Though I haven’t been updating here about my reading, and actually took those widgets off my sidebar because they were populated by LibraryThing and I’ve been using Goodreads instead (link to my Goodreads account), I have been reading what I think is an impressive amount (for me). Considering that I’ve still been reading submissions, and that I’ve taken two trips in 2010 already (and I read very little when traveling), I’ve still managed to read 34 books to date in 2010.

As I said, I’ve been tracking my reads on Goodreads. I did a fairly decent job of it in 2009, but right around the time all of the upheavel happened in my professional life last fall, I also stopped updating Goodreads. However, since I read mostly digital, I was able to browse my Fictionwise, Kindle and Calibre records and fill in most of the gaps from September to December. When I was done, and knowing there were books missing because I hadn’t been diligant about keeping up my Goodreads records, I discovered I’d read at least 220 books in 2009.I was happy with not only that, but the variety of genres I’d read. I felt like I pushed myself last year to read a little more outside my comfort zones and I managed to do that. This year I’m also going to be specifically tracking the genres I read.

So what have I read so far in 2010? A lot of Charlaine Harris, apparently. Not the Sookie books, I’ve already read all of those several times, but I read the Lily Bard and Harper Connolly series. Neither of which I actually liked that much, but I found something oddly compelling about them. Weird when that happens. Also, true to form, I’ve read a lot of urban fantasy. Last fall I discovered Karen Chance’s Dorini Basarab series but had not read her Cassandra Palmer series, so I got to catch up on that these past few weeks. Also read Eileen Wilks’ and Nalini Singhs’ new books. Two of my favorite authors, and I loved these offerings.Oh, and I bought some Amanda Quick and Jayne Ann Krentz digital backlist titles from Fictionwise, so I’ve been indulging in those. I’m a little disappointed in the quality of the Amanda Quick books (they were obviously scanned from print and not proofread for scanning errors) but the stories remain good for me!

Now I’m patiently waiting for the next JD Robb book to release in 2 weeks. And the Patricia Briggs book in March. Another two of my favorite authors.

Right now I’m in between books (I was catching up on back episodes of Chuck last night). I have a significant list of books TBR but I can’t decide what to read. What are you reading?

Well, kind of live. This weekend I’m at the Lori Foster Get Together in Cincinnati, which brings together just over 300 readers, authors and various industry professionals. Since I’m so stellar at blogging from conferences (ha ha) I thought I’d try something different with some short clips from various attendees showing their thoughts on digital.

I’ll be asking each person just one question each, and it might be anything from “what do you use to read your digital books” to “why don’t you read digital?” and hopefully covering some questions in between. If you have any specific questions you’d like me to ask about digital, shout them out in the comments and I’ll add them into the mix (I’m always happy for something different).

I’ll post a mix of the interviews at various times, Vimeo and my internet connection permitting (trying to upload the videos has almost defeated me). Since this is the first time I’ve used the Flip for this purpose, if you have any feedback, please share it!

(please ignore the silly still shot of me that holds the video. Ack!)

Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend, I asked in both a post here and at Romance Divas for recommendations of books from small press. I didn’t limit by genre, but I did specify that people couldn’t recommend their own book, they had to have read the book (no recommending your friend’s book just because ) and that it had to be over 12,000 words. No genre restrictions, since I’ll read pretty much anything. Maybe it was the holiday weekend, but this seemed to be harder than I thought it would be (with the number of people on Romance Divas who write and read small press, I expected more recommendations from there, actually).

I ended up buying about 11 books, ranging in genre and from 8 different small presses.

It was interesting, though, the things I learned about buying/reading small press as a result of this.

1) Distribution is important. I ruled out any press/book that I couldn’t buy at an online bookstore (I didn’t want to enter my credit card number 7 times, so I didn’t want to shop direct from publishers this time, though I often do for certain presses). So any publisher/book that wasn’t available at Fictionwise, AllRomanceEbooks or BooksOnBoard I didn’t even consider. I think one stop shopping is important because most customers are not going to be like me, and hunt 3 different places for all the books they want. They’re going to buy what’s available where it’s convenient for them. Also, a publisher without distribution isn’t catching the “browsers” at the online bookstores.

2) Price to word count is also important. There were a few books that I would have bought based on the blurb, but when I checked the word count versus the price, I quickly changed my mind. I’m sorry, but $5-$6 for a 25-30k book is obscene. To give you an idea, a book that length is about half the length of a normal Harlequin Desire or Presents (category). Half.

3) Word count matters. I found that I very much appreciated Fictionwise putting the exact word count on the books. Most small presses have a word count range for each book, some a large spread, so you don’t know if you’re buying and getting the low end of 30k or the high end of 60k at that price. I based a lot of my purchasing decisions on Fictionwise’s provided word count. It made for easier shopping and I appreciated that.

4) Sales sell books (at least to me). I ended up doing almost all of my shopping at Fictionwise because of their great anniversary sale. I bought more than I would have otherwise, but the psychology of it also hit me, because when I went to look at other sites, I found myself more reluctant to buy a “full price” book.

The reading experience. At the end of the weekend, I had read 7 books from 6 different presses (still have two presses unread from my weekend purchases):

1) I appreciate good metadata. I put all of my books into Calibre for two reasons: Cataloging and transfer to my Sony. Since most of the books came from Fictionwise, and were multi-format, I believe that means that Fictionwise actually formatted them. And Fictionwise doesn’t have the best metadata. It’s okay, but not great. I know I work for Samhain, but I have to tell you, the metadata kicked ass when I put the books into Calibre. (Yes, Samhain was one of the presses I read this weekend). The Samhain metadata includes title, author name, publisher, release date AND the book blurb. It was beautiful. Now, to be fair, since I didn’t buy direct from the other publishers, I don’t know what their own metadata is like, but for a digital book, metadata is important!

2) The blurb at the front of the book (after the cover) is convenient. Once I’d put the 11 books on my Sony, I didn’t necessarily remember what each was about and I appreciated those publishers who put the blurb at the front of the book. It made it easy for me to decide if that was the book I wanted to read right then.

3) Editing matters. And not all small presses are created equal in editing. I am not critical of small errors that slip in. Boy, wouldn’t that be hypocritical? And I have actually gotten pretty good at turning my internal editor off when needed for pleasure reading. But there were some books where it wasn’t possible to do that and I found myself thinking that I would be reluctant to buy 1) from that press again and 2) that author again. Editing matters and small press needs to do better than traditional press at this, unfortunately, because we come under greater scrutiny. People expect small press epublished books to be badly edited and that’s unfortunate for all of us!

4) A good premise can’t trump bad editing/execution. For me, at least, and I think maybe other readers, I realized that though I appreciated the idea of the story/plot, even the freshness of a good premise was overcome by poor editing and execution. Awkward dialogue, stilted narrative, inconsistent plot threads…those things matter.

5) Explicit words and descriptions don’t make a scene sexy. The eroticism of a scene depends on more than the words/acts the author uses and has her characters engaging in. It depends on the intimacy of the setting, the sensuality of the moment and the connection the characters have to each other, and I have to them. Some authors have an amazing talent writing this.

6) I appreciate small press for its diversity. One thing about the recommendations I got and the books I read, is that they were diverse, not just in genre, but also in length. It was nice to be able to choose a shorter book to read just before bed, but a longer book to indulge in during the day, and to be able to get everything from a m/m/f BDSM romance to sweet contemporary.

I’m ready to load some new books on my Sony (really, I have 100s of unread books on there, but what does that matter?)

Here are the parameters:

It has to be from a digital publisher, not from a large press publisher. I want to support small presses this weekend.

Genre doesn’t matter.

Who’s got something amazing for me to read?

(and yes, I am alive. I’m just taking some time off from blogging. I’ll be back!)

Look what I found last night that’s now available online! It’s the video of my presentation with Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Malle Vallik of Harlequin and Kassia Krozser of Booksquare, Smart Bitches Women Read Ebooks. I’ve only watched the first few minutes, but I do plan on watching it again, to agonize over what I wish I’d said differently, how I looked and how awesomely smart and savvy my panel-mates sound. I was so impressed with how polished they sounded!

You can watch it here if the embedded video below doesn’t work. Oh, and I love how the video is frozen with me in the midst of drinking from the bottle. Lovely.

ETA: After setting up this post last night, I ended up watching the entire 45 minute video because it was like hearing the conversation for the first time, and it was quite interesting. We’re smart women! I think the presentation goes much like a blog post on the topic might, very conversational, with some disagreement, but lots of information. Not too boring at all

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It’s one question, so please take the time to take the poll and retweet or pass it along so I can gather info. Thanks!

I ran this morning, the second day of the Couch to 5k. I might add a page here so I can track my progress without inundating you all with said progress. Today was somehow not as easy as Day 1, but not terrible. I fear for the next week, when I have to run for longer periods of time. Can’t I just do Week 1 forever?

When I got home and got to work, I found the news that Barnes and Noble has purchased Fictionwise for 15.7 million dollars. Congratulations to Fictionwise and the Pendergrasts (the founders of Fictionwise), that must feel amazing.

I also found that Colleen Lindsey had declared today QueryFail Day on Twitter and that she thought I should participate. I hadn’t really intended to read queries today (I was going to edit) but I’m all about joining in and playing along. So I did. All. Day. Long.

If you want to check it out:

Here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23queryfail

or here: http://tweetgrid.com/irc?r=rtt&q=%23Queryfail

And more on QueryFail day here at Colleen’s blog: http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/03/queryfail-day-on-twitter.html

I just want to say that while I did try to do some query wins as well, statistically speaking, the query fail is more likely in an agent/editor’s inbox. We just…get a lot of bad stuff. Especially in the query letter itself. And some of the queries, while not bad enough to fail, aren’t good either.

But QueryFail day was entertaining to both participate in and read, because some of the queries were…oh my. Well, you need to go read for yourself.

I wasn’t as excited about the imminent (and subsequent) arrival of my new Kindle as I should have been, mostly because I knew the file management system hadn’t changed and that meant that my use of the Sony 505 wouldn’t change either.

Initial impressions of the Amazon box are that it’s small, much smaller than the box the old Kindle came in. When I open the Amazon box, I realize that it’s packaging made especially for mailing the Kindle 2. It’s lined with the same type of paper that wraps the Kindle packaging. The Kindle packaging is not as fancy as the original Kindle 1 packaging, which was kind of nice and sturdy. This is very much a temporary-type of packaging. (nice pictures of unboxing the Kindle from Engadget here)

The Kindle itself is much sleeker and thinner. I think it’s ten times more attractive than the original Kindle, but still not as sleek and trim as the Sony. But definitely an improvement over its predecessor. I’m already glad of the smaller buttons, as I had a lot of problems with unintentional page turning before. The buttons on the bottom of the Kindle have lost some of that “chiclet gum” feel and are rounder and slightly more recessed into the device.

I’m not sure what to think about the “joystick” in my initial look. I’ll have to wait and see. I’m happy about the new design as far as the back goes, as well. As Smart Bitch Sarah said, on the Kindle 1, the back would come off “if you sneezed wrong”. They’ve removed the button for turning off the wireless and made it an option on the menu instead. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet either. The wireless does seem to be faster, which it was supposed to be, and it downloaded the content I had waiting (a free copy of Silent in the Sanctuary) immediately, along with my welcome message from Jeff Bezos and a guide about Upgrading Your Content to the new Kindle (which seems relatively easy). One thing I notice is that having the wireless be part of the system, if you try to do something that requires the wireless to be on, and you have it off, the device will ask you if you want to turn it on, then do so and continue with the task.

Several things I’m disappointed about: 1) the Kindle comes with no cover or protective sleeve. Which means an automatic outlay of more money if you have any interested in protecting it at all while in your purse/bag/pocket. 2) They switched from a micro USB to a mini USB, which is a less common USB. And this also means that the iGo tip I bought for the original Kindle is now obsolete and I’ll need to buy a new one. Bugger (on closer look there is no tip for the Kindle 2 at this time. Damnit). 3) No improved file management. And to this I say, WTF, Amazon? That was the ONE improvement I wanted in the Kindle 2. The one thing that might have enticed me over from the Sony and the one thing I point to as a serious drawback to people shopping for a dedicated reader. Well, also the fact that you don’t recognize any DRM formats, including the PRC format. WTF again?

Text-to-Speech. This isn’t really a function I think I’ll use, but I tried it out. One thing to know is that if you stop in the middle of a page, when you start again it will start reading from the top of the page, not from where you stopped. Also, it tends to run things together in an odd way.

The last thing that’s not immediately clear to me is whether the Kindle is charging while plugged into the computer via the USB cord. When plugged in, I see the “charge” symbol flash onto the battery indicator before the USB screen comes up. And the light on the bottom comes on, but a message on the screen states “USB Drive Mode: If you want to use your Kindle and continue charging, please eject your Kindle from the computer.” But the instructions say that if the yellow light is on, then it’s charging. So I’m not sure what the screen message indicates. Something to investigate.

Final first impressions: Being thinner and sleeker, it does fit in my smallish purse, though it’s about an inch longer than the Sony 505. However, that’s without a case, so it depends on whether I can find a case that doesn’t add a lot of extra bulk. If I were going to use this Kindle (I’m not except for demo purposes) I would invest in this M-edge case (along with the optional light) which I wish to the depths of my soul they would make for the Sony. And yes, I did say I won’t be using it. Why? No file management. I love Sony’s tagging system, which allows me to sort my books in a variety of ways, including personal and business use, and I hope that Amazon can fix their unusable (for me) system with a firmware upgrade, rather than waiting another couple years for a whole new device.

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Today and tomorrow Samhain Publishing, myself and ten authors are being featured on RomanceNovelTV.com

I was fortunate to do a video interview with the fabulous Marisa last October while at NJRW, and part of that is up now, so wander over, check out my interview, my blog post and those of the authors in the next two days. Post in the comments over there and win ebooks!

http://www.romancenovel.tv/wordpress/rntv/marias-blog/

I’ve had these two comments flagged to answer in their own post, so I thought I’d better get to them!

Wyzwmn asked

a question if you please

why would you buy an e-reader over a laptop or notebook?
wouldn’t it just be one more tool to haul around?

I actually have a laptop. And an Asus EeePC (mini laptop) that only weighs 2lbs. And an iPhone. And an iPaq (which doesn’t get used at all anymore, but I’m just using it to illustrate my point). When I want to read, I immediately reach for the Sony Reader (I also own a Kindle and an Ebookwise, but the Sony is what I use right now). No other device has been able to replace, for me, using a dedicated reader, no matter how small, portable or otherwise useful it is.

I tried to think of a good analogy, but the only one I could think of was pretty weak. Let’s say you have some sort of ongoing problem with your skin. You could go to your general practicioner but if you have the option, wouldn’t you rather go to a dermatologist? Because they specialize, you know it will be better.

That’s how having a dedicated ereader is for me. Yes, it’s a specialty item but it’s a specialty item that can’t be replaced. Yes, I can read on other devices, but the experience isn’t the same, it’s not as convenient and I don’t care to do it if I don’t have to. One of the things about the newer eink devices (not the Ebookwise) is how easy on the eyes it is to read on. As much as I love ebooks, I’m like many people who say they don’t want to read on the computer. I spend probably an average of 12 hours a day looking at a computer screen. I already notice the effects of that. So when I’m ready to read for pleasure at night, it’s a huge relief to be able to reach for an eink device and be able to read on that.

Now, that said, I’m still a fan of the Ebookwise, which isn’t eink technology but is grayscale and a little less harsh than reading on the computer. Dedicated reading devices still have other advantages, such as the size (close to reading a book), the ease of holding them (easier than holding a book or a laptop) and ease of portability (which no computer or laptop can compete with, not even an Asus Eee PC).

I really love my dedicated device. If something happened to the iPhone, the Eee PC and my readers all at the same time, and I had to choose which to replace, I’d replace the dedicated reader first!

Kerry asked:

Since you mentioned the Kindle and other e-devices, I’d love to ask a question about Samhain books. Is there a schedule or specific timeline for Samhain books to be released for the Kindle? Are *all* books at some point available for Kindle, or only ones that are “proven sellers” on, say, My Bookstore and More first?

I’m also curious about the availability of Samhain books at fictionwise. I prefer to buy some books for my iphone at fictionwise because of their rewards program, but apparently Samhain books on fictionwise are only availabe in secure mobi/lit format. I’m kind of on a book-buying diet until my credit at fictionwise is gone, so it’s a bummer.

We do have a deal with Amazon/Mobipocket to release all books in mobi and Kindle formats, but it’s really up to Amazon when they appear. There are people at Samhain who have put a lot of time and effort into making sure all the books are available, but we’re dependent on Amazon to actually get them there. All we can do is keep emailing and keep asking. That was the long answer. The short answer is that all of our books should be available at all online retailers, if the retailer chooses to carry them.

Fictionwise is a little different. We have not had a contract with Fictionwise until very recently, because we were unable to reach an agreement of terms with them (I have commented on this in the past on other blogs). So Fictionwise was getting our books from Lightning Source, where the majority of online retailers get the books from. Lightning source puts the DRM on them (not Samhain) and makes them available in only a few formats. This was Fictionwise’s only option for carrying our books at that point.

Now that we’ve just reached an agreement with Fictionwise and recently signed the contract, our office staff has been working with Fictionwise to get it up and running. Going forward, very soon, Fictionwise will be offering Samhain books starting with new releases in a variety of formats (I believe unsecured formats). Backlist will hopefully be gradually converted, but that won’t happen right away.

Hope that answered both of your questions and I’m sorry it took me so long to respond. Does anyone else have any pressing questions they’ve been wanting to ask?

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