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Thoughts inspired by my reading  I’m speaking here as a reader, rather than an author, and reminding myself to remember these words when I have my author’s hat on! I’ve just read a book that annoyed me. Another book, I should say, because I’ve read others that have irked me similarly. If you’re an author, you may want to know why. Here’s how it goes – I’m holding the book – either in print or digital form, it doesn’t matter. I take a look at the cover and absorb what’s on that. I turn or click, and expect to see a title page. It’s there, good. Turn/click – another title page. Why? Turn/click – publishing details. Good. I find those useful. Turn/click – Now I want the story to start, but no. Instead, there’s a plethora of other stuff first. Dedication, a page or more of thanks to anyone who has even sneezed in close proximity to the manuscript. Yes, I understand the author feels indebted to them all, but if it’s more than a line or two, please put it at the end where the rest of us can ignore it if we want to. Then comes – Preface – rarely necessary, and if the content is a long explanation of why the author felt moved to write the book, usually to be ignored. Prologue. In most cases this should simply be chapter one. It’s 32 turns/clicks before I get into the stuff I want to read. In the past I’ve written serious non-fiction books and included some pre-pages I thought were necessary, but this one’s a novel, for heaven’s sake! The one I'm looking at now is also an ebook but that’s not the problem, I love ebooks. I feel just the same when I find this in a tree book – actually even more so.  Yes, I know that in the case of an ebook, in my case my kindle,
I have the chance to start at the beginning without bothering with the pre-pages, and that on its own should tell you something. But I’m in the business. I want to see the cover. I want to note the publishing details too. Strange of me, perhaps, but I do. Then I want to start the reading. Don’t make me turn/click over page after page. I may just decide to click the home button and select another title. 😊 Bronwyn Elsmore |
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