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Ebook reviews?
I've been considering posting ebook reviews. I've bought a number of small, cheap ebooks from Fictionwise (short stories... there's something wrong with calling a document of 5000 words a "book"), and am starting to buy more from Smashwords. I intend to leave reviews at SW, where they'll be useful for other readers and it occurred to me that I might post the in my journal. Or here in the comm.
On the one hand, I think "ebook reviews" are well within the scope of the comm. On the other, I don't want it to be flooded with book recs instead of ebook discussions. Not that I have any idea how likely that is.
I've been thinking (read: cluttering up 750words.com entries) about a template for ebook reviews, including info like "what filetypes is it available in" and "how is it formatted in a couple of those filetypes" and "is it available at more than one ebook store." I'd want to include price, title, author & publisher (which might be the author). I'd include DRM info except I don't do DRM at all; that'd be a blank line on the template for me.
Should I post ebook reviews here, yes/no? Should I only do them if they're long enough to be a full post on their own, or would it be okay to list half a dozen books with two-sentence notes? Should I only post (here, or in my journal--you get to speculate on What Ebook Reviews Should Be Like, even if you don't think they belong here) for books I read all the way through or include reviews for "got to page 20; realized this is tripe; clicked the backbutton--if you like cliched vampire fic, go ahead & try it."
Not posting a poll; I want open answers. Ebook reviews: tell me what you'd like. And then tell me what you'd like that someone who has a day job might be willing to provide. If there were a template, what details would you like included? What's *really* important for you in a book review from a stranger?
On the one hand, I think "ebook reviews" are well within the scope of the comm. On the other, I don't want it to be flooded with book recs instead of ebook discussions. Not that I have any idea how likely that is.
I've been thinking (read: cluttering up 750words.com entries) about a template for ebook reviews, including info like "what filetypes is it available in" and "how is it formatted in a couple of those filetypes" and "is it available at more than one ebook store." I'd want to include price, title, author & publisher (which might be the author). I'd include DRM info except I don't do DRM at all; that'd be a blank line on the template for me.
Should I post ebook reviews here, yes/no? Should I only do them if they're long enough to be a full post on their own, or would it be okay to list half a dozen books with two-sentence notes? Should I only post (here, or in my journal--you get to speculate on What Ebook Reviews Should Be Like, even if you don't think they belong here) for books I read all the way through or include reviews for "got to page 20; realized this is tripe; clicked the backbutton--if you like cliched vampire fic, go ahead & try it."
Not posting a poll; I want open answers. Ebook reviews: tell me what you'd like. And then tell me what you'd like that someone who has a day job might be willing to provide. If there were a template, what details would you like included? What's *really* important for you in a book review from a stranger?
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1) What will make these substantially different from reviews of the book on other sites? A book review usually focuses on the story, the writing, so how will an electronic version of that be different?
2) Given the disparities between electronic versions, if the review focuses on one ebook format, how will it translate to other versions?
Personally I think that unless the review can be separated from a typical review of a book, I don't think they are necessary here. BUT, I'm willing to be wrong too.
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I don't know that this is the right place for them. For one or two, maybe, but not for regular lists of "here's the ebooks I read this week and what's good & bad about them so you can decide if you want to read them too." Am pondering.
Amazon's ebooks probably don't need it; Amazon has a nifty review system built in. (Which gets abused in various ways, but at least it's got something, and it does get used.) Smashwords has a review system, but it's barely touched--and you have to wade through Smashwords' hideous sorting system to find anything there.
2) Even with the differences between filetypes, some aspects would be worth mentioning--does it have a cover pic? A linked table of contents? Do chapters each start on their own page, or is it one long document? Are the chapter headers set apart somehow (bold, larger text) or hard to spot? And so on.
And anyone could open different filetypes on a PC, and some of us have multiple devices, and could check details like: is the PDF version letter sized, or paperback sized? (Pb size shows up okay on my portable reader; letter sized is awful.) Is it line-between-paragraphs, or indented paragraphs, in mobi & epub formats? What's the base font size--is it left at default, or is it larger? If it's epub, is it justified or ragged-right-edges? Does it use nonstandard fonts? And so on.
Some of those details would be covered by mentioning the origin site; Fictionwise's books are all formatted the same way, and I think Baen's got a standard system now, although some of their older ebooks are different. Smashwords, though, is user-entered data that runs through their converter; books can be *horribly* formatted. And Lulu... twitch. Shudder.
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I'm honing a set of guidelines for myself, starting with "nothing at SW is worth more than $5, and I'm probably not paying more than $3." Also, if 100k-word steamy historical romances by professional authors (Patricia Ryan, Alexis Harrington) are $3, I'm not paying $3.99 for an 8000-word story by someone who can't spell all the words in their summary.
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