RIASS stuff:
My review of The Briny Cafe by Susan Duncan is now up on Australian Women Online:'ht.ly/7zCHd
See our latest giveaways: Rosie Black Chronicles and The Secret Ingredient
Other bookish stuff:
Publishers seeing red over Amazons Kindle library
How to win readers and save local publishing
US publishers seek bargain shoppers with online deals
E-Publishing'The Chinese Way: Very Fast And Very Cheap
Publisher'considering ads in ebooks
'Twilight''author'Stephenie Meyer: 'The politics I never think of'
Lara Morgan reveals what she would be doing if she wasnt an author'fb.me/1nmrDxNEc
Can you over edit? Really? AA Bell give a humorous example with EA Poe!bit.ly/sDDEbj
A Q&A with author Paula Morris
Should we include star ratings in our reviews?'(I admit that I hate using them on classics or non-fiction; I also always have to clarify what my ratings mean)
Why writers should visit a large book store at least once a month.
For Their Children, Many E-Book Readers Insist on Paper
'Books are a uniquely portable magic.' Stephen King
Ive just recently opened a goodreads account and really hate that they dont allow half star ratings. There are a lot of books that Ive read that would warrant a half star but theres just no option. Seems kind of lacking to me.
I agree that rating a book is hard through. If I give a chick-lit book a five-star rating and Ive given a YA or Contemporary book a five-star rating, I dont necessarily believe they are at the same level. Im rating them according to other books in the genre. Im not sure if this is the right way to go but I also dont think its fair to rate across genres because the focus is usually on different things. Well, thats my opinion anyway :).
If publishers bring in advertising in e-books I will be seriously peeved. We dont have it throughout a paper books so I expect the same to cross over to e-format. Were still paying. Does everything have to be spoiled by the money-hungry!
I struggle with the half-star rating issue on Goodreads, too, Mo. I end up just noting it at the beginning of my review, but Im not sure that really helps.
I completely agree with you regarding the ratings: I try to rate books based on how well they achieve what they set out to do, and how well they work as an example of their genre, rather than whether its Nobel Prize-winning stuff.
I have found ads in the old second-hand book Ive picked upusually full-colour inserts advertising cigarettes! I do agree with you on the price war over ebooks. The publishers want to charge us the same amount as for print books, but often provide an inferior product full of typos and errors, or they want to slash prices and provide an inferior product again!