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What factors into your buying?

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 Ok I’m taking this week off from my publisher cost analysis due to being home sick all week and lack of motivation while sick but I do promise to continue next week. In lieu of that post but still in conjunction with cost analysis and benefit to consumers, I’m curious about the buying habits of readers.

 

Looking at the various offerings of publishers there is anything from a 2500 word 5 minute story to epic long 150,000 word sagas and the corresponding prices of $1 to $8. So when you’re off shopping for your next e-book, what influences you?
 

Let’s leave aside the basics off the plot or genre because of course those are going to be factored in but what about the other tangibles?
 

What about publisher, author, cover, length, cost, blurb, excerpt? These must factor in – or do they?
 

Out of curiosity, I’ve devised a poll below to try to gauge the importance of factors when buying books.  No doubt I’ve left off your *perfect* choice so please feel free to vote and leave comments! 

This is my first poll with LJ and I put the results so that I could see and unfortunately you can’t edit the poll once you finish (unless someone can tell me) so I will be sure to reveal the results ASAP.

POLL!

 

Sunday links

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Although I don’t usually do this, I’m going to throw up some links for those that haven’t read some of the articles yet. It’s really good to know and worth reading – IMO – then we’ll get back to the reviews I promise. 


First up, yesterday Jordan Castillo Price was plagiarized and the work was passed off as fusion fanfic or some such nonsense. You can read about the wank over HERE on JCP’s LJ or her post on Jessewave’s site including some talk about how authors can protect themselves HERE. This is the exact same thing that happened to Zathyn Priest however many months ago with his book. 

Personally I think there are many more examples of this that are never reported so if you happen to read fan fic and notice some odd similarities, please check it out. It may be paranoia but this is a horrible blow to authors. I just don’t believe on any level that these people do not know what they’re doing is wrong. Taking an entire book and changing only the names and perhaps a small detail or two but leaving the entirety of the book intact is no way anywhere close to fanfic and any attempts to lie, explain, or excuse is just smoke to cover their ass.

 

Second, mrs.giggles posted this tidbit about Fictionwise and *le gasp* the checker I was using for shady publishers is a shady publisher!

October 2009 update: troublesome report that the one-time $15 set-up fee now is invoked any time a change or update needs to be made. They have been paying late, and sometimes in error to the author’s disfavor, not corrected; this is harder to track because they have removed real-time figures. They have censored books, removing ”controversial” ones. This sort of thing bothers publishers, but few dare to protest.

Source: Piers Anthony

I do know they are picky about content and have refused to list some twincest titles. I remember authors having to fight to get their titles listed. Doing a quick check I see 4 of the StarCrossed titles up, none of Sage Whistler’s, and Amanda Young’s new twincest. However, their tagging system sucks, their DRM sucks, and frankly I wouldn’t shop at FW unless it was the last e-tailer alive. But I do like the word counts : D.  Shady Fictionwise, very shady.

 

Lastly, over on Loose Id they have a new feature called “Editors Picks” where their editors pick their favorite books. There are a TON of m/m titles listed (which probably will be crucified by certain blogs to show Loose Id is way too m/m centric – god forbid) but it also shows that my taste is very different from some of their editors and perhaps that explains why I think their quality has taken a nose dive. Some of the “favorites” listed I wouldn’t use to line my cat’s litter box. But on the plus side they do have some greats up there like Faith & Fidelity, Immortality is the Suck, one of the Heaven Sent series. I wish they listed editor name so I know whose judgment to trust but check it out.  

x-rated comic under the cut for some sunday enjoyment..

Pricing Cont’d – Samhain Publishing

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Welcome back to the pricing series where I look at various publishers (e-pubs) and do an in-depth analysis on the cost we readers/consumers are paying for our prized fiction. Being a lover of fiction I’m pretty much going to pay whatever a group charges but hearing grumbling, I’m attempting to show for good or bad if the pricing is reliable, consistent, and ultimately worth your money. The last is obviously something only you can decide.
 

Now I’ve looked at 3 publishers so far and found:
Dreamspinner Press (DSP) to be consistent but somewhat pricey
Torquere Press (TQ) to be inconsistent but somewhat inexpensive — depending on the line
loveyoudivine Press (LYD) to be inconsistent and expensive

 

So what about Samhain?

Well I found them to be both consistent and inexpensive! Hey, I’m as shocked as you so let’s break it down.

Usually associated with reader comments of excellent editing and a strong stable of authors, many have often lamented the m/m selection is too small. Now sticking with pricing, the website states the following:

 

Our pricing philosophy

Samhain believes the price of an ebook should be less than a print book; after all, it doesn’t need to be printed, stored or shipped! Why should it equal the cost of a print book? Samhain is dedicated to delivering excellent books at reasonable prices.

Short Stories:

$2.50

12,000 to 18,000 words

Novellas:

$3.50

18,001 to 35,000 words

Category:

$4.50

35,001 to 60,000 words

Novel:

$5.50

60,001 to 100,000 words

Plus Novel:

$6.50

over 100,000 words

 

Thanks Samhain! Like other publishers, this makes it pretty easy for readers. Now, as with other publishers I can’t just take their word for it. After all, sneakiness is rampant so let’s see what Samhain has to say for their books themselves.

Unfortunately Samhain doesn’t list word counts so I can only go by what I’ve found either on my own conversion or on FW, however I will clarify which is which. There is still some discrepancy with FW counts and I’m working on a solution.


But to continue on in the discussion of Samhain, they use a site called “MyBookstore and More” for their e-book sales when buying directly from the publisher. This works like Fictionwise or ARe as an e-tailer with several publishers. Unfortunately I found this site somewhat clunky and difficult to maneuver around with the print books mixed in with e-books and there is no way to separate genre within the subset of publisher. This site also doesn’t list word counts but there are quite a few discounts I found right off the bat that may be interesting. So like other publishers, you need to be aware and price shop to find the best price.

[Not sure when this turned into basement e-book shopping but it is annoying to pay more for the same product so let’s go with that.]

Checking word counts over at Fictionwise for range, it appears as though Samhain is generally right in their listings. I couldn’t find any listing for a book shorter than 14,000 words and all my personally bought books come over 20k words at least on conversion. The 20,000 to 22,000 range and 35,000 to 40,000 range seems to be a bit in flux as there are several back and forth at $2.50/$3.50 and $4.50/$5.50.

 

For example:

20,235 for $3.50 FW / My count is 20,250 /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b89824/Monster-/Joely-Skye/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/monster

 

20,637 for $2.50 FW / My count is 20,603 /MbM lists as $2.50 Short Story 

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90528/Sleight-of-Hand/Katrina-Strauss/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/sleight-of-hand

 

20,716 for $2.50 FW / No count from me  /MbM lists as $2.50 Short Story

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90258/Not-in-Kansas/R-G-Alexander/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/not-in-kansas

 

21,641 for $3.50 FW / My count is 21,701 /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b83091/Object-of-His-Desire/Ava-March/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/object-of-his-desire

 

37,231 for $3.50 FW / My count is 36,942 /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella 

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b94032/His-Convenient-Husband/J-L-Langley/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/his-convenient-husband

 

37,131 for $4.50 FW / No count from me /MbM lists as $4.50 Category 

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b95450/72-Hours/Shannon-Stacey/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/72-hours

 

39,547 for $3.50 FW / No count from me /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90604/Miss-Firecracker-/Lorelei-James/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/miss-firecracker

 

39,310 for $4.50 FW / No count from me /MbM lists as $4.50 Category

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90510/Riptide-Love-/Melissa-Lopez/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/riptide-love

 

Now is this because Samhain is inconsistent – which really is the key, consistency in publisher pricing – or is it as previously pointed out to me, a conversion mistake?

So far Samhain seems pretty good on pricing unless you get into the ambiguous ranges of 20k to 22k or 35k to 40k. You could be paying $1 more for your story for less words if we can believe the counts. But, can we? My own counts (taking a PDF and doing the word count in MS Word brings the counts very similar to what FW lists) say that these areas are gray and consumers may be overcharged or undercharged leading to quite a bit of inconsistency. You may not be getting your money’s worth in these areas. 

 

How does Samhain break down in pricing?

Well their shorter stories are pretty expensive (20k for $2.50 or $3.50) but they gradually cost less as the word count increases. The following is based on their internal pricing structure listed on the website.

 

 

Now when averaging the word count and cost, I had to go by FW numbers and it’s been shown FW sometimes counts differently than what the publisher would. So keep this in mind. But doing an internal comparison of FW numbers (my only source) you can at least see the averages of those books for the FW listed cost/count. 

 

Novels – AVG 78,040 words for $5.50

Category – AVG 52,600 words for $4.50

Novella – AVG 32,700 words for $3.50

Short Stories – AVG 18,800 words for $2.50

 

Now, how does that compare to other publishers?

As I have with other pricing comparisons, I use an internal standard of Fictionwise counts. So if they are all off, they should all be off by the same amount and thus the comparison still stands.

 

 

Since Samhain doesn’t produce shorter stories like the other publishers, they come late into the game count wise, let’s focus tighter on that. According to the data, it seems Samhain is actually your best cost wise.  

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:

It seems Samhain is the best cost wise for books when comparing among the publishers (so far). They also have pretty good consistency which I personally find key to the whole process. No matter what the individual reader may feel is worth their money, it’s important to feel confident in your choices.

There does seem to be some variation in Samhain pricing to word count but for the most part this actually seems to play in the consumer’s favor in offering higher (by FW) word counts for a lower cost. On the flip side there are several up and down examples of paying the same cost or more for a lower word count book.* I’m going to say this is provisional since it lands in that mystery area that may be a conversion issue.

Either way the trend with the publisher is pretty much clear. Somewhat surprising since I really thought Samhain would come out as one of the more expensive and readers may pass this off due to the usually good covers and reputed great editing. In my own experience Samhain works vary from very clean to somewhat clean and a total wreck. They do tend to be more clean than not, from an average readers’ perspective.  

So from this perspective, you’re getting the most for your dollar at Samhain so far.

Is it worth it though?

Well only you can decide that.

As always.. your thoughts? 

 

Pen Names… evil or necessary?

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The concept of various pseudonyms has long been a hot button for readers and authors alike.

There are no real set standard rules about such. Some well-known print authors have numerous pen names. Some shift around until they find one they like and others hop from pen name to pen name depending on genre and even publisher. For example a well-known and best selling romance author Jayne Ann Krentz is also Jayne Bentley, Amanda Quick, Jayne Castle, Stephanie James, Jayne Taylor, and Amanda Glass. Thankfully JAK has always had a full listing of her various pen names (they changed with publisher) and has cut down on the number she uses. Her choice, but confusing for fans. As a reader I often was frustrated and angry at her continual changing of pen names and wanted to slap her (sorry!) and ask she pick just one. My opinion only there! She did make it easy with listing a full book list with the various pen names on her website but that’s a lot of names.

Someone else mentioned the Nora Roberts/JD Robb pseudonyms. When the JD Robb series came out, Nora Roberts said everywhere that she wrote it. I personally was reading NR at the time and that’s the sole reason I started buying/reading the JD Robb series. When you buy a JD Robb book now and even back with the very first JD Robb book there is a list of other Nora Roberts titles right on the inside. There was never an attempt to hide that this is the same author. In fact NR was smart and capitalized on her market but used the different pseudo to separate the entire series. The only thing JD Robb puts out is the Eve Dallas series.

Now other mainstream authors use various different pen names as well. There is rather widespread acceptance of an author changing pen names for genre switches; such as romance to mystery or young adult or inspirational to erotic romance. Here in the e-published world authors also try to differentiate among their erotic romance. If an author pens m/m and m/f, sometimes they’ll use different pen names so the readers know what they’re getting. For example, JL Langley does this. JL Langley is her m/m pseudonym and Jeigh Lynn is her m/f pseudonym. Again, this is clearly stated on her website as well.

There are other examples as when authors group up and co-write and as well when an author just feels another pen name is necessary for whatever reason. An author may choose to make new pen names for every single book they publish – this is absolutely their choice.

Now, as a reader/consumer how does this practice affect you?

Well it depends. When authors are open and obvious about their pen names well clearly you are given every opportunity to avoid or follow the author into their new pen name. For example with JAK’s various names if you do a search the name is associated with say her “biggest” pen name so you can choose whether that writing style is one you’ll want to read. For authors that attempt to hide their pen names, is it devious? Does it really matter?

It’s a courtesy you could say for an author to list all their various names making it easy on the reader should they choose to do their homework about an author. In some ways it’s in the best interest of an author to carry a fan base but differentiate the writing. For others it’s a genre shift, completely out of erotic romance (for example) to mainstream or historical.

There are well known e-published erotic romance authors that also write young adult and some make their new pen names known and others do not. Some have stated they don’t want to make the connection between the two names on purpose. Young adults looking for more books by a name stumbling onto an erotic romance backlist, well that makes sense. I do know that I’ve personally emailed a YA author and they gave me their erotic romance pen name for other books.

Other authors use a variety of pen names as a way of hiding or seeming to be different authors. These authors may publish within the same publisher and there is a reasonable expectation that the average reader would have no idea they are reading the same author. Now this is the practice that tends to bother me as a consumer. If I happen to dislike an author, how do I know to avoid that author when they are penning things under multiple names? I’d have to avoid the publisher entirely to be absolutely sure I’m not wasting my money. What happens when the author goes to lengths to hide their various pen names as well?

Also I don’t want to get into a genre debate about the various categories of cowboys versus marines or contemporaries versus historical. Our little pond is rather small and authors have successfully written in all categories without needing to have different names for each. And if all such categories can appear in the same mix at a publisher, then how is the reader to know? Cowboys are mixed in with marines and next to werewolves. So why would your average reader expect that all three of those would have different author names but by the same author.

Since this was brought up in the TQ pricing thread, the owners of TQ have gone to lengths to hide their various different pen names. The owner/author who pens under Sean Michael has even flatly lied about that pseudonym. A long time back Teddy Pig (and subsequently Karen Knows Best) did a story about the Case of the Poison Pen Names over at TQ. Most supporters said it doesn’t matter but a lot of consumers felt they were being lied to. Teddy raised some interesting questions. A year later and this debate still continues, perhaps in other publishers as well. I don’t want to harp on TQ because they are just one fish in a sea of publishers. The issue just reminded me of Teddy’s post. So what about another publisher? I admit, I’m not that savvy with various pen names so I’m certain it happens elsewhere. Anyone have examples?

But the end result is – does it really matter? It IS the author’s prerogative to have numerous pen names– absolutely. But on the same note, it’s the consumer’s prerogative to feel lied to as well. Does it boil down to ensuring that the consumer can make an educated choice? I think this what hinges it for me personally. If an author wants to have several pen names, I may not understand it but I want to know I can still feel confident in my purchases. For example I read a book recently by a “new to me” pen name, I can’t find any information online, no website, no bio but the style is close to an author I’d prefer not buy. How can I know if it’s the same author? Do I have a right? My head is spinning!

I actually started a list of authors and their pen names (like you’re shocked I’m that anal). But again this can only be guesswork since not all authors acknowledge their various names. Should there be a standard for something so subjective?

So really there is no right or wrong unfortunately but only opinions and choices by authors and consumers alike. 

Since I know you’ve got ‘em…go ahead! Let me know your thoughts on pen names. One thing though – this is a debate about OPINIONS! As you know the saying of everyone having them, please respect that someone can disagree and that doesn’t make them wrong.

 

    

 

New Rainbow Reviews

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Another week over at Rainbow Reviews and only a few to report. Unfortunately I didn’t really like any of the offerings over there and I read a newly named duo (who I SWEAR is actually a pair of existing authors/duo).  So that’s not so much fun.  I also took a chance on a mystery sounding book, self published, before I realized the author was from Ravenous Romance. That’s ok but wow… self published is not always good sadly. But check the reviews out if interested :

Chasing Victory by Tory Temple

The Night Caller by Clancy Nacht

Unholy Matrimony by Audra Beagle and Chloe West

 

Coming up this week on the little blog here will be a couple of reviews. I have Patient Eyes, the new DSP and also an old Emily Veinglory historical. There will be one other new release and one other backlist review to round out the week. Additionally on Friday the pricing series will continue with Samhain – taking a short break from TQ part 2 – and on weds the hotly debated pseudonym post. Fun fun fun. 

a lil hot green chili for ya under the cut…

E-Book Pricing Contd – Torquere Press

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Now when I started this pricing project, people immediately told me to look at Torquere. However, I was skeptical considering that they have a pretty well defined (to me, the casual buyer) price structure and though it may edge one side of the other – I figured it was pretty well set in stone. Little did I realize how right those people were when I looked more closely at their pricing.

So next up on the block is Torquere Press. Well known for shoddy editing and sketching practices, their owners publishing likely more than half the backlist under various pseudonyms but really – does any of that matter to you, the reader? Do you really care that Sean Michaels is actually BA Tortuga? Do you really care if it’s all about the sex? Well the editing should matter since it’s non-existent at TQ but let’s look at pricing since that’s the point of this pricing series.

 

Over at TQ they have NUMEROUS book lines and dozens of different titles so how can you find what you need to know?

Breaking it down for you the “general” guidelines for TQ are as follows:

  • Novel – 50,000 – 100,000 words  — $5.95
  • Novel – 100,000 words and up — $6.95
  • Novella – 20-45,000 words — $3.95
  • Novelette – 10-20,000 words  — $2.49
  • Short Stories – Under 10,000 words  — $1.29

However, keep in mind that TQ is a sneaky ass publisher. They include the author bio and press credits in the word count. I know, I’ve checked. So that page at the front or back with the Publisher info and author bio is included in the final word count and calculated into the cost YOU PAY.  Check any of their listed word counts against some place like FW or do your own word doc check. You’ll see the difference.

 

Just an example I picked at random:

FW claims this book is 9754 words:

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b63715/More-Rockhounds-3/CB-Potts/?si=0

 

TQ claims it’s 10000 words:

http://www.torquerepress.com/fiction/chaser_rh006.html

 

Who do you believe?

According to TQ they can charge you another $1.20 for that book above. But technically they shouldn’t according to their own guidelines. There are more examples too. If you look there are dozens of examples of books that are actually less than 10,000 words but put into the more expensive category ($2.49) and listed at 10,000 words. Nice lying publisher!

Not to mention most of the word counts I found are towards the lower end of each category for the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY and I’d watch out how they’re skimming extra money from you. Perhaps this is standard in publishing, but something to watch as it’s a known fact with TQ. 

 

Now what about the dozens of various lines they have?

These prices are all the listed prices from the TQ publisher website. We’ll get into the FW cost and “real” cost later.* 

Keep in mind ALL of these word counts are based off TQ publisher listed word count and since a MAJORITY tended to be at the lower end, think about what you’re really paying for and what they are counting.

Anyway –

 

250 Novels                      $5.95 or $6.95 — 45,000 words to 130,000

66 Arcana                       $2.49  — 10,000 words to 27,000 AVG:15,000 words

11 Birthstones                 $2.49  — 10,000 words to 21,000 AVG:13,500 words

11 Everyday Spectres      $3.95  — 20,000 words to 28,500 AVG: 27,000 words

10 Games People Play      $3.95  — 20,000 words to 28,500 AVG: 22,500 words

40 High Balls                   $3.95  —

79 Chasers                      $2.49  — *see below

  0 Cherry Bombs

52 Single Shots                $2.49  — 10,000 words to 23,500 AVG:13,500 words

58 Single Shot Classics     $2.25  — These are old Single Shots Discounted so see above.

11 Spurs and Saddles       $3.95  — 20,000 words to 28,500 AVG: 21,000 words

10 Spice it Up                  $2.49  — 10,000 words to 15,000 AVG: 13,000 words

260 Sips                          $1.29  — 3,000 words to 10,000 AVG: 4,500 words

 

 

Now, is any of this worth your money?

The above was a ton of work looking at every book available on TQ in the various lines and their word count and price as listed on the TQ site. So therefore I didn’t do every single book line, especially the higher count ones. I think you can forgive such. There are a few outliers in every group that are higher than the others and priced oddly. Such as there is one Arcana at 29,600 words and priced at $3.95.

 

The chasers though – this is a total money sink.

Now Chasers are series stories that range from 9,700 words to 24,000 words per story and the stories range from 2 parts to 6 parts. Each chaser is $2.49. Now think about that a minute because the majority of stories are under 13,000 word count. I know. I checked every single one.  

There are 23 chaser series currently available – a total of 77 books. The average word count for any one chaser is 13,600 words. Chasers tend to be 3 parts but can be as large as 6 parts. The average COMBINED word count for all parts is 47,000 words, which according to TQ that would be $3.95. TOTAL! Instead you’ve paid $2.49 x 3 ($7.47) or sometimes $2.49 x 6 ($14.94). 

The word count for the three 6 part stories, which cost you $14.94 total:

60,500 words total with an average of 10,080 words per installment

75,300 words total with an average of 12,500 words per installment

94,200 words total with an average of 15,700 words per installment

 

If you bought it together as one novel, the entire cost would be $5.95.

Not quite a good investment hmm? Of course TQ knows this and is discontinuing their Chaser series because readers are unhappy with pricing. Rightfully so. When will the line stop? Not sure but beware if you buy older series, it’s simply not worth your hard earned cash.

 

So now you’re all numb with numbers – what does this all mean for a consumer?

It means that you need to be pretty savvy to get your money’s worth out of TQ. Check cost of FW and ARe versus cost at TQ and check word counts! Some 10,000 word count stories are pretty sneaky and stuck into the higher charge bracket when they should be sips. Nothing you can do about it if you want the book but you should be aware that TQ is playing fast and loose with their word counts. Their listed costs from the top are *generally* correct IF you keep in mind that you’re paying the cost for the low end of the range, not the high end (ie. the 3,000 word Sip and the 10,000 word Novella).  There’s a whole ‘nother post in this if I tried to break down the shitty job TQ does with pricing on e-tailers. It’s ridiculous! And really this post is epic as it is… perhaps to come.

 

Cost Analysis:

They are kind of all over the place since their word counts are iffy. You could pay $2.49 for a 27,000 word book (currently discounted for $1.99 thats a steal!) and also pay $3.95 for a 20,000 word book in a different line. There are several books like this. Almost the entire "Studs and Spurs" line is a rip off – partly because it’s almost entirely owner authored. 

Examples!

$2.49 for 24,800 (FW lists as 24,683)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_88&products_id=1957

$2.49 for 22,500 (FW lists as 23,010)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_88&products_id=1209

$2.49 for 22,200 (FW lists as 22,137)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_88&products_id=1833

$3.95 for 25,800 (FW lists as 25,714)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=1963

$3.95 for 20,000 (FW lists as 20,087)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=300 

$3.95 for 20,500 (FW lists as 20,481)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=689

$3.95 for 19,500 (FW lists as 19,444)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_87&products_id=1786

$2.49 for 19,350 (FW lists as 18,579)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_91&products_id=1766

So clearly, their numbers are not only sneaky but they’re all over for what they charge. Based on TQ numbers this is the breakdown in cost:

 

So we know TQ is milking your money and the savvy consumer picks and chooses which lines are worth it, but on average how do they compare with other publishers? They compare with Dreamspinner for short stories but are surprisingly the best cost per word for some until you add in the inflation for the chasers. So if we KNOW that TQ is poor pricing, what does this say for DSP and LYD? Not good things in general.

*since this is based on TQ numbers and we don’t trust those, I’ll be doing a "real" comparison with FW listed word counts. This is a lot of work and didn’t have time for this post. 

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:

Unfortunately I don’t have one right now. Due to the word discrepancy I can only say this is part 1 of two parts. It’s clear TQ is skewing the word counts and ultimately YOUR COST. But it appears – so far – to be better than Dreamspinner and LYD by TQ numbers. Will that hold out? 

As always – your thoughts!

 

Busy Days

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Not sure about others but summer has been extremely busy for me. I keep hoping it’ll slow down in the fall – last October I think I travelled for most of it and read almost 3 books a day. Now I’m lucky if I read a book a day and several days I haven’t read at all *gasp*. Trust me, it pains me too!

So that of course means my reviews have fallen off some. Sorry!

I’ve also had a rash of DNF. Usually I read the entire book no matter what but with the time crunch if the book doesn’t interest me immediately, it gets put down and forgotten.

On the DNF list:

Putting Out The Fires by Sienna Black  – ugh on many levels. Bad world building, no characterization. Plot fell apart. I stopped at pg 70 out of 100. 

Star Flyer by Bonnie Dee – see HERE for why I started and gave up. Even skipping to the end didn’t help.

 

On the meh list:

Unlikely Hero by Sean Michael – surprisingly almost no sex and the little girl is pretty cute. However no way would a 3 yr old act like that and about halfway through I was sick of her, even though she was cute. Repetitive scene after repetitive scene. PLEASE write something new or don’t waste my money recycling. kkthx

 

On the great list:

Maritime Men by Janey Chapel – this fabulous novella is about a pair of SEALs who discover passion during their intense training. Although there is no real happy ending, just a happy for now, this is entirely fitting due to the capricious nature of the military. Added to that are the fabulous characters, intense passion, and almost casual acceptance of their needs and desires without any major drama – this book is just full of win.

The men are masculine men with needs, desires, opinions, and intense passions but have a marked lack of drama and angst associated with their actions. They need or want sex and they have it – hot, rough, and sweaty – but they don’t cry and agonize over the fact it’s with another man. Instead they seize the time and moments they can, revel in their choices and worry about the future later. I easily recommend this novella and it’s been garnering solid reviews as well.

 

There are new reviews coming down the pike, I promise.
Plus tomorrow my pricing comparison continues with the always fun Torquere Press. Don’t you want to know!