My Educated Thoughts on Page99test.com -- c.anne.gardner

Back in September 2010, I posted about a new feedback site called Page99test.com. The site launched in October, and sad to say, I was just too busy with the release of Logos to get over there and check it out. I know; I should have got over there sooner, and I am perturbed at myself about that, even though I was then and continue to plug the site to all the writers I know far and wide who were/are looking for objective criticism of their work. Heck, I even started an Indie Page 99 group over on Goodreads, so my not signing up immediately wasn't for any lack of enthusiasm. I just missed the mark.

However, it's a brand new year, and I wanted to be able to share an "educated" opinion about the site based on my real time experience as a reader and a writer. I love it BTW, but my professional opinion is as follows:

I always have some downtime around my birthday, and so on January 8th, I loaded up the page 99s of three of my print books: The Splendor of Antiquity, The Thin Wall, and Logos. I didn't have to enter much information about the books, just the title, author, genre, and then select whether it was unpublished, published, or self-published. After that, they give you some formatting guidelines, and pretty much, you just copy and paste your page 99 into their text editor and hit go. The only bit that was problematic for me was selecting a genre, since my work, though primarily literary, does cross a few here and there. I was forced to pick literary as the default, which I thought was kind of limiting, but it is a start up website, so there might be tweaks down the road.

After you load up the goods, you make some coffee, have a smoke, pet the dog, or just sit back and wait for the comments to come rolling in. Well, I tend to exaggerate, it’s the writer in me, so maybe rolling in, isn’t the right term. It will take some time before you get commentary, and here's why: the site is completely anonymous by design. You won’t be able to find your friend's or relative's book and vote them into the top anything. The site is designed to provide objective commentary from real readers, and it does that brilliantly, mind you. Here's how it works for a reader:

I log in and select the read a page 99 button at the top of the screen. This randomly generates a page 99 based on the genres I selected as preferred when I signed up for my account. I can read the page 99 in front of me and give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down based on how likely I am to turn the page. I also select, based on my reading experience, whether or not I would be likely to buy the book. After that I can add critical commentary if I choose to do so. I can also opt out by selecting "no opinion." And here is the beautiful truly liberating thing ... you are not forced to read or rate anything. If a page doesn't grab your attention, you can just move on to the next randomly generated page without voting at all if you don't want to, which is especially nice for me. Sometimes, a page might be well written but it's just not my style or maybe the subject matter isn't something I would normally like. All I see at the onset is one page of a manuscript. The reader doesn't know the title, the author, or any other information about the book until they cast their vote on the page. Comments are optional. You can just vote and move onto the next page 99. If you do decide to vote, once you hit submit, the title, author, and whether or not the book has been published will be released to you, the reader.

So what about scamming the system? you ask. I am sure it can be done, but the system is designed to avoid authors monopolizing the site in an attempt to use it as a free promotional tool. You, the writer, can only load three page 99s at a time, and they only stay active for 30 days or 50 reads/ratings.

Here is the FAQ from their website:

Here, writers (published or not) share their page 99s with a world of readers ... and get real-time feedback. Does your writing hook readers? Let them be the first to tell you.

So, how does it work for writers?

Writers – published or not – come to the site, sign in (easy 4-field sign-up), and copy-and-paste their ‘page 99' from their manuscript (MS) into the text field on our site. They enter a few details – like book genre, title, and publication status – and submit it.

Writers can upload up to 3 page 99s (all from different MSs, obviously). Each page stays up for 30 days or 50 reads/ratings, whichever comes first. As ratings come in, writers go to their My Uploads page to see reader feedback, including comments.

And how does it work for readers?
Readers come to the site, sign in (easy 4-field sign-up), select their preferred genre, and get shown a page 99, which is randomly generated within the selected genre. They read the page from top to bottom (hopefully) and then answer 2 questions: Would they turn the page and how likely would they be to buy the book.

(OPTIONAL: Add comment for writer.) Once you hit Submit Feedback, you’re taken to a page that reveals to you info you didn’t otherwise know, like:

• Whether the page is from a published book or not
• Who the author is
• What the average rating is for each of the 2 questions
• Verbatim feedback/comments


I have to say, I am loving this so far. There was talk of a fee based service for authors, which technically would connect their unpublished manuscripts with agents and editors, but that is still in the works and everyone already knows my feelings about that, so I won't go into it here.

With respect to my own work, all three books have been live on the site as of this writing for exactly 12 days, and here is the vote/commentary I have received thus far:

The Thin Wall -- 3 thumbs up and 3 thumbs down with the comments:

1. It isn't that this is poorly written, it is just not the type of book I read.

2. Not bad, I was drawn into the story.

3. Gooey emotion ... yuk

Logos -- 3 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down with the following comments:
1. Gabriel Garcia Marquez (100 years of solitude)? I think this is professionally written, and if not, it should be published.
2. Well written, and interesting. Curious as to what it's about, and as to what happens next.

3. Not my favored type of reading.

4. Brilliant. The "and I did...want" seems a bit fragmented though, especially as there was a really nice flow up till that point.

Antiquity -- 2 thumbs up and 2 thumb down with the comments:

1. Interesting

2. Not Bad

3. "the how" does not seem grammatically correct.

As you can see, the comments, such as they are, are not really all that insighful or helpful in most cases, and some are downright inept. "Gooey emotion is yucky" doesn't really fall into true literary criticism and doesn't help the author at all, nor should the author take that sort of subjective commentary seriously. The commenter who thought the article "the" in front of "how" was grammatically incorrect was obviously an inexperienced reader who didn't understand that the paragraph preceding it alluded to the analytical construction in the common phrase: the what, the why, and the how, and that to remove the article would have made the idea and the sentence structurally unsound. As for the commenter who thought the "and I did...want" sentence was fragmented, I am not sure what they meant by that. I did break the flow there for a reason, so maybe they just found it uncomfortable. Anyway, For the sake of viable feedback, I am really hoping more hardcore critical readers and writers will embrace this site. There will always be new material to read; you don't have to invest in writing a full-blown review; everything is random and completely anonymous provided you use an anonymous user ID; it's not a popularity contest site; and it's a nice quick no obligation way to help the Indie community. So come on ... whatcha waitin' for? Give it a try. It's fun, easy ... and you might find a few new authors to read while your at it. Currently, I am rating one page a day and it only takes about 10 minutes to read and formulate a useful comment.

Cheryl Anne Gardner

P.S. So how many of you have listed your work with Page99test.com? Tell us about your experience; we would love to hear from you.