A couple of weeks ago, I asked a lot of questions about what you, my readers, want from this blog.
It was the first time I’d ever done that and, naturally, there was little response. That’s okay. It takes time for readers to feel comfortable enough to leave comments.
However, I have a question and I’d love your opinion on the matter.
The Book Summaries
Judging by the number of visitors, the book lists on …With Intent to Commit Horror are the most popular feature of this website.
To that end, I’ve started improving the look and updating the information on the booklists as well as adding new lists.
One of the things that has bothered me about the lists is how it looks when one book has multiple covers and/or multiple formats.
The problem of Multiple Formats
For instance, Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus’s Orgy of Souls has three different formats — hardcover, trade paperback and eBook — and each one has the exact same cover.
Previously I created a summary that had three book book covers — the exact same book cover — and some but not all, of the detailed information beside the book cover was different. It looked unweildy to me.
Here is an example of the old style summary:
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Orgy of SoulsEditors: White, Wrath James and Maurice Broaddus |
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Orgy of SoulsEditors: White, Wrath James and Maurice Broaddus |
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Orgy of SoulsEditors: White, Wrath James and Maurice Broaddus |
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Twenty for one. Twenty souls for his brother’s life is a price that seductively beautiful Samson is willing to pay. Twenty souls drenched in blood, powdered with cocaine and more than one kind of ecstasy. A fair trade for the life of a brother. A fair trade for the life of a priest. And everyone he meets seems so willing to give theirs away. Samuel’s faith often wavers. Diagnosed with HIV and in rapid decline, he hides his disillusionment in the rituals of the priesthood. But when Samson brings him the first blood-signed contract for a young woman’s immortal soul, the steamy world of high fashion male models and the quiet decay of a sickly priest begin to writhe against the realities of life, death, and otherworldly power. Brotherly love is a deadly seduction, beauty a dangerous game. Come worship in the brutal temple of Orgy of Souls. Your faith will never be the same again. A novel by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus, with cover art by D. E. Christman. |
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Yesterday I came up with the idea of collapsing the summary where possible.
Since Orgy of Souls has the same book cover for each format, I wondered if I could put one cover on the summary and place the details that differ between formats somewhere else. Preferrably somewhere where I could make affiliate links to the online bookstores that sell the particular format.
Then it hit me — alter how I use the bookstore icons below the summary. Here is Orgy of Souls with the changes:
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Orgy of SoulsEditors: White, Wrath James and Maurice Broaddus |
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Twenty for one. Twenty souls for his brother’s life is a price that seductively beautiful Samson is willing to pay. Twenty souls drenched in blood, powdered with cocaine and more than one kind of ecstasy. A fair trade for the life of a brother. A fair trade for the life of a priest. And everyone he meets seems so willing to give theirs away. Samuel’s faith often wavers. Diagnosed with HIV and in rapid decline, he hides his disillusionment in the rituals of the priesthood. But when Samson brings him the first blood-signed contract for a young woman’s immortal soul, the steamy world of high fashion male models and the quiet decay of a sickly priest begin to writhe against the realities of life, death, and otherworldly power. Brotherly love is a deadly seduction, beauty a dangerous game. Come worship in the brutal temple of Orgy of Souls. Your faith will never be the same again. A novel by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus, with cover art by D. E. Christman. |
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This way I preserve information — You can still see that Orgy of Souls comes in three different formats, all from Apex Publications and, to the best of my knowledge, all released in the same month.
This way I preserve choice — You still have a choice of formats or a choice of bookstores in the affiliate links below the summary.
What Do You Think?
What do you think? Which format is better?
Want a better look? I have a copy of the Wrath James White Book List done the old way and a copy done with the new system.
Wrath was an ideal test subject because he has a couple of books like Orgy of Souls — different formats with the same book covers.
He also has a couple of books with two different book covers and different formats (Succulent Prey and The Resurrectionist) and then . . . there is Teratologist with two versions and multiple formats — I used to cry when I had to choose which formats would be represented in the summary and which wouldn’t. Now I get to include it all!
Please take a moment to check out the two book lists and vote in the comments section which one you’d prefer:
1.) Wrath James White Book List: Old Version
or
2.) Wrath James White Book List: New Version
Thank you for your help.
{ 2 comments }
Have you seen the listing for books on sites like GoodReads and Librarything? They always have a side bar or an under section for “Alternate covers” because a lot of times there are different covers (like in the Sookie Stackhouse series where there is the TV show tie in covers, plus then hardback, paperback and now, as I saw at the grocery store today, trade paperback covers.)
Hello Michele,
You gave me a lot to think about. I’ve thought about what you said and I like your idea. When I work on authors who have had multiple printings with different covers — like Stephen King or Charlaine Harris — I’ll group multiple covers together off to the side or underneath (I haven’t worked out where).
Thank you for your wonderful suggestion.
–Greg
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