Please review my blurb / ebook

[Noscere Velle]

My book is due to be published in 14 days - could a kind soul cast their eye over my blurb, now that I've updated the long description. Most appreciated!

Here is the link to the book's smashword page:
smashwords.com/books/view/1150569

I've also created a private pre-sale page for the book, so that people who might like to review it for me can get the properly formatted ebook using smashwords just as a purchaser would once its released.

Get an advance copy of my book for only 0.99 (hope this encourages some reviewing! But if not, enjoy the discount):
www.smashwords.com/books/presale/1150569/PJFYGX

[Noscere Velle]

Here's a link to the books smashwords page with the long description already open for reading. In case you missed the "more" link.

www.smashwords.com/books/view/1150569#longDescription

[djmills]

I read your blurb. It is OK as it explains what to expect. I read your 15% of the eBook. The layout looks good. As to the first poem, I don't seem to enjoy negativity. Leave the blurb alone for now, and write your next book of poems and get it published. After you study other poetry ebooks blurbs, you can always update your own blurbs if you think it needs updating.

The cover looks good when I enlarge the image. The small Smashwords image seems to lose the lower text into the background. That could be my computer monitor, not necessarily your colour choice.

Sorry I can't offer any better suggestions. Keep writing and having fun.

[Noscere Velle]

Jun 27, 2022 13:56:28 GMT -8 djmills said:

I read your blurb. It is OK as it explains what to expect. I read your 15% of the eBook. The layout looks good. As to the first poem, I don't seem to enjoy negativity. Leave the blurb alone for now, and write your next book of poems and get it published. After you study other poetry ebooks blurbs, you can always update your own blurbs if you think it needs updating.

The cover looks good when I enlarge the image. The small Smashwords image seems to lose the lower text into the background. That could be my computer monitor, not necessarily your colour choice.

Sorry I can't offer any better suggestions. Keep writing and having fun.

Hey dj,

thanks very much for your comments - I appreciate all the feedback I can get, as this is my first foray into self publishing (indeed, any sort of publishing! Well, outside academia and technical documentation anyhow).

I was slightly worried about my cover design, as I did it myself. After reading some guides on the art of self-publishing and marketing last night, they seemed to place a great deal of emphasis on the cover, and then formatting, urging would-be authors to use professional designer(s) if one can afford to do so, as a book really is judged by its cover! (Where buyers are concerned anyhoo.)

As to negativity, I'm sorry that's the only poem you got to read (indeed it's the only one in the collection that is at this extreme) - perhaps it would be a good idea to increase the %age free sample? as there is nothing to contrast the first poem with! I'm glad you pointed this out, as in isolation a reader might be put off. My collection is a meditation on LOVE and hate, and starts with the extreme, a commentary on society's bigots that we all have had the misfortune to stumble upon during our journeys through life.

Contrast that first poem with another from my collection:


Small Things

It’s the small things you’ll miss the most.
The silly things;
The throw away gestures.
Reminders of the best years.

Insignificant now,
But they won’t always be.
And you’ll remember,
And smile.

Like gazing
Into each other’s eyes
Or holding hands in the sun

Waking up
To a nice surprise,
Just because.

Sitting in silence;
Just knowing you are there,
Running your fingers through my hair.

Making soup when I’m unwell,
With bread cut into squares,
Just like mum used to make.

Sneaking your toothbrush
Onto my windowsill:
It’s still there.

Your little notes on the fridge,
A sympathetic ear.
Not blind; forgiving.

And when all that’s left
Is your echo; your ghost
I’m reminded of the small things
That matter the most

When I created the collection and ordered the poems in the way I have, I never gave any thought to marketing and how the sampling might affect a potential buyer. I wanted the first poem to have an impact, so I chose one at the extreme end of my subject matter - but perhaps I should have gone to the other extreme. Then again, that might have come across as being too lovey-dovey and dripping with sugar  . I've increased the sampling from 15% to 30% so I'm going to see how that affects appearances now that there will be at least one other poem for the reader to sample. Smashwords recommended 15% for novels, and 30% for shorter stories and I should have listened! I just left it at the default value. Obviously they spoke from experience, and it makes sense since the first few pages will be copyright, title, epigraph and so forth - 15% of a short book isn't enough to get to the real content before the sample ends.

Would you like me to send you a copy of the full book? PM me your email address and I can attach a copy.

Thanks once again for your critical eye.

[Noscere Velle]

The last stanza of 'Small Things' still irks me... I just cannot decide between the original version (I wrote this poem in 2019, way before I even envisioned publishing any collection)

I'm reminded it's the small things
That mattered the most

Or the current (changed when I included it in this collection)

I'm reminded of the small things
That matter the most

You might think it's trivial, but it's this sort of thing that I can spend literally hours agonising over - usually resolved when I have a deadline to meet so end up making a quick decision then spend the rest of my life (occasionally) doubting the decision or wishing I had gone the other way!

[djmills]

Seriously, it doesn't matter if you use "it's" or "of". Leave it alone. It was your voice back when you first wrote it in 2019.

A lot of new authors or poets keep working on a piece until it loses all its freshness. Please don't edit it to death. Keep it fresh from when you wrote it. Only check spelling mistakes and publish.

Then work on your next book.

As for covers, I do all of mine. You can look at my very old "awful" covers and compare them to how my covers have improved over the past 12 or more years. I do intend to one day (when I have time) to refresh and renew all my old covers. But for now, I am busy writing more science fiction stories and learning to paint digitally. And having fun.