Good morning all,
Is it just me, or does no one ever talk about the art of writing anymore? The craft of writing? The quality of the stories? It seems like most author discussions are simply about how quickly we need to put out our books.
I think Kindle Unlimited has changed the landscape profoundly.
When we used to purchase each book, we had different expectations. When we used to put money down for each individual story, it went without saying the books should be well written and professionally edited. I see a ton of poorly edited books out there in KU, but I don’t get the impression readers mind. Maybe that’s because Kindle Unlimited encourages very fast reading. You want to get your money’s worth and read as many books as possible. I get it. But I can’t help but feel sad that few readers seem to savor books these days. I almost never see anyone discussing books in depth. I’m not talking about my books, by the way, I’m talking about books in general.
Authors are having to hit publish at an alarming rate to make any money at all. That’s because Kindle Unlimited only pays authors LESS THAN HALF A CENT A PAGE so it’s understandable why many authors feel pressured to pump books out at a crazy pace. Some authors publish three or four books a month. My fingers would fall off. How would anyone find time to write four books in one month, let alone get them edited? I’d need a time machine to get that done.
Even social media is different these days. Because authors are having to hit publish constantly, or fear they’ll be forgotten, Facebook and Twitter seems to be nothing but people promoting new releases every five minutes. Much of the recs and interactions feel forced. Fake. More and more I find social media to be nothing but white noise and advertising. Personal interaction is dropping, and being on social media is less and less something I want to be a part of. I have my core readers and author buddies who make life fun, but I miss the days when social media interaction felt more organic. Intimate. Do you?
I have no idea how to fix this, or if it even is something that can or should be fixed. Maybe some of you see no need to change how it is now. Maybe savoring books is a thing of the past for a vast majority of readers. I’ve always enjoyed that though, and I find myself re-reading many of the authors I’ve loved over the years, rather than taking a chance on some of the new releases by new authors. But then again, I’m someone who’ll wear my favorite flannel shirt until it literally falls off my body, before giving a new shirt a shot. So it might just be me. lol
What do you think? Please keep it civil, and be respectful of the fact that we don’t all have to think the same thing to be friends. π
S.C.
I came into the ereader world of reading three years ago. At first I was picky about the books I bought, then I got KU with my AP and it kinda went wonky from there. I now have over over 4000 books on my kindle!! I’ll never be able to read all those! Let alone reread my favorites. I get caught up in the freebies, and as an avid reader, how can I say no? Yikes, but it’s almost an addiction to “collect” books. I’ll see a free book on Amazon click it and see that I got it for free three years ago and have never read it, I forgot I even had it!
It’s gotten so out of control, my kindle is archiving books that I have not read, and I don’t even realize it!
I am in several main chats on facebook that I am “close” to the authors as well as many folks on the chat. I must say that the ones I’m in feel like family.
I sometimes have to wonder if the authors who put out a book a month are really several people writing under one name! How can they put out so many books?? I love their writing, but even on KU, I can’t keep up! If I want to buy them, even at .99, it adds up quickly and I can’t afford that!
Yes, the type-os are maddening, but I’ve come to accept it as the new norm. Even hardback novels like Outlander have way too many type-os for a book of that caliber. I’ve reread my books from the 50s and on up to the 90s and I cannot find a single error in them. Are the editors doing a sucky job and the author has to accept it? As a writer of fanfic, I make so many errors, and I reread the stories a good 50 times, and yet skip over so many! LOL I need it looked at with fresh eyes. I rely on proofreaders to see those errors.
I want to become a published author once my health levels out (soon, I hope) I have stories that need polishing up. I do worry about the dog eat dog world or publishing, it’s scary!
I love your books, I cannot pick a favorite but if I was pressed to do so, I’d have to say, Crashing Upwards.
All the best to you, and I thank you for sharing your gift of writing with the world. I can say I’m much better for it.
Thank you for commenting, Christa! It’s so hard to read all the books! lol Thank you also for your kind words. S.C.
I started reading ebook close to nine years ago on tablet and computer and finally got my first Kindle about four years later, but Iβm not (and never been) a KU subscriber so I read on my own pace, not necessarily racing against anything. Social media kept alerting me to new to me author besides my regular go-to ones; not that I can afford each ones π (even with limited resources and without KU, my tbr queue kept expanding faster than Iβm able to finish reading). I rarely joining the SMβs conversations within author/reader community though I occasionally give shout out for book that I loved (after reading or when they are on sale). I donβt know why Iβm rambling here, but I hope it adds perspective to non-KU readers out there. π
I appreciate your “rambling” Didi! Why should I be the only one rambling? π S.C.
Sadly, I’ve actually paid money (not much, but still) for books that were horribly punctuated (parenthetical expressions are a thing!), edited (if at all), and with words used incorrectly (there’s a difference between PAST and PASSED!) There have been a few stories that might have been good, but I just couldn’t read them because they were such a mess. Maybe this is because authors are churning out books, but I think sometimes the ability to self-publish leads people to think they can just throw a book out there in any old condition. I think that’s disrespectful to your readers.
I agree, Kathy. Amazon has made it very simple for anyone to publish. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but I remember a time when people learned the craft of writing before they hit publish.