Series authors are being pushed to write more, faster. How is that a good thing?

An interesting article in today’s New York Times talks about how publishers are demanding that authors write faster.  Because of e-books, so the article says, readers want new stuff all the time – so writers are being pressured to produce not just the usual novel a year, but also short stories and novellas that can be sold cheaply to either draw in new readers or satiate the fan base.  This isn’t for literary writers but for the “series” writers: mystery, fantasy, YA, etc.

The article bothers me on a few levels.  First of all, I really resent the whole, I should get what I want when I want it attitude.  I love the internet and I love e-books.  But I’m happy just to be able to download a book the minute it comes out in hardback rather than waiting months for a paperback; it doesn’t mean I want to pressure an author to publish more, faster.  Books are an art form, not fast food.  Even series writers deserve a little more time and respect than that.

I’d also rather an author produce one great book every three years than rush through books just to get them out.  Quality over quantity folks!  Two of my favorite authors, Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs, are both writing two different series at one time and publishing two books a year (one in each series) plus short stories, prequels, graphic novels, etc.  Plus, as the article points out, they have to blog, too (and I know how much time that takes).

I do think quality is suffering for it.  I wait all year for my new Mercy Thompson book, but the last few years I’ve been a little disappointed.  The books are too short, for one thing, and just don’t feel as “rich” in character and story as the earlier novels.  Of course, maybe any series suffers from that and it’s not a question of time/output pressure.

I have so much to read, I never mind waiting.  There are always new authors to explore, or older works of an author I haven’t read.  The great thing about the Internet, Amazon and book blogs is that for every book you love, you can find all kinds of suggestions for new books to explore.  Who wants to read same author all the time? What about trying different genres or reading a classic once in a while?

Plus anticipation is part of the fun!  Do you remember where you were the day Harry Potter Book 7 was delivered?  I do.  I also look forward to the Outlander book that comes out every 4 years or so; it’s a long wait but it’s (almost) always worth it.  It reminds me of the kids in the 1910’s who waited eagerly for their Oz book to come out at Christmas-time.  Isn’t that a little bit of what reading is all about?

I’ve noticed this trend in the urban fantasy writers of writing lots of short stories and using them as backstory filler or spinning off a side character into a new series – but I sort of naively thought that was so authors could explore new concepts in different formats.  Now it sounds like they just have publishers cracking a whip at them.

And if that’s for us, the readers, that’s too bad.  Is that really what we want?  Because I just want the best story my favorite author is capable of writing.

Amazon versus Apple and Publishers: Who’s Right?

This week, the Department of Justice charged Apple and five major publishers with collusion to keep book prices high.  A few years ago, this forced Amazon to raise its prices from the $10 it started with to anywhere from $12 to $16 for newly published e-books.  Those of us who already owned Kindles were  angry but didn’t have much choice, and the market wasn’t impacted too much; you can buy another type of e-reader but the e-costs are the same everywhere.   I’ve actually tried (as my own feeble form of protest) to limit the number of over-$10 e-books I buy – and it’s not difficult when there are so many free classics and inexpensive e-books I can buy.  Last month I limited myself to three Kindle purchases, only one of which was over $10.  But that meant giving up some of the new releases I really wanted to read.

So the Justice Department’s action, and the quick settlement of three of the five publishers, signals an immediate win for Amazon, and a win for Kindle owners.  Amazon has already promised to reduce prices.

The publishers say that losing this fight with Amazon means that Amazon will eventually put them out of business, because their e-books require higher prices to keep them afloat.  They say that Amazon, having such a ginormous share of the e-book and e-reader market, can artificially lower prices but will then ultimately raise them once they’ve put everyone out of business.  They say that all readers will be hurt by Amazon’s control of the market.

As I’m neither an economist nor a business expert, I can’t offer much in the way of an opinion (and yet I have lots of them).   I don’t want anyone to have a monopoly on book-selling; but it seems to me that it’s the responsibility of the Department of Justice to step in if and when Amazon does reach monopoly-status, and that colluding to inflate prices can’t be an acceptable approach to a quickly changing e-book market.

I don’t want to see Amazon put book publishers and booksellers out of business.  I really don’t.  But at the same time, the book business is like the music business in a lot of ways, and publishers are going to have to shift their business models to survive those changes.  Keeping the book industry stagnant is not an option; and keeping e-book prices artificially high also shouldn’t be an option.

In fact, I also heard an interview this week with a fantasy/science fiction writer Scott Sigler (on Sword and Laser) who said that this is absolutely the best time to be a writer, and that e-books are creating more opportunities for new, untraditional and self-published writers than ever before.  The hosts of Sword and Laser also pointed out that when you compare the lists of top-selling science fiction/fantasy e-books to paper books, you see a wider variety of authors, and many more new authors, on the e-book list.

There’s also good reason to believe that e-readers are increasing how much children and teens are reading, which is a very good thing.

For the record, I worry about Amazon, or any company, having control over what I read.  And the day Amazon tells me I can’t read something because of its content (similar to Blockbuster Video, for example, deciding it wouldn’t carry NC-17 movies) may be the day I stop being an Amazon reader.  But right now, Amazon is the biggest, widest-open market for books there is.  They aren’t choosing books based on content or authorship; they’re putting everything out there.

I also recognize that there are costs to e-books even if we can’t hold them in our hands.  Publishers review and select books, edit them, format them and market them.  I think publishers play a really important role in helping readers select good books; I look to publishers like Scholastic or Penguin to tell me that something’s a quality book.  I don’t want the book market to just be full of self-published, $1.99 books.  Reading is about quality not quantity.

But it’s still illegal for a group of companies to get together and hold prices hostage.  And as technology paves the way for new ways to market and publish books, I want the publishers to adjust to that change, not try to prevent it.  It didn’t work for the music industry, and it shouldn’t happen here.

That’s my non-expert opinion.  What do you think?  Does Amazon have too much control in the book world?  Is this a case, as writer Scott Turow has said, of “killing real competition in order to save the appearance of competition?”

Print Books: Which Ones Would You Move?

If you’re moving across the country, how many books go with you?

This article in the New York Times describes the quandary of a journalist who is planning to move across the country.  He has hundreds of books, but he also has most of his recent books on an e-reader.  So what should he do with the paper books?  Do they stay or go?

Honestly, the e-reader isn’t really the issue.  I have an e-reader, which means I haven’t bought many print books in the last two years, but I still buy them, and I still have shelves upon shelves of books.  If I were to move across the country, which would I take?  The e-reader makes my life a little easier but doesn’t change the conversation.

In this article, the author describes one of his colleagues as “horror-stricken” that he might not move his books.  This touched a nerve for me, so let me just say this — those of us with e-readers do not love our print books any less than those of you without e-readers.  We are not killing the printed word.  I still buy a weekend newspaper because I believe in supporting the Times.  I still shop in used bookstores. I didn’t kill Borders with my Kindle — their poor customer service and lack of character did.

If I were moving I would think about how much space I have, how many bookcases I can fill, and then I would think about which books I’d want on those shelves.  Because in addition to their literary or entertainment value,  print books are important for at least two reasons: they make the very best kind of home decoration, and they show visitors who you are.  Admit it, aren’t bookshelves the first thing you check out when you’re visiting someone’s home?  So you’d keep the books that reflect something about you as a person.  Maybe you don’t do this consciously, but I bet it would happen anyway.

Before I had an e-reader, most of my fiction went to Goodwill about 3 times a year.  There just isn’t much reason to keep fiction paperbacks unless you love them and want to reread them.  I’d rather circulate books to people who can’t afford the full price.  Even if I love a book, I usually end up passing it along to friend or family anyway.  I’d keep just my absolute favorites, especially classics that I know are worth a reread.  I’d also keep the piles of books I mean to read but haven’t yet (unless I really think I won’t).

I read mostly fiction but  I tend to keep more nonfiction.  I’d keep my favorite cookbooks, but get rid of the shelf of outdated health/fitness/medical books.  I have a whole shelf of travel books that can be discarded– these are mostly books about trips we’ve taken, but some are trips we hope to take.  By the time we do, the version we own will be out of date (right now that includes Australia, Argentina and Ireland).  These are not travel literature, by the way, just your regular Frommers and such.  I would keep my books about cat care but probably get rid of most of my books about not having children.  That ship has sailed, so to speak.

I’d keep most nice hardback books, especially books with illustrations like our set of Harry Potters.  I would of course keep all my collectible children’s books and anything signed.  I would keep the biographies I own but may never read of personal heroes Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Seuss and L. Frank Baum. I’d keep our collection of design-related books for their beautiful illustrations (Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, etc.)

So you see, my e-reader has very little impact on the conversation for me.  Most of what’s on my Kindle are the kind of books I would pack up for Goodwill anyway.  But I enjoyed the chance to think about my books and how I would make those decisions, and which are the books that are most important to me.

So if you were moving across the country, what stays, and what goes?

Weekend Updates and a Blog Birthday Giveaway

I’m working on a pretty long review so for today I just wanted to write about a few things and announce part 1 of my Blog Birthday Giveaway.

This week I finished Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety, and now I’m reading Ilona Andrew’s latest in the Kate Daniels series, Magic Slays.  I’ll admit it hasn’t been my most literary month, but I’m also really itching to read the sequel to Game of Thrones.

Last week I posted some blog thoughts and questions for readers — I hope you’ll check it out and add to the conversation.

One bit of news is I have my first review published on another blog — which maybe isn’t that exciting but it is for me!  Laura Carroll, who wrote Families of Two, a book about couples who choose not to have children, runs a blog called La Vie Childfree.  She recently created a new site, called Live True Books, that posts reviews about non-fiction books about “living better” — which can be a wide range of things from health, environment, parenting, work, etc.  She put out a call for reviews and has posted my review of Cinderella Ate My Daughter this month.  It took some work to cut it down to the size she needed but I’m proud of the result.

I also wanted to note this week’s release of the Nook Touch from Barnes and Noble.  You all know I’m a Kindle loyalist, but for those who don’t have an e-reader yet, this new Nook apparently rivals the latest Kindle for speed and battery life, is even lighter, and has Touch capabilities.  CNET and PCMag have given it good reviews but don’t address questions like which source has more book options, and cheaper books?  They seem to be very close, but is Barnes and Noble likely to be around for a while?  Because if not, Amazon seems the better bet.  Still, I’m all for advancements in e-readers, since that will spur developments in the other e-readers as well.

For the giveaway:

Since I don’t have a lot of books thanks to my Kindle, I’m giving away one $20 gift certificate to Powells Books.  Powell’s Books is one of my absolute favorite used bookstores.  It’s in Portland, OR, it’s gigantic (think 4+ floors), and it’s run by people who LOVE books.  You can just tell as you walk through it.  They have used and new, tons of fun displays, great sales staff, and — important for our purposes — a good website that sells email-able gift certificates.  Powell’s has great shipping rates inside the U.S. but if you’re in another country here’s option 2: you can pick any book I’ve reviewed on this site and I’ll ship it to you from The Book Depository.

To enter: Just leave a comment and tell us about one of your favorite reads this year.  If you don’t have a blog, leave an email so I can contact you.  I’ll keep this open until June 12, then make a random pick.  I’ll have another giveaway at the end of the month thanks to Leeswammes‘ Giveaway Hop.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Updated software for the Kindle, and are e-readers good for teens?

Kindle Update

The latest news from Amazon is a software update for the Kindle.  These aren’t big changes, but a few things you might be interested in:

• Public notes
• Real page numbers (corresponding to an actual print version of the book)
• Improved newspaper and magazine format
• and a feature called “Before You Go” which will allow you to rate the book when you reach the end, look at similar books, or share a message about the book with your social network.

These aren’t features I care too much about, although I think using real page numbers might be an improvement over the strange page numbering system currently used.  Rating the book as soon as you finish it makes sense — and of course it’s in Amazon’s interest to improve its system for recommending books based on what you’ve read.

This is just a software update, not a new Kindle.  Readers anxious for the update can go to this site to download, or at some point it will be transmitted automatically through the wi-fi.

E-Readers in the News

In other e-reader news, the New York Times ran an article this weekend about how young adult e-books are a hot seller.  Does that mean more teens have e-readers, or just that more adults (like many of us) read the occasional YA book?  Publishers are thinking a lot of teens received e-readers as holiday gifts, given the timing of the spike.  Teachers also say they are starting to encourage e-readers in class for silent reading time.

I’ve been hearing for a while that kids are more likely to read on e-readers than paper books.  Maybe because they’re drawn to anything electronic, maybe it’s the instant gratification of reading whatever book you want, whenever.  Maybe (like for most of us) it’s the added features or the ease of carrying it around or the privacy of everyone not seeing what you read.

If kids read more on an e-reader, I say great.  Unlike games or phones, this isn’t one of those attention-span-killing devices that people are so worried about when it comes to kids.  I can read my Kindle for hours if I have the time. And yes, something about reading on a Kindle is just more fun, even for this old person.

I guess if I was a parent I might worry about not being able to see what my kid was reading.  But if you set up their account on Amazon, you actually have MORE information about what they’re reading than with paper books.  And honestly, I don’t believe in telling kids what they shouldn’t read anyway.

A good question might be whether BOYS are reading on e-readers.  Girls aren’t the problem, they are reading more than ever these days, but boys are more of a concern.  Most YA is heavily marketed to girls, and there isn’t too much taking the place of Harry Potter.  So if e-readers can get boys interested in books, then that’s something educators and parents should definitely be thinking about.

Kindle Lending, Birthday Bestsellers, and Helping Kids Learn to Read

I hope everyone is having a great weekend — happy second-to-last-weekend-of-football Sunday!  This is a big deal in our house, even though none of our teams are still in the playoffs.  I root for lots of teams, depending on where I’ve lived, where my family lives, and which teams have a good “personality”, and yes, I’ve developed a semi-crush on Mark Sanchez.  So go Packers and Jets!  For whatever reason the conference finals are usually better games than the Superbowl — maybe because we actually get to sit and watch the games.

Kindle Lending

In Kindle news, you probably know already that Amazon has enabled Kindle lending — this means that certain books, determined by publishers, can be lent from one Kindle reader to another for 14 days.  During that 14 days the original owner will not have access to their book — but then that’s how lending a book generally works.  The 14 day limit may be a little restrictive — most of us aren’t going to read Middlemarch in 14 days but we can read a lot of other books in that time.  Or at least enough to decide to buy it for ourselves (which is probably what Amazon and the publishers are hoping for).   Sometimes the sample chapter isn’t enough to give you a good feel for the book.  What I like about the 14 day limit is I know I’ll get my book back, which of course is always unlikely when lending paper books.  It’s also limited to customers of U.S. Amazon only.

So, if you’re a Kindle reader and you’d like to borrow something I have, let me know!  I’d be happy to try out this new feature, if the book is lendable.  Here’s another way to find books you can borrow — there’s a new Kindle Lending Club website, which is maybe the best way to find people with the books you want to borrow.  You can also join them on Facebook.  As far as I can tell, there’s no real risk to the lender even if none of us know each other, so I’ll probably sign up.  Have you tried the lending feature?  What did you think?  This could be a real cost-saver if any of the books we want are actually available.

Birthday Bestseller Lists

I saw a cool thing on What Red Read’s blog – you can go to this site to find the New York Bestsellers List for the week you were born. So here’s mine for fiction:

1)      The Passions of the Mind by Irving Stone
2)      The New Centurions by Joseph Wambaugh
3)      The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
4)      QB VII by Leon Uris
5)      Penmarric by Susan Howatch
6)      The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
7)      The Other by Thomas Tryon
8)      The Throne of Saturn by Allen Drury
9)      The Underground man by Ross Macdonald
10)  Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy

I won’t list the nonfiction but a few interesting ones leapt out – Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown; The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer; and Future Shock by Alvin Toffler.

I was very happy to see The Bell Jar on the list, one of my absolute favorite books and a real emotional read for me in my early college days.  I read The Exorcist but don’t know most of the others; is there anything on this list I should read?  I’ve always heard great things about Irving Stone.  Maybe we should have a “read the bestsellers of your birthday” challenge?

Check it out and let me know what you find.

Volunteer by Writing to Kids about Books

Lastly, I wanted to share a fun volunteer opportunity I’ve discovered.  It’s an organization called In2Books, and you volunteer to be a pen pal to a student.  The great thing about In2Books is they will send you the books that the student is reading during the year for school, and you read the books and send the student letters about what you thought.  It’s all about getting the kids thinking critically about books and also enjoying them.  These are early-reader type books so you won’t get to read The Hobbit or anything, but you’re still helping out a child.  The best thing is you can volunteer from anywhere, on your own schedule.  Okay, you’re probably not going to change a child’s life, but on the other hand this is an easy, minimal-commitment way to help a child enjoy reading.  I volunteered with them years ago and enjoyed it, but now they are a lot more modern — everything happens through email and their website rather than paper letters.  They will be looking for volunteers this spring for the coming school year.  As I’ll probably sign up I’ll keep you posted.

Odds and Ends, and Harry Potter

Today I’m just posting some odds and ends as I work on my next review.  Once I finish that one, I’ll actually be caught up, which I don’t think has happened since I started this blog.

Kindle in the news:

An interesting piece of Kindle news recently was Amazon’s announcement that Kindle will soon allow owners to loan books to other Kindle readers.  Publishers will have to choose this feature; it won’t be available for all books.  The book can be lent for a 14 day period and during that time, the owner won’t have access to the book.

Amazon has also announced that this year, people will be able to buy Kindle books as gifts.  Less newsworthy than the lending feature, but still an improvement.  I’d much rather buy someone a book I really like than just give them a gift certificate.

Amazon also will give a higher percentage of royalties to publishers of newspapers and periodicals.  Hopefully this will keep prices down, and ensure that more publishers will make their publications available on Kindle.

With the holidays coming up, are you thinking about buying an e-reader for yourself or someone else?  Which one?  There are so many options.   There are plenty of blogs specializing in e-reader reviews, but here’s one to start with.  It looks like the Nook has established itself as a credible Kindle alternative.  If you have one I’d love to hear what you think.

What I’m reading:

I just started a book called The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer, about a Jewish family in Hungary on the eve of World War II.  The main character is a young man named Andras who has just moved to Paris to begin school as an architect. He has a sibling in Italy and the rest of his family in Hungary.  It’s 1938, anti-semitism is rising and of course it’s about to get much, much worse for Andras, his siblings, and his Jewish friends in Paris.  So far, it’s engaging and well written but also seems like a pretty standard drama – but I know that will change given the historical events about to unfold. I’ve already learned more about Czechoslovakia and Hungary’s roles in WWII than I knew before.  My husband I are planning an Eastern Europe trip, hopefully for the spring, so I can see a lot of the countries my grandparents and great grandparents came from. This book should make for interesting (and I expect heartbreaking) reading.

Please vote in the poll:

My Kindle is bursting with recent purchases and lots and lots of sample chapters.  I’ve created a few polls so people can help me decide what to read next!  If you’ve read any of these books and recommend them, please vote.  I’ll change up the poll every couple of weeks.

Best books of 2010:

It’s that time of year.  Amazon has its “Best Books of 2010″ here.  Under their Literature and Fiction category, books I read and enjoyed are Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Hand that First Held Mine.  I’ll post more on Best Book Lists once the New York Times releases its Notable Books list.  Meanwhile, check out this cool blog where you can nominate your own favorites in the categories of literary fiction, nonfiction, GLBTQ, mystery, and speculative.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

Well, I wasn’t at the midnight opening and I wasn’t wearing a scarf or cape – but I was ridiculously excited to see Harry Potter Friday night.  Book 7 is tough to make into a movie – even split into two movies, there is way too much to cover.  The NY Times does a better job than I could of reviewing the movie so see here.  This way I don’t spoil anything if you’re like me and hate to read reviews before you see something.  So, did you go, and how did you like it?

Thoughts on Kindle book pricing and the one-star protest

Kindle’s book pricing has been back in the media lately, only this time it’s actually the UK’s media.  Kindle readers in the UK have been angered by a steep increase in publishers’ book pricing, which is a result of Amazon’s recent agreement with book publishers to allow them to set pricing for their books.  Amazon’s original deal was to have all books sell for under $10 (US price, not UK).

Earlier this year, Amazon readers in the US protested by flooding high priced Kindle books with one-star reviews, dramatically bringing down those books’ reviewer scores.

Fair?  I’m a little torn.  On the one hand, it’s not fair to the author, and not fair to those of us who consider reviews of books before we decide to buy.   It violates the principle of reviewing a book based on its content.  But as a strategy for protest, I think it’s smart.   Kindle readers shouldn’t be treated as a captive audience that publishers can milk for extra cash.  If it’s cheaper to produce a Kindle book (recognizing there are still expenses involved in producing ebooks), then my Kindle book should be cheaper than a paper book.

Do the one-star reviews affect whether people purchase the book?  Typically, if I’m interested in a book I actually read the reviews to find out what people are complaining about.  But there are times I’m just browsing, and a book with a hundred four- and five-star reviews will catch my eye before a book with one- or two-star reviews.

I browsed Amazon this morning to see how many books I want to read are priced over $10, and was pleased that I didn’t see many.  Maybe publishers in the US have gotten the message.  Maybe (in the US at least) this is just not a big issue.

If you’re a Kindle reader, has Kindle book pricing been a problem in the last year?  Do the negative reviews affect how you buy?

Personally, I won’t one-star a book I liked but I will vote with my wallet and  I try not to buy Kindle books over $10.  I love my Kindle but I also like buying paper books sometimes, especially to support independent and used bookstores.  And then I have a couple of new books to liven up my shelves — the stagnant bookshelf has been my one problem as a Kindle owner.

So if a Kindle book is over $10, I can wait until the paperback comes out, or I find it used.  There are a very few books that I won’t wait for, but most of them I will.  My non-purchase may not send a message to the publishers, but it feels better to me.

New Kindle Report: Day 3

New Kindle arrived Friday, so I’ve now had two full days to play with it (er, I mean read).  Here are a few pictures and a few quick comparisons between Kindle 1 and Kindle 3.

Things that are fantastically better:

• text/screen contrast
• page turning time
• space (will I ever read 3500 books?)
• ability to sort and categorize books
• placement of power button
• menu button
• arrow keys instead of the dial
• slightly smaller, thinner, fits better in purse
• I’ll assume battery life for now but can’t tell just yet
• It syncs with Kindle 1, so it shares books and keeps track of where I am on both Kindles
• It hooks into the cover and can’t fall out; also the cover has a light that is tied to the Kindle battery so I can now read anywhere.

Things I have to get used to:

• much smaller “next page” button
• page turns so fast for a second you can see both pages at one time
• nice sleep feature but powering down takes longer.

You can see there isn’t much in the negatives column, and those really are things I just need to get used to.  But I will say this: my Kindle 1 has been a devoted “friend” for the last two years and I feel a little bad about setting her aside (hmm, I wasnt sure she was a “she” until I typed this).  New Kindle is fantastic but I just don’t know her very well yet.  I’m still figuring out whether to use both Kindles or share my Kindle 1 with someone (my husband?) who needs to share my Kindle addiction.

Do I sound crazy?  I’m sure I do.  But some of you out there will understand.

Here is a picture of my two Kindles side by side.

And finally a picture of the screen for those of you who are wondering how readable the print is.  The print on the new Kindle is crisper and the background whiter than Kindle 1, and yes, definitely readable in bright sunlight!

New Kindles announced!

Well, yesterday I was “scooped” by Amazon – two new Kindles have been announced! You can see more at http://www.amazon.com or read about them in this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/technology/29kindle.html?_r=1&hpw.

Amazon is selling a $139 Kindle with Wi-Fi only, and a $189 with 3G. According to the New York Times, “Both new Kindles are smaller and lighter, with higher contrast screens and crisper text.”

Amazon also says they are working on touch screen and color but at the moment it is “not ready for prime time”. CEO Jeff Bezos says to release a Kindle with those features now would actually inhibit reading.

The new Kindles will ship August 27, still have a six-inch reading area but weigh about 15 percent less. The new Kindles have twice the storage, up to 3,500 books.