randomly, wearing the freelancer hat.

[lagilman]

Choosing front sales (the front excerpt) for a book is an interesting way to judge an entire book - you need to find something between 150 and 250 words to pull, that will stand on its own, give the right impression of the sellpoints (adventure, romance, horror), and not make the reader cringe away from the actual writing. So a book that is weak on the line-by-line quality does not fare well in this exercise.

Of course, neither does the tightly-woven book, no matter the quality, but that's a different headache.

I really do love writing backcopy. It's creative, but in a totally different way, and forces me to look at the book like a reader, from the outside in - how does this package attract me? - rather than from the inside looking out. I'd love to stretch to other, non-publishing copywriting, but so far haven't found the entryway. I keep looking, though. Because work that you enjoy? Is a blessing.

In addition to freelance, laundry was done and the entire office cleared and rearranged in anticipation of Monday's delivery of the New!Bookcase. Time well-spent. Now to add a few more words to Bonnie#4....

Also, did I say New!Bookcase? Between that, and the acquisition of the Nook, I may finally have détente with the Stacks o' Books. For the moment, anyway.


(and, in rearranging, I am struck by how much -space- I have, and how well-lit it is. My decision to move here rather than the more cramped-at-twice-the-price isle of Manhattan is once again justified. Yeah, my subway ride is longer, but hey, more time to read, right?)

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

You know, while I think it would be fun to find such a representative extract, sometimes I'm also very glad that eBooks don't tend to require front sales, and therefore I can skip it. Because on some of these books, I think I'd be looking ALL BLOODY WEEK.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to get into backcopy-writing. I've spent so long summing books up as a reviewer, condensing the essence of a book into a paragraph or two has become second nature. I can make -anything- sound awesome. :>