys a cartload of groceries for $20 and a stack of coupons; I'm barely able to remember to dig out the Domino's coupon when I summon a pizza.

See, this is the kind of interesting discussion and opinion that once occurred in Writers' Corner before it became the forum equivalent of the Home Shopping Network.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

See, this is the kind of interesting discussion and opinion that once occurred in Writers' Corner before it became the forum equivalent of the Home Shopping Network.

Which is why I've been grumping all over Feedback about our need for a Book Fair section where all the book ads can go, so we can find books when we want them, and find discussion when we want it, and not have to wade through one when we want the other.

See, admins? It's not just me!

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

You know what, I'll take error-prone, awkward grammar and unprofessonial if someone promises me I'll never have to see the words 'free', 'coupon' and 'limited time' on MR ever again. It's not the quirky and incorrect that annoys me, it's the bland, carbon-copied, 'professionally pitched' crap being flogged like Shamwows (tm) in Writers' Corner that really pinches my inch.

I don't mind the coupon codes because I understand that on Smashwords, books that are free because of a coupon code are treated differently than those that are simply free. (I don't remember the specifics, but I read about that on a post in this forum, probably on this very board.) It determines whether the book can be rated or what lists it shows up in or whether an angel gets its wings or ... something. At least codes can be copied and pasted. The only problem is that I'm often multitasking, so by the time I paste in the code, I've put something else in the clipboard and can't figure out why Smashwords won't accept a sentence from my novella as a discount code.

I do check the samples before buying something, even if its free or very cheap. Free books are great, but if the samples read like something out of The Eye of Argon only not as fun, then they are not worth my time.

And I'm sure I misspelled something in there...