That all book sellers with sites online will add samples of each book.
A line a paragraph, ideally a page, and I can tell something…Some novels do it. A table of contents is fine for a text book but for poetry, front and back covers and index is not useful.
A cover, a price, a name, does little good but use bandwidth. A blurb or review by the author or publisher is suspect. Hearsay doesn’t help me. Flash-based doesn’t help. No search on site doesn’t help. Clear navigation is a bonus. No index of all titles? Fine, I can grudgingly accept. A bio? Fine for general knowledge but doesn’t help a bit with the purchase decision. Access in person is rare for what I’m looking at. What the site offers may be all I get. Do I buy? Default answer is no. With more of a sample, that can be flipped to a risk of a yes.
I can judge what I like from a phrase. A review at site sometimes will give at least that much.
Can standard practice change? Yes. Will it?
All I want for new years is…to not be impeded in finding what resonates by those who may have it and want to sell it, but play keepaway.
yes!
Though quotes in little reviews by others
are handy sometimes. It is a personal
experience…I suspect many think that
the value is somehow universal and not
personal or variant. Maybe that’s why
the lack…not sure.