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If You Own A Kindle...

A

April_H

New Member
Please take a look at my dark comedy novel, Snow Ball. I'm not allowed to post links here yet, but the link is listed as my homepage in my user profile (just mouse over or click my username above to access it), or you can go to the Kindle store at Amazon and search for Snow Ball by April Hamilton. A link to a free, try-before-you-buy excerpt is provided in the book's description.

It's sold 28 copies and received 2 4-star reviews in the 6 days since it went live, so you can feel pretty confident it's probably not half bad. :D
 
I think I'm the only one that owns a Kindle here on this site. You might be barking up the wrong tree.

ETA: I went and searched for it on Amazon. I grabbed the except and read a page. I know that books and stories are very subjective. This one didn't grab me. I have trouble keeping focus on books that read with twangs or acccents. While I was reading your book, I felt as though I was watching the movie "Fargo".
 
Erm...

CDA said:
I think that's a rather unfortunate title for an ebook.
Click to expand...

1. It wasn't written with the intention of publishing only as an ebook---DTP and Kindle hadn't even been invented when I wrote it
2. It will be available as a trade paperback in a couple of weeks
3. What's wrong with this title for an eBook? Are eBook readers turning away from "Water For Elephants" in fear that they might be electrocuted? :p
 
Never mind the title. It's the opening paragraph:

Velma and Naomi sat in their usual spot, the back left-hand booth at the IHOP in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Naomi, the Canadian, was a native of Winnipeg, and the American, Velma, lived in Sheboygan Falls. Naomi was the taller of the two at 5’ 7”. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and secured with a white, fake fur scrunchie designed to match the fake fur trim on her sweater. Her blue eyes had a slightly bugged appearance but she had creamy white, freckled skin and very high cheekbones and so was still a fairly attractive woman. Velma stood about 5’ 4” and had a tendency toward plumpness. She wore her shoulder-length, medium blonde hair cinched up in a clip. She too had enviable skin, though her almost black eyes were certainly the lovelier between the two of them. Both spoke with the nasal, vaguely Scandinavian-sounding twang and singsong cadence so common to the region. Naomi’s husband Peter and Velma’s husband Walt ran a business together with some other associates on both sides of the border. Peter acted as the Canadian point of contact and Walt was his counterpart in the U.S. for their particular part of the operation. Velma and Naomi met twice a month in this
same restaurant to exchange pictures of their kids, to plan joint family vacations and to carry packages to one another’s husbands.
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April H, surely you know why that is no way to start a narrative?
 
Stewart -

Shall I ask all the people who read the excerpt, and on the basis of having read it, decided to buy the entire book? Or the ones who said they couldn't put the book down once they started reading it, including one who had to put her Kindle in a Ziplock bag so she could continue reading while she took a bath? Maybe the one who said in his/her Amazon review, "What a fun read - dark comedy that will remind you of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiassen and Jennifer Crusie at their best."

No kidding, books aren't supposed to start with expository. Yeah, I know. My other Kindle novel begins with an action scene. But there is such a thing as making a conscious choice to break the rules sometimes, when the author decides it's in the best service of the story, and you neglect to mention that dialog begins with the very next line and continues apace from there. If it's not to your liking, fine. Tastes vary. but is the mockery really quite necessary?
 
That wasn't mocking. I personally would not buy your book after reading that excerpt. It was hilarious for all the wrong reasons. That's not mocking either.
 
April H,

Welcome to a very harsh reality.

People here will not kiss you butt. Nor should they.

They will be straight, and honest. Sometimes brutally.

Take it with the same spoon you take praise from.

Don't let either carry you to a place you should not be.
 
April_H said:
1. It wasn't written with the intention of publishing only as an ebook---DTP and Kindle hadn't even been invented when I wrote it
2. It will be available as a trade paperback in a couple of weeks
3. What's wrong with this title for an eBook? Are eBook readers turning away from "Water For Elephants" in fear that they might be electrocuted? :p
Click to expand...

Ah well I don't think I can quite bring myself to tell you what snow ball means on the intertubenets. Let's just say that I hope anyone searching for the book on Goooooooogle has the safe search turned on.

There's no mocking going on here, btw. Just people saying what they think.

I don't think having an Amazon page as your homepage is very good. Haven't you got a site of your own? You could then put the free bits of your work on there instead of using pdfs whch totally suck.
 
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