Dr. Jerry Diane, self-published, no date, ISBN 97988114441256, $8.99
If you spend much time in the book publishing world, you’ll discover that a big idea is that “anyone can blog a book!” There are books that tell you how to do these, there are software programs that say they will turn your blog into a book, and even folks who will do this for you.
This book amply tells you why this process is not as easy as the snake oil salesmen would have you believe. Simply stated this book is barely worth the paper it’s printed on.
First, although the book refers often to illustrations, none are present. Often graphics don’t come over when you move a blog post and need to be added by hand. As a result, a new stitcher has no idea what any version of Tent Stitch or needlepoint canvas looks like. The author also refers to free tutorials for the different Tent Stitches, but the reader is never told where to find them.
Second, the book cover shows a fuzzy out-of-focus picture of embroidery or cross stitch on cloth in a hoop. I cannot believe that someone who wants us to believe in needlepoint expertise who not know the difference between these types of needlework and needlepoint. Didn’t the author have any pictures of her own work to use? Even a generic text-only cover would have been better.
Third, formatting is all over the place. Headlines, boldface, and other formatting tools tell you, as the reader, something important. You know that something in bold letters should get your attention and that
headlines
signal new sections or topics. In this book, all too often, what should be a headline is in the exact same type as the text. it’s merely a sentence fragment masquerading as a paragraph.
Fourth, the text is confusing, poorly written, and full of mistakes. Sentences are so confusing that you have no idea what is being discussed. For example, in the first chapter, she has a part on Erica Wilson. But from reading the paragraph (and knowing nothing of Wilson), I would have thought Vladimir Kagan was just some guy instead of her husband. This is just one example of things that made me scratch my head.
I wish that the many newish inexpensive needlepoint books available on Amazon had good solid information and that the authors had actually looked and corrected the text. Perhaps then they would be worth reading.
You may be wondering why I am so harsh in my criticism. My books are published through Amazon’s self-publishing arm, just as this book was. I know from my own experience that the books can easily accept illustrations and that they allow limitless revisions before publication. You can review a corrected version of your book every couple of days, proofing and improving each time.
Because they use PDFs to create the book pages, as most printers do, you can mix fonts, sizes, and font formats as much as you like. PDFs allow you to create a document in a word processor, making it look perfect, then create a page that will look the same when printed.
One of the things Amazon has that makes authors’ lives easier is a book cover tool. This tool has several options for covers that can easily be customized and look great. This book did not use this tool.
It fries me that this author has such contempt for us as stitchers and readers and so little respect for her words that she would charge money for this.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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