Short Stories

Growth

Emma Sohan

"What the f- is this, Emma?"

"I'm not backing down on this. It's important, and right." And maybe foolish -- am I just going to make people angry?

How can you tell if a book is good?

The next question is just as important: Are you reading a book because you enjoy reading the book? Or are you just "hooked" -- you aren't enjoying the book, but you want to find out what comes next?

You might think that a book's producers (the author, agent, and publisher) are trying to produce as good of book as possible, one that you will like. But really, the producers probably have the agenda of making money.

Fortunately, those two goals often lead to the same thing. Unfortunately, they sometimes conflict. Someone reads the blurb and decides to buy the book. Sounds harmless, right? Not when the producers write a blurb that sounds attractive but actually makes your reading experience worse.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

These are the topics. With a quick summary. Do the click thing to read more.

Blurbs. Don't read them.
Starts. What to really look for. Don't get hooked.
Prologue. Bad sign. Skip?
The Middle. Are you enjoying this book?
Endings. No cheating. Bad ending? Don't buy books from this publisher?