The Page 99 test is a method of evaluating a work of
fiction suggested by literary critic
Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and '' The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental i ...
.
Ford suggested that prospective readers open a book and read page 99 to gain a sense of how well written the work is while avoiding any back-cover synopsis or the first few pages, as these are typically given extra attention during editing and may not reflect the quality of the book as a whole.
References
Literature
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