Comments for

Comment on And So It Begins by Studly Admin

Studly Admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:18:57 +0000

I don’t allow bashing. Other places may allow comments to drift into that vein in the name of free speech, but that does not happen here on my watch.

Look at my gravatar. I know how to oppress as well as ole King George did. If your comment breaks my comment rules, it will be deleted. I don’t care if you’re effen Thomas Jefferson. Bash = delete. Simple code for a simple guy.

Comment on And So It Begins by Fanny Hill

Fanny Hill — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:32:16 +0000

Hi AnAuthor I think some people felt, at first, we were here to bash authors. As Lady C. has said, we aren’t. It takes time for people to trust a new site and those that run it.

If some books get bashed, there are reasons why. We take many of the points discussed in Sharpening the Quill into consideration when reviewing, which is why those low scores were/will be given. If the basic mechanics are not in place, the scores will be low.

If we only help a few people to get better, then it has been worth it.

Comment on And So It Begins by Lady Chatterley

Lady Chatterley — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:28:10 +0000

@ AnAuthor:

Thank you for your comment. We’re definitely not here to hurt the e-publishing industry. We believe in this industry. And because we believe in it, we’re trying our best to point out what needs fixing.

Lack of editing is certainly not the only problem this industry faces, but it’s the one we are most familiar with. Bringing our expertise in this area out in the open will hopefully educate authors and push publishers to take another look.

Fanny’s book is fabulous and does indeed embody the spirit in which we founded this site. We want authors and publishers alike to succeed.

As far as reviews are concerned, we follow a certain criteria we all agreed upon. We realize reviews, like editing, can be subjective. However, on this site it’s not about whether we like a story. It’s about whether we like the story and how well the author executed the telling of the story. We examine scenes in a completely different way from other review sites. And in that examination, we determine if the book received the edits it deserved, and therefore, if the reader got what they paid for.

Our reviews will not always match the grades of others, but there again, that’s not what we are trying to do. This is a whole new way of looking at books.

It’s unfortunate there are reviews here with low grades. No one intentionally gave those books a low grade either. This is a tough site to get past. An author submitting here needs to be sure they are ready for us.

Because if they aren’t ready for us, they aren’t ready for readers.

Thanks again for the wonderful comment.

Comment on And So It Begins by AnAuthor

AnAuthor — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:45:11 +0000

I just wanted to point out to those authors who may think you guys are here to do a hatchet job on E-publishing, that the majority of your reviews have pretty good scores.

In fact, I think the review system here is actually fairer than most because you only hold the author responsible for the things that are their fault. How many other review sites are able to notice individual things like world building, grammar and dialogue rather than look at the story as a whole and then just give it a low score because it doesn’t work, without knowing where it fell short?

With the addition of the book from Fanny, I don’t think anybody can doubt now that your intentions are to help the E-pub community and it’s authors.

Comment on Turning Thirty-Twelve by Sandy James by Cheryl

Cheryl — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:57:50 +0000

Sandy,
Kudos to you for even ATTEMPTING to write in first person. To me, it is one of those things that is so daunting I won’t even try it. I admire anyone who can take a stab at it and pull it off! Lots of great comments here. Congrats on your review, Sandy. You are a better woman than I to even attempt first person! LOL
Cheryl

Comment on Agree to Disagree by Fanny Hill

Fanny Hill — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:48:03 +0000

Thanks for the info and support, Sandy!

Comment on Agree to Disagree by Sandy James

Sandy James — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:25:52 +0000

Just to keep your comparisons up to date, I wanted to let you know that Turning Thirty-Twelve received a 5 cup review from CoffeeTime this week. http://coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/turningthirtytwelve.html
Not bragging, mind you… Well, okay. Maybe just a little. (g) I report this mostly because I know you’re interested in seeing how your ratings line up with other sites.

I really enjoy your honesty, not only with my story, but with every writer you review.

Comment on Zeven Ways To Kill Your Lover by L. Shannon by L. Shannon

L. Shannon — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:24:18 +0000

LC,

Thanks for the review! Glad to see you enjoyed my bad boy Zeven.

Shannon

Comment on The Geography of Murder by P.A. Brown by admin

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:54:22 +0000

Now, now, Annika. I understand your frustration, but on this site we don’t toss around words and phrases that could be taken as a demeaning slam. We don’t allow our comments to get out of hand like some sites. When that starts to happen, my finger gets twitchy on the delete button and I’m only distracted by lovely ladies with a lust for my collection of studded collars. *wink* Or a sparkly new server…

Studly

Comment on The Geography of Murder by P.A. Brown by Annika

Annika — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:48:21 +0000

In my view, nothing cheapens good content faster than sloppy editing. While I agree with Lolita that nobody’s perfect, an intelligent sixth grader could have done a better job of proofing this work than the one it received. Also, to be blunt, the author should be correcting obvious mechanical errors by reading his/her latest output aloud before s/he finishes for the day.

I did like the story, but I was truly frustrated by the poor presentation — it can’t help but read it as lazy, illiterate and/or insulting.