It would make things easier...

[Brenda]

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Okay, that's out of the way - time for coherent thought.

Something that really drives me nuts about the Other Authors forum is that most of the threads I open read like this:

"So, has anyone read anything by So-and-So? I really like him/her. My favorite book is Such-and-Such. It is such a neat book!"

"Oh, I've read Such-and-Such! Yes, it is a neat book! I really like So-and-So!"


This drives me nuts because I am not at all familiar with most of these authors, and there is nothing to tell me what the book is about to know if I'm at all interested in trying it!

I think it would be sensible to state, somewhere in the thread (preferably the first post), what is a good book to start with and what it is about.

[Greenrider Tresa]

Good points, Brenda. It's gotten to the point where I just don't read the ones with authors whose names I either don't recognize or don't read. I think people just get excited and forget not everyone knows what they're talking about.


Another idea: Maybe instead of just saying we loved this/we hated that, we could say why we love/hate it, and have discussions about the books similar to what we do in the McCaffrey book forums.




Tresa

[Dawn]

Since my summaries would only confuse people*, I put a link to the authors website where there's usually story excerpts. That way they can find out about the author, the books and which to read first. :D

*I can't summarize to save my life. :roll: I wander around all over the place, leave out important details, backtrack and then give away too much of the storyline. :crazy: It's better that I don't...trust me. ;)

[Mausey]

You could always just ask what the books are about. :D A lot of people err on the side of caution, they don't want to say too much about a book in case they give something away.

Some authours have more than one genre, Elizabeth Moon writes both fantasy and military space fiction as does David Weber. You just have to ask. :)

[Beisla]

What I would find helpful is to know not what the book is about, but what its style is: is it funny, serious, easy to read...

I personally don't really even care to know beforehand what happens in a book: I never even read the back cover, since too often they give away events that happen over halfway into the book. :roll:

So I suppose the easiest thing is just to ask the kind of questions you want to know, and put spoiler warnings when necessary. :) But yes, very helpful would be to have info on the series and which book/s to start with.

[Amy Lou]

Since my summaries would only confuse people*, I put a link to the authors website where there's usually story excerpts. That way they can find out about the author, the books and which to read first. :D

*I can't summarize to save my life. :roll: I wander around all over the place, leave out important details, backtrack and then give away too much of the storyline. :crazy: It's better that I don't...trust me. ;)

Dawn, attaching a link to the book or authors site sounds like a great idea - but how do I do it?

[Faren]

I'd answer your question, Amy Lou, but I'm terrible with computer related explanations.

Ok, here's what I do. I find the author's website or pertinent page and highlight the address at the top. Then I copy and paste it into my post.
There's other ways too, but that's the easiest for me.

I'm another one that's bad at explanations, Brenda. But I will try and at least give the genre and feel of the book. :ok:

[Dawn]

Dawn, attaching a link to the book or authors site sounds like a great idea - but how do I do it?

Faren explained it pretty much how I do it. :ok: But if you want to put the link in a smilie, I use the Insert Hyperlink button at the top of the Reply box - it looks like a globe with chain links at the bottom. You click on the link, put the smilie code in the first box (or the author's name, book name, etc...), click okay, paste the web address into the second box, click okay and that's it. :D

It took me a while to get the hang of it. :tilt: So don't give up if it doesn't work the first time.

[Faren]

Another thing...preview your post before you submit it. It will show if you did it right. :good: