Category Archives: personal

Up for discussion: How I choose a free KDP book…or not.

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imagesAs a reader I love Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program. Almost everyday I scour the free book list (which in my case is eReaderIQ, but there are plenty of other aggregate sites out there). I’m  looking for new and interesting reads. I’m what you might call a power downloader…actually, I have been called a power downloader. (Yea, that was you Harv*.) As such, I’ve learned a few things about my own behaviour. I’m not claiming universality here. There isn’t any thing to say everyone does the same as me, but I thought it might be helpful to those authors who are putting their work up for free to know what a reader, if not all readers, is doing when looking at it.  I thought you might also like to know what is helpful or not. Honestly, I’ll admit to secretly hoping the everyone takes my advice as law and the whole system becomes my perfect whole. OK, I’m not holding my breath on that or anything.

Here are the things I deem worth mentioning, in no particular order:

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Not cool.

A good cover is key, but it has to be a real cover. A cool picture doesn’t cut it. Here is an example of what I mean: Last Hope. Nice picture, but not a cover (sorry Ms. Gardner). Everyday I look through hundreds of books, but I don’t have hours and hours to do this. So I scroll through the list looking for interesting covers. If one catches my attention I’ll read the description. Actually that’s not quite right. First I’ll glance at the listed genre to see if it’s one I’m interested in and then I’ll read the description. So it helps if all of the relevant genre/sub-genre etc are listed.

The book description makes or breaks my ‘sale’ but I’ve come across a few annoyances that effect my choice to grab a book or not. First off, this section is for a synopsis of the story, not for praise of the book. I read reviews for that. It really really isn’t a place for so much praise the reader can’t find a description of the book. This has actually become a pet peeve of mine. I’ll pass a book up on principle if I have to work too hard to find out what it’s about. Here is an example: HeartsBlood (sorry Ms. McCray). Someone tell me what that book is about. I actually suspect that certain publishers are more guilty of this than authors, but there it is all the same.

Second, I never have figured out why people think that just because it’s an ebook, and there isn’t a physical back-of-the-book to fit their synopsis on that they can write an essay here. Take a look at any one of my reviews and you’ll see that I often include the synopsis for readers. It annoys me to no end if that synopsis is more than a paragraph or two long. If it’s longer than my review is I’m likely to trim it, but then I feel guilty for altering the author’s work. I don’t need or want a breakdown of the plot. It ruins the story. Just a basic blurb and teaser is enough. KISS after all.

I read reviews, good bad and otherwise. If a book is a maybe, having a few reviews makes all the difference to me. I’ll take more of a chance on something that has obviously been read by others, even if they left bad reviews. Bad reviews don’t always put me off. Well, they will if the main gripe of the reviewer is poor grammar and editing, but if someone just didn’t like the story my interest is piqued. It’s almost a challenge to see if I agree or not. The point here is two-fold, don’t mourn over poor reviews, but it behooves you not to put the book up for KDP until you have a few stars under the title. 

goodreadsIt helps me if your book is on Goodreads. I get that this one is almost certainly not a universal. I have roughly 2000 books on my ereader. There isn’t any easy way to keep track of them, but I’ve found the GR shelves very helpful. When I go through eReaderIQ I keep a GR tab open at the same time and do this: click ‘buy now with 1-click’, copy the title, go to the GR tab, paste it in and mark it as to-read/lendable or not. If the book isn’t there I sometimes will add it, but that’s a lot of trouble and I have passed up books just because I can’t be bothered. (If you haven’t discovered GR as an author yet, shame on you. It is one of your best online resources for reviews.)

Familiarity increases the likelihood that I’ll download a book. This is one of those vague tricks of the mind that I don’t really understand, but I know that if I’ve seen a book ‘around’ I’m more likely to grab it. So, I guess all of those blog tours, giveaways, cover reveals, etc do make a difference somewhere. 

If a book is part of a series it is helpful to know this. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s in the title, description or just prominent on the cover. But if I download a book only to then discover it is book four in a series and I don’t have book 1-3 I’m unlikely to ever actually read it. I especially like it when all the books go free at the same time but that’s asking a lot, I know. I’ll often try to piece series together, but that requires I remember that I have part of it already and can identify the books as part of the same series. It’s not always easy.

I buy sequels. If I like a series I am more than happy to buy the next one in the series. I have limits though. It’s always hard to rationalise buying more books when I have so many already available to me, so the more expensive a sequel the less likely I am to buy it and I just find it rude when they get progressively more expensive at the series goes on.

Annnnnd lastly, if you’re story is a short story please make it readily apparent. I have more than once downloaded what I thought was a novel and discovered it to be a short story. Just about the only time I read short stories is on car trips, so while it is nice to have a few available to myself, I like to choose them instead of having them surprise me.

Now, I’ve spent a lot of text-time on my own complaints, and lets face it, even if couched as information or advice every item above could be seen as a complaint in some way or another. I’m not so self-absorbed as to not see a few places where my own behaviour might be annoying to authors and I’d be interested in hearing from them. The first is that, though I have every intention of reading all of the books I download (and reviewing them), I download more than I can read in any reasonable amount of time.

I’ve heard authors grumbling that KDP isn’t worth it because lots of people download the book, but no one posts reviews. It might be true. I’m not looking at your download numbers, but I know that I have picked up, read, and reviewed a lot of authors I wouldn’t have come across or taken a chance on if the book wasn’t free. Not just because I’m cheap (which I am BTW), but because I wouldn’t have a reason to look at lists and lists of books I have to pay for. I have plenty of books on my wish list to choose from already. So, KDP gives me a reason to be exploring new authors that I might not have otherwise. 

Another bone of contention might be how eager I am to get a free book. The assumption is that I would pay for it otherwise and am therefore cheating the author out of their income. Fair enough. I do download books I wouldn’t pay for. It’s true. I admit it. I bet I’m not the only one who does this. I’m especially prone to download erotica in this manner.  My only excuse is that I do it with the eventual intent of reading and reviewing it and probably wouldn’t even know about the book without KDP. But is that enough? I’ve also always been a little curious to know if my download contributes to advancing a book to the too 100 list, and if so is that enough of a bonus to an author to forgive my tardy reviews or cheapskate ways.

So there is the basic breakdown of my own download behaviour. Is it familiar to anyone else or just seem a little too OCD and cranky? Are you a KDP author? I’d love to have your take on the whole affair. What do you do when exploring your fellow KDP publishers? What are your criteria? Anyone just want to bitch me out yet?

*By the way and completely unrelated, if anyone is a hard Sci-fi fan, Harv’s book Daughter Moon is a great one. I don’t know if it’s on KDP. I paid for my copy, but it’s worth picking up. 

Book Review of The Other End of the Leash and introducing Dief

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Recently my husband and I decided it was time to get a dog. Up until a couple of years ago, we had an amazing German Shepherd/Black Chow mix named Blackie. We adopted him from the Humane Society and loved him as a practice child. When he died, he took a little bit of our collective soul with him. Now, 2+ years later, and with the children big enough to understand the concept of not terrorizing any animal brought into the home, we agreed that it would be a joy to have a four-legged friend again. Thus began the search for our next family member.

My other half really wanted an Akita. He loves their stoic demeanor and guardian natures. While I think them beautiful, I was a little wary of their reputation of being dangerous to children outside of their own family. As a compromise, I agreed we could have one if we got it as a puppy so that we could ensure it was properly trained and socialized from day one. I did allow myself a little internal groan. It would fall to me to house-train it, and we would all have to survive the chewing phase. But it would be worth it in the end. I was sure.

A complication, however, was that as set as he was on an Akita, I was set on rescuing an animal. We even tried compromising by contacting the local branch of the Akita rescue. They, however, had no puppies in need of re-homing. There were also no local puppies available from reputable breeders old enough to be adopted yet, even if I did give in on getting a rescue.

We stood at a bit of a stalemate. It would be three weeks before the puppies he had verified weren’t from any sort of puppy mill and came from a well-mannered dam would be available for purchase. He agreed that if I found THE DOG before, then, we would bring it home; if not, he would have his little Akita fur ball, and I would have a new challenge.

We scoured the Humane Society, ASPCA, Animal Control, etc websites daily. I even checked Craigslist regularly, looking for the one. And then it happened! Sitting in the very first cage at the Animal Control Centre was a beautiful (if a little matted) adult brindled husky/malamute mix. He was the one! I just knew it. I felt the same way when I found Blackie. He stopped me in my tracks, literally. My husband tells me my bottom lip came out like some petulant child who’s not going to give in. Well, there I was again. Looking at a dog I simply couldn’t walk away from.

That Saul gave in to me probably speaks volumes about how well he knows me. I would never have forced the issue. Adopting a dog has to be a mutual decision, but saying ‘no’ to your wife when she really wants something isn’t an easy thing for any good man to do. Since bringing him home and naming him Diefenbaker, he has been a complete joy. He is approximately five years old (yea, no housebreaking for me) and considerably calmer than you might expect. The vet says that’s the difference between a 5-year-old husky and a 2-year-old husky. We simply couldn’t be happier.

Here he is. Everyone, please welcome Diefenbaker, or Dief for short.

Where is my picture of Dief?

Needing a little refresher on dog training, we picked up Patricia B. McConnell’s The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs, and since I’m the prolific reader in the family, I gave it a read. So glad I did.

Description from Goodreads:
The Other End of the Leash shares a revolutionary, new perspective on our relationship with dogs, focusing on our behavior in comparison with that of dogs. An applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer with more than twenty years experience, Dr. Patricia McConnell looks at humans as just another interesting species, and muses about why we behave the way we do around our dogs, how dogs might interpret our behavior, and how to interact with our dogs in ways that bring out the best in our four-legged friends.…

Review:
This is an amazingly well-written and informative book. Dr. McConnell’s writing style is easy to read and enjoyable. I have to admit (somewhat shamefacedly) that prior to reading it I would have thought of Applied Animal Behaviourist as one of those ‘you do what’ kind of jobs. What do we really know about animal psychology anyway, and what makes you or anyone else more informed on the matter than me? Well, I would have been wrong. Dr. McConnell’s book is well-researched and based on more than simply anecdotal evidence. I learned a lot from it.

It isn’t a training book per se, though there are a decent number of training tips on how to redirect unwanted behaviors, for example. This is primarily a book about what makes people people and dogs dogs. The main message is that we aren’t the same. We are different species, with different needs and wants and different interpretations of the same behaviors. Understanding this can make a world of difference in the lives of dog and their humans…or humans and their dogs. This should be required reading for all new dog owners.

 

Reading Challenges of 2013

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So, it’s New Years Day, the first day of the new reading year. Awesome! Conveniently I finished Elaine Corvidae‘s FABULOUS The Sorceress’s Orc last night, leaving me ready to start fresh. I love when a plan comes together…ok, there was no plan. But it’s still gratifying that I get to start a new book and 2 new challenges first thing on the first day of the year. Otherwise, I would either feel like I lost reading time or the first book didn’t count since it was started in 2012. 

I’ve taken on two challenges so far. There’s no guarantee that I won’t find more later, but these will be my main ones. The first is Goodreads‘ basic reading challenge. I’ve signed up for 200 books this year. I thought long and hard about this number. There is a real chance that I’ll obliterate it, but a year is a long time and who knows what might get in the way of my precious reading time. Certainly, my children will give it their all. 

The second is the Indie-Fever challenge, hosted by b00k r3vi3ws by DDS. I enjoy reading Indies and self pubs (I’m counting them in with Indies for this challenge), so this one is perfect for me. I’m signing up to the fanatic level (28 or more Indie books) and I’m starting with an Indie this year. It will be Ryan Attard’s First Born.

I chose this book for two reasons. The first simply being that he sent me a copy. Yep, that’s a pretty good reason, right? The second is a little more obscure. I checked out the book’s Amazon page and someone wrote a scathing, one star review based on nothing more than the sample (and it’s the only one he/she ever wrote). I just don’t think that’s fair. Granted, the reviewer gave reasons for his/her opinion. They weren’t baseless ones and I might find all of them to be true in reading the whole book. But it’s the only review the book has gotten so far, meaning it now has an average rating of one and no one has even read it yet! I think it deserves a review based on the work as a whole. I have no obligation to be the person to do this, but it feels like the right thing to do. So I am. 

There you have it, my 2013 challenges. I’ll post the occasional update along the way. I’m aiming for monthly, but we’ll see. So, how about you? What are you taking on this year?