There are many rules for quantifying when one should stop reading a book if one is finding said book not so appealing. There's the 100 page rule, the 150 page rule, the 33% rule, and, last but not least, the Page 99 Test.

There's a new site just going into beta that wants to showcase the last of those rules. It's called Page99Test.com.

In the words of the sites' creators:

People in bookstores often read page 99 of a book to get a taste for the writing - to determine if they'd buy the book.

Same goes here. Writers upload page 99 of their manuscript, and you get to read & rate it. Tell writers if (bas... [More]

A multi-part series where I address the question, When to stop reading?

• When To Stop Reading, Part 1: The Rules
• When To Stop Reading, Part 2: The Page 99 Test Put into Practice
• When To Stop Reading, Part 3: Short Stories
• When To Stop Listening, Part 4: Audiobooks

So far in this series I've looked at various rules and quantifiable methods one can use to determine when it's time to give up on a book. I applied the 99 Page Test to my own novel. Finally, and most recently, I looked at when to give up on a short story. This time I'm going to break away from the printed word and take a look at audiobooks.

... [More]

A multi-part series where I address the question, When to stop reading?

• When To Stop Reading, Part 1: The Rules
• When To Stop Reading, Part 2: The Page 99 Test Put into Practice
• When To Stop Reading, Part 3: Short Stories
• When To Stop Listening, Part 4: Audiobooks

This is part 3 in what's become an ongoing series on when to stop reading a book. Each post stands alone, but feel free to read part 1 and part 2 before jumping into this one.

We often think of only novels when someone poses the question,

"At one point do you give up on a book?"

Maybe the question is better phrased as:

... [More]

A multi-part series where I address the question, When to stop reading?

1. When To Stop Reading, Part 1: The Rules

2. When To Stop Reading, Part 2: The Page 99 Test Put into Practice

3. When To Stop Reading, Part 3: Short Stories

4. When To Stop Listening, Part 4: Audiobooks

A while back I blogged about when to stop reading a book. As the post detailed, there are many criteria, not the least of which is your own good judgement. But there's also quantitative measurements one can take, including the Page 99 Test.

The Page 99 Test is simple, and explained best by this qu... [More]