The power of the excerpt

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

No matter how big the online buzz, popular the contests, glowing the reviews, beautiful the cover art, for me what it comes down to, is the writing. Sure all of the above, and more, will bring the story to my attention, but there'll be no parting of the cash and wallet unless I'm hooked and/or intrigued by the writing/voice.

Here's a couple of recent excerpts that are worth checking out:

1. Carolyn Jewel's SCANDAL. Full disclosure: I love Carolyn's Historical Romances. The only thing that would prevent me from buying this book (Feb/2009 release date) would be if I swiped it from the store shelf, opened it up, and all the pages were blank, except for a single mysterious stain on each page that looked suspiciously like dried spit. *g*
EXCERPT

2. There's been some online buzz about K.A Mitchell's m/m romance COLLISION COURSE, so I thought I'd take a gander. Manlove romances aren't usually my thang, but word of mouth/reviews made me want to check it out, and the excerpt cinched the deal. Sold!
EXCERPT (you'll have to clikc onto 'Read An Excerpt')

3. Somehow I got on MINOTAUR'S publisher's newsletter list. Today's feature author was C.J. Box, with a link to Box's site. From there I read the first 3 chapter excerpt of THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE. I hope to gawd it doesn't come out in hardback, becaus I want to read the rest!
EXCERPT(scroll down to the bottom of the page).


And if you're still in the mood to read shorts, after those excerpts, don't forget to check in daily at the Samhellion site, where they're posting a new Xmas short each day for all of December.
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3 comments:

azteclady said...

Me, I have a love-hate thing going with excerpts.

For books from authors I already read, I avoid excerpts like the plague--they just whet my appetite to the point I'm drooling, and then... I have to wait!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

*ahem*

Yeah, not so good on the patience thing here.

But for new to me authors, a good excerpt is key. Not a guarantee, mind, but still indispensable to know whether I'll be able to read a couple or three hundred pages of that writing voice.

And speaking of writing... *pointed look at Vanessa*

vanessa jaye said...

And speaking of writing... *pointed look at Vanessa*

Looks over shoulder. ::whistling:: skulks away....

vanessa jaye said...

Oh, and I agree with you about reading excerpts of favourite authors (I didn't read Carolyn's excerpt), because I want the story to be fresh when I can around to it, so I can savour each moment.

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