Tips, tricks and hacks for readers, to make your reading life easier. Plus news and gossip.
Of course, you’re on the hunt for the best romances out there. Nobody picks up a book thinking, “I hope this is mediocre.” But here’s the thing: using best-seller lists, “top author” rankings, “Best of” compilations, or any similar lists to find great romances? That’s one of the worst ways to discover the truly amazing […]
Why Best-Seller Lists Are the Worst Way to Find the Best Romances Read More »
If you’ve been in the book community for any length of time, you probably already know that publishing has transformed in a huge way. Digital books, self-publishing platforms, and audiobook giants have given authors so many new avenues to share their stories with you. But let’s step off the well-trodden paths of traditional publishing and big online bookstores for a moment and explore a more exciting alternative: crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon.
Other Places to Find Good Books: Kickstarter and Other Crowdfunding Read More »
This is Part Nine of a series: The current economy, world-wide, would be better served, everyone keeps telling us, if we buy local, and buy direct. But we (you and me) buy ebooks. How do you buy them locally? Buying from an author, when they offer their books for sale directly from their site, is
Other Places to Find Good Books: Direct Sales Read More »
Where to Find Fantasy Romance (Other than the Fantasy Romance shelf) Regardless of which retailer you use to acquire new books, do you shop for books via the categories? Or the search bar? Often, you know exactly what book you want, and a quick search is good for that. The title has been recommended, or
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This is Part Eight of a series: Book bundles are enormous fun. You get a stack of books for a price that is usually much less than you would pay if you bought each book individually. Retailers will also bundle books — usually all the books in a series. Google Play and Amazon do this
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This is Part Seven of a series: I suspect that many readers are familiar with acquiring books via BookFunnel promos. StoryOrigin is similar. Authors collectively provide a book each, sometimes more than one, for a group promotion. A landing page is built with all the books in the promotion on it. Then each author in
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Reading Goals for 2024 Fun Ways to Whittle Your TBR Pile (Or Add to It) It’s just gone the middle of January, which means that if you’re a perfectionist, like me, started a year-long project now will make your skin crawl. But that’s actually a really good reason to start now. Projects and plans aren’t
Reading Goals for 2024 Read More »
This is Part Six of a series: Libraries are yet another place where you can acquire stories. I get a lot of email from readers who are on fixed incomes, or living off very low incomes, who would buy my books if they could afford them. I always direct them to check with their local
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There are a number of printers who produce Print on Demand copies of books these days. Amazon is the one most readers have heard of. But there is also Ingram, and Lulu Press. And a newcomer to the scene, the British company BookVault, who have print facilities in the US, so I can print and
Who do you buy your print copies from? Read More »
This is Part Six of a series: _______________ Fiction Apps are applications that you download and install to your phone or tablet, or that you can read on your laptop or desktop, if you prefer, and if the app has a browser-based site. I have no experience with fiction apps at all, but I know
Other Places to Find Good Books: Fiction Apps Read More »