What Book is in Your Hand?

Reading is my favorite form of entertainment. I enjoy reading over TV and movies. I enjoy it more than boardgames. Although I might actually enjoy eating more than I do reading. The waistline is difficult to ignore.

There is, though, one problem I have as a writer with reading. It takes over my mind. As a result, if I am writing a horror story, problems develop if I start reading mysteries, for example. Suddenly my brain leaves the monsters behind and I’m thinking whodunit. Something of a problem that!

Recently I received a three month Kindle Unlimited trial for 99¢. Unfortunately, it ran over the holidays so I didn’t get as much of an advantage out of it as I would have liked. Nevertheless I did read 7 novels/novellas, 7 short stories, and 1 short story collection. Which means I did get my money back with interest.

Most of the novels I read were mysteries, and therein lay the conflict with my novel writing.

I’m currently at work on Pierce Mostyn #7, but with all those mysteries passing before my eyes my horror novel started looking a little bit like a murder mystery. I’ll undoubtedly have some fixing up to do.

However, don’t take the above as complaining. I’m just saying. Because quite a bit of my KU reading was, in fact, horror related. The short stories were from the Occult Detective Quarterly, Issue #1 (Fall 2016). Six of the seven stories were excellent reads. So good in fact, I’ll probably buy all of the issues. The short story collection was The Abominations of the Nephren-ka and Three More Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by Mark McLaughlin and Michael Sheehan, Jr. All four of the tales were quite serviceable reads with which to pass a couple of hours.

With the KU trial over (I didn’t renew), I’m now back on my own resources for reading, which includes the works of several indie authors of my acquaintance I wish to promote.

I think it is very important for indie writers to read the books of their fellows. Because we indies are all in the same boat pulling at the same oars. The least we can do to help each other is to buy, read, and review each other’s work.

Over the weekend, I read In Agony Again by Ernestine Marsh. Ms Marsh has to be in the running for the title of Queen of Comedy. She’s that funny.

With the writing of Pierce Mostyn being bent all out of shape due to my recent reading, I have to get it back on track.  So for the rest of the month, I’ll be focusing on horror, the supernatural kind.

Aside from the KU reading, I’ve read this year “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Nameless City” by Lovecraft, and The Horror from the Hills by Frank Belknap Long. Having thus far read only one Clark Ashton Smith Cthulhu Mythos tale, maybe I’ll spend some time with Mr Smith. “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” may be a very good place to start.

Now to you. What book or books have been in your hand of late? I’d like to hear about them. Especially if the authors are indie writers such as myself.

With over 3000 new books appearing on Amazon each day, that’s a lot of books to sort through. And if we consider that four years ago there were 3 1/2 million ebooks in the Kindle store — that’s a heck of a lot of books to look through for some good ones.

So please share some of your good reads with me, and you can bet I’ll do the same back with you.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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The High Cost of Books

 

I love to read. Reading provides a joy few things can match. If you follow this blog, you’re aware of that. However, books are expensive to buy. And when I tally up my outlay for the printed page, whether physical or digital, I go into a bit of sticker shock.

Perhaps that’s one reason subscription libraries such as Scribd and Kindle Unlimited are popular. For a monthly fee, you can read as much as you want. And if you are an avid reader, the service can easily pay for itself. Of course there are the public libraries, which your tax dollars pay for. The only problem I have with public libraries is that you have to return the books. And I suppose that goes for subscription libraries too.

Awhile back, Amazon gave me a 60-day free trial of Kindle Unlimited. However, once the trial was over, I dropped it. Even though I did end up reading at least $20 worth of books, that’s $10 for each month, I found that I had to sift through a lot of chaff to find the wheat.

For me, I find it a better use of my wallet and time to go the sample route. Download a sample. After all, they’re free. I can read it at my leisure, and if I like the sample, then I buy the book. I spent an awful lot of my reading time on KU partially reading books I didn’t like, all the while feeling the pressure to tally up $10 worth of reading for the month. I’m retired. I don’t want or need pressure.

Since I discovered subscription libraries (and public libraries) aren’t my cup of tea, what alternatives do I, and you, have?

Free Books

The world is awash in free books. Indie writers trying to secure a fan base have given away lots of books. They are everywhere. Some are very good, others not. Many are short stories, or novellas (which I happen to like, but many don’t), and some are just samples.

For the voracious reader, the free stuff can be good.

Another source of free books can be found at places like Faded Page, Project Gutenberg Australia, and Project Gutenberg. These places offer books that are out of copyright. Which means the books are older. And you can usually find many classics in their lists.

I recently downloaded Raymond Chandler’s novels from Faded Page. A great deal.

There are plenty of free books available. Which can keep us reading for a long time.

Used Books

I love used books. Great deals can be found in used bookstores, and especially garage sales, where the books are often close to being free.

Libraries often have sales of the books they discard. They are another source for good cheap reads.

For a long time now, I’ve only purchased used copies of traditionally published books due to their high cost when purchased new. Paperbacks selling for $15 and up. I simply can’t afford that. And let’s not even discuss hardbacks.

However, over the past couple years, I’ve noticed used books going up in price. Especially on Amazon and Amazon-owned ABE. And ever since Amazon bought bookfinder.com, the search results have deteriorated. The cheap books seem to have disappeared and the search results appear to be skewed towards Amazon and its affiliates.

Of late I’ve gone directly to ThriftBooks, bypassing their selections on Amazon and ABE. If I buy $10 worth of books, I get free shipping and that is a big help. The free shipping is not available if you buy Thrift Books offerings on Amazon or ABE.

All in all, used books remain a great bargain for the avid reader.

Ebooks

Deals on new ebooks are possible if you are willing to read indie authors.

I rarely buy new ebooks from the Big Five Publishers. They’re too expensive. The same goes for the regional, university, and small presses. An ebook of 100 pages for $15? Seriously? I saw that recently. And the author is dead. So who’s benefiting?

However, over the past couple years, I’ve noticed indie authors up-pricing their books. It’s now not at all uncommon to see self-published ebooks going for $4.99 and up, when just a short while ago the norm was $2.99 and $3.99.

Nevertheless, very good reads are available for $3.99 and less. It just takes a bit of looking. It also helps to stay away from authors bragging about their books being “bestsellers”.

Personally, I don’t spend more than $3.99 for an ebook. I just won’t do it. I self-publish. And I know for a fact one does not have to spend a dime to put out a book these days. If self-published writers think they need to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to produce a book, and pass the cost onto me, then I’m not going to subsidize their poor judgment. And what’s more, I own a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell them.

Recap

The prices for new books are only going to continue to go up. Those 35¢ and 50¢ paperbacks I knew as a kid aren’t ever coming back.

But there are still plenty of inexpensive options available to those of us who are avid readers. We just have to think smarter and quit buying the high-priced books.

So, what are our options?

  1. Free books. There are plenty out there, both new and out of copyright.
  2. Used books. Don’t buy new, if you can buy used.
  3. Don’t pay more than $3.99 for an ebook. Because in reality, they cost nothing to produce. That gives the author, if self-published, about $2.75 for royalty. As a self-published author, I’m telling you no one needs to pay big bucks to produce an ebook. So don’t go out of your way to make someone else rich and subsidize their unnecessary production costs.

Comments are always welcome, and, until next time, happy reading!

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Making Money Writing

I have to admit, I’m not much into marketing at this point in my writing career.  Mostly because I’m too busy trying to get books written.  But Lindsay Buroker’s latest post on her first month’s earnings from her pen name project, made me stop and give this subject some further thought.  Mostly because what I’m currently [not] doing might be costing me some big money.

To pull in a little over $3000 as an unknown author in her first month, I’d say is pretty awesome.  Doggone phenomenal.  Nine days after releasing my first 4 novels I have a mere 14 sales.  Not even $35.  I’m not complaining, mind you.  I’m simply saying maybe I’m missing out on a bit more cash that I could be making if I did a few things differently.

One thing Lindsay mentions and maybe the most important thing, is her use of KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited.  Certainly Amazon stacks the deck in favor of those who go exclusive with them.  As an author I don’t like it.  I cry, “Foul!”  “Unfair!”  Yet if I was Amazon, it is exactly what I’d do.  It’s what traditional publishing has done for over a century.  Lock in a stable of money-making authors and — make money!

Right now, authors can make money right along with Amazon.  In the future, who knows?

The other thing that stuck out was advertising didn’t seem to do much.  I haven’t planned on paying for advertising.  From Lindsay’s experience, I don’t think doing so is worth the money at this point.

A great post by Ms Buroker.  Informative.

For now, though, I think I’ll continue along with Hugh Howie’s approach and just write.

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