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Amazon First Reads -- April 2020

3K views 21 replies 9 participants last post by  Ann in Arlington 
#1 ·
#3 ·
I swear, multiple First Reads books every month are about "a loving family, the perfect life, and the dark secret that will tear it all apart." Yawn... Enough already! ::)

telracs said:
also, for those of you with audible accounts, don't forget to look for your fee audiobooks.
How and where do we find these? How long has this been going on?

The only thing I see on Audible.com is two free books if you become a member (which I'm not).
 
#7 ·
I'm thinking of (yet again, despite no kids & no kiddie-visitors in the offing) adding to my children's books collection.

I do still have my beloved Teddy, who has helped me through thick & thin over the years despite long periods of lack-of-attention on my part -- and he continues to forgive me!
He doesn't go quite as far back as WWII but he did come along not much later. :)
 
#8 ·
CS said:
I swear, multiple First Reads books every month are about "a loving family, the perfect life, and the dark secret that will tear it all apart." Yawn... Enough already! ::)

How and where do we find these? How long has this been going on?

The only thing I see on Audible.com is two free books if you become a member (which I'm not).
if you are already an audible member, make sure you are logged in, then search for audible originals. Actually, it's right on the splash page for me, i just clicked on it and got the whole list of April selections.
 
#9 ·
I forgot to pick a book in October, so I started tracking the one I wanted - Your Perfect Year - and it's now free (presumably for a limited time).

Makes me wonder how many of these First Reads eventually become general freebies. I should start tracking the ones I want on those rare months there are 2-3 I like.

(BTW, is it just me or is Link Maker broken for anyone else?)
 
#10 ·
CS said:
I forgot to pick a book in October, so I started tracking the one I wanted - Your Perfect Year - and it's now free (presumably for a limited time).

Makes me wonder how many of these First Reads eventually become general freebies. I should start tracking the ones I want on those rare months there are 2-3 I like.

(BTW, is it just me or is Link Maker broken for anyone else?)
Link Maker is broken for everybody, has been for weeks. No response from new admin to questions from many.
 
#11 ·
crebel said:
Link Maker is broken for everybody, has been for weeks. No response from new admin to questions from many.
Who is the new admin?

The admin section of this board is woefully out of date (there's still a sticky from Harvey, who passed away many years ago). :(

I just saw that Ann in Arlington stepped down as an admin last year, which is sad news. I would've just banned the four people who kept reporting each other, and called it a day. Probably why I'm not an admin. :p
 
#12 ·
I don't know that there is, officially, an individual who is an an admin. There's vsAdmin who is supposed to be, real name Phillip, but he hasn't done much except, soon after the purchase of the board, curtail some of the powers Betsy and I had. She WAS an admin, but most of those powers were stripped. I was a Global Mod and some of mine were as well.

Betsy pretty much backed away shortly after the transfer -- lots of personal stuff happening that took up her time and, as for me, it just wasn't enjoyable any more. I knew when I began dreading logging in, that it was time for me to step away. But when I advised management I'd no longer act as a moderator, there was no response but a tepid 'thank you'. My name was not removed from any of the places where I was listed, and I still have the same permissions. So there's definitely a lack of interest in what happens here, it seems to me.

At this point, if I see obviously spammy posts I delete 'em and ban the member. Becca Mills is still keeping the WC corralled, but it's been much less chaotic in there of late -- many of the real problem people are gone, not necessarily voluntarily, and there are only a handful she feels like we need to still keep an eye on.

Neither she nor I have any power to fix anything broken on the site. Never did.

Bottom line: don't expect the LinkMaker to be fixed any time soon. Or, really, any response from the management on anything. They're pretty much absentee landlords at this point. :(

MEANWHILE. You can manually make a link. Go to the link maker page, and note the italicized words at the bottom of the search field:

(Note: the older, manual version of Link-Maker is available here.)

The word 'here' on that page is a link to Harvey's ORIGINAL Link-Maker and I've just confirmed that it does work. It builds the links for you to copy and paste.

A text link just uses the ASIN. For a picture link, "Image URL" also requires you go to the book page and 'copy image location' (NOT copy image). A bit more cumbersome, but it works.
 
#13 ·
Good information, Ann. I had forgotten about the "original" version of Link-Maker and did not realize it was still accessible.

Are you still able to create a sticky post? This information as well as the information from Becca about signature lines in this post, https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,143085.msg3884761.html#msg3884761 would be helpful to have in one place to point people towards.
 
#15 ·
So basically we are just at the whim of whoever still pays the bills to keep the door open. Whenever that hosting bill lapses, I guess its lights out? Sigh.  :(
I better prepare myself to lose my most beloved huge Historical romance thread in the book corner then. And all the beloved folks that go with it.

I just been pulling links from amazon and delete everything after the ebook number. ASIN or whatever.
 
#16 ·
Atunah said:
So basically we are just at the whim of whoever still pays the bills to keep the door open. Whenever that hosting bill lapses, I guess its lights out? Sigh. :(
I better prepare myself to lose my most beloved huge Historical romance thread in the book corner then. And all the beloved folks that go with it.

I just been pulling links from amazon and delete everything after the ebook number. ASIN or whatever.
Atunah, do you do Facebook at all? Because it would be pretty easy for us to create our own facebook historical romance readers group and keep sharing book information with each other that way. It is easy to post links there too. It might actually be a lot better than staying here, as the KB site slowly breaks down.

Would anyone else have an interest in doing something like that? Just moving our thread to another home? We could either make the fb group public, or require new members to be invited by current members.
 
#19 ·
Pretty lousy month overall... I grabbed the Romance, because even though it seems like a very silly and trite rom-com formula setup, it was the only sample that actually held my interest for more than ten seconds.

Ann in Arlington said:
I don't know that there is, officially, an individual who is an an admin. There's vsAdmin who is supposed to be, real name Phillip, but he hasn't done much except, soon after the purchase of the board, curtail some of the powers Betsy and I had. She WAS an admin, but most of those powers were stripped. I was a Global Mod and some of mine were as well.

Betsy pretty much backed away shortly after the transfer -- lots of personal stuff happening that took up her time and, as for me, it just wasn't enjoyable any more. I knew when I began dreading logging in, that it was time for me to step away. But when I advised management I'd no longer act as a moderator, there was no response but a tepid 'thank you'. My name was not removed from any of the places where I was listed, and I still have the same permissions. So there's definitely a lack of interest in what happens here, it seems to me.

At this point, if I see obviously spammy posts I delete 'em and ban the member. Becca Mills is still keeping the WC corralled, but it's been much less chaotic in there of late -- many of the real problem people are gone, not necessarily voluntarily, and there are only a handful she feels like we need to still keep an eye on.

Neither she nor I have any power to fix anything broken on the site. Never did.

Bottom line: don't expect the LinkMaker to be fixed any time soon. Or, really, any response from the management on anything. They're pretty much absentee landlords at this point. :(

MEANWHILE. You can manually make a link. Go to the link maker page, and note the italicized words at the bottom of the search field:

(Note: the older, manual version of Link-Maker is available here.)

The word 'here' on that page is a link to Harvey's ORIGINAL Link-Maker and I've just confirmed that it does work. It builds the links for you to copy and paste.

A text link just uses the ASIN. For a picture link, "Image URL" also requires you go to the book page and 'copy image location' (NOT copy image). A bit more cumbersome, but it works.
This entire post makes me very sad. :(

What is the point of buying the rights to a community as special as KBoards if you're not going to do anything with it except let it languish?

Is there a possibility it could eventually disappear without warning? I really hope not!
 
#20 ·
CS said:
Pretty lousy month overall... I grabbed the Romance, because even though it seems like a very silly and trite rom-com formula setup, it was the only sample that actually held my interest for more than ten seconds.

This entire post makes me very sad. :(

What is the point of buying the rights to a community as special as KBoards if you're not going to do anything with it except let it languish?

Is there a possibility it could eventually disappear without warning? I really hope not!
They won't shut it down as long as it makes money for 'em.
 
#21 ·
I keep reporting spam when I see it but as I'm still listed as a moderator on some boards, I just get an email from myself! Not sure if anyone else out there (apart from Ann) is responding to spam reports.

I agree with CS - the whole situation is so sad after everyone worked so very hard for years to make KB a cut above the average forum. I guess I'll keep checking in so long as there are a few boards/posts that interest me and the spammers don't take over.

On the original topic of this thread - has anyone actually read any of April's choices - were they any good?
 
#22 ·
I DO ban spammers and delete their posts. Sometimes I see them when browsing; sometimes they're reported, so please do so when you see them. Becca does as well, when she can, but I know she's busier with kids and a job and now everything at home. But she does keep an eye on things, especially in the WC. Most spammers seem to post in what's the middle of the night here, so I see the reports from Linda or other UK folks first thing in the morning. OR I see 'new' messages that are clearly spam and deal with 'em straight away.



BACK ON TOPIC: I didn't get one this month. But, hey! Tomorrow is a new month! :D If ever there's a time for a whole bunch of cozy mysteries, it's now! ;)
 
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