[MichelleR]

Aw, go ahead, list some genres. (And visit the sites, of course!  )

 

[MichelleR]

Thanks, I'll do that. I've already ordered several from those in author's sigs here.

As for genres (as someone asked):

--SHTF/end of civilization (but generally not a zombie fan)
--homicide/mystery with alot of forensic detail
--science fiction (but not much fantasy)
--women in the (US) West
--world history
--nature guides and natural history
--evolutionary psychology
--epidemiology

(Probably not much in the indie world on the last 2 or 3)

Have you read J.A. Konrath/Jack Kilborn? Should match the homicide interest and, perhaps, the sci-fi too.

I don't know if this veers too much into fantasy, but you might like:



This is a dystopian future-y thing. (I have it to lend, if you want.)



I own this one, but have not read it. The authors have good reputation though -- can also lend this one:



There are tons of indies around these parts -- though a lot of them hide out on just a couple boards. Still, you should end up finding a lot of great choices.

 

[MichelleR]

Thanks, I'll look into those. I think I have Land of Ash, hard copy.

What is lending in Kindle-speak?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200549320

 

[MichelleR]

I would never mark a book down because of price. People can see the price and make their own decisions. And, few people who do mark the books down return the amend the ratings later on.

For your reading enjoyment, the first 10 books I bought for Kindle and what the prices were then and now:

2/13/09 Ur/Stephen King/2.99/3.19
2/13/09 On Writing/Stephen King/7.99/12.99
2/13/09 Dark Passions: Hot Blood XIII/horror anthology/9.99/9.99
2/13/09 Dead Sea/Brian Keene/6.39/7.95
2/13/09 Revolutionary Road/Richard Yates/7.99/7.99
2/13/09 Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don't/Richard Losier/9.99/9.99
2/13/09 Lamb/Christopher Moore/8.76/10.99
2/13/09 Power of Intention/Wayne Dyer/8.14/9.66
2/13/09 Your Scandalous Ways/Loretta Chase/5.59/6.99
2/13/09 North of Beautiful/Justina Chen Headley/9.99/7.99
2/13/09 Nick and Norah's Infinite Play List/Rachel Cohn and David Levithan/6.39/7.99

 

[MichelleR]

I understand your point, but we base our evaluation of many products partially on whether they offer fair value. "Don't buy this book as a summer read as it just isn't worth it for the money" is a valid review after reading the book.

If a review talks about the book, and you can see for yourself the size of the book and the price, why do you need someone to mark it down for that reason? A review is to tell people something they don't know. Reviewers get a hard time for reading part of a book and saying they couldn't finish, because of the very unlikely possibility they would have liked it more if they'd continued. "How do you know, if you haven't read it all?" Yet some people find it perfectly valid to rate a they have not read at all, and get others to do the same. By the logic of the previous argument this could have been the book that changed that person's life -- or not.

Being familiar with an item, in this case reading the book, is the price of admission. Heck, reading at least half the book. It's a mob mentality at work, school yard games, and I have no respect for it. I spend a lot of time here talking about reviews being for readers, but that doesn't mean and it will never mean that writers are to be needlessly trashed or harmed by people who haven't even given their work the respect of reading it. Writers are not acceptable collateral damage for people who are trying to punish someone else entirely.

Even if someone has read the book, no one else can judge for someone else what they're willing to spend.

 

[MichelleR]

I don't think he mean the book may not be worth the price if it's too short. I think he mean the book may not be worth the price due to the quality.

For instance, a $14.99 e-book I end up thinking is good but not great, I'd probably end up rating lower than I would if it had been a $6.99 e-book. Whether I feel like I got my money's worth quality wise will affect my rating--even if just subconsciously--as feeling you didn't get your money's worth for something leaves a more bitter taste in your mouth.

So I don't have an issue with someone writing such a review. But I do have a big issue with people who haven't read a book leaving a low review due to price as that's just a dishonest practice and is just a deliberate attempt to screw up the review system.

I get the idea of someone thinking a book wasn't worth the money, but I'm going to discuss the book and let other people determine whether or not it seems worth it to them. To say, "for two dollars less, I'd give the book one star more," muddies the water.

 

[MichelleR]

The price doesn't change the quality of the steak though -- it's still pretty good. It then becomes up to others to decide if they want to pay the money for it.  We're on the same page in not having a problem with someone saying they didn't find something a good value, but it shouldn't be the sum total of the review and I don't think it should affect the rating.

 

[MichelleR]

A fair position, but value is part of the decision making process of anything we buy. It is proper to downrate an unreasonably priced, but serviceable, product. Similarly, it is appropriate to upgrade an item that performs above its price point. The reviewer should however make clear that this is the case in each situation.

If anything is up for constant debate, it's how much a book should cost, with many people unwilling to compromise past a fixed point. (See: this thread.) As someone who is more flexible, I don't want someone using that in their ratings and forcing me to have to guess what the book would be had they not done that. On the other hand, people who do have that line, don't want a more flexible person assessing that way either. While you say the reviewer "should" make these things clear, not all will (or do) and the disclosure will most likely involve the words "too expensive" or "what you could expect for the money." Oh, and what price is that person talking about? Is it the same now as when he wrote it?

All other things being equal, the guy who bought the book when it first came out, the guy who bought it when the price got lowered by a few dollars, and the guy who got his copy when it became a freebie for a week, all assessing by the price they paid -- which can change again -- confuses the issue needlessly by entering into an area that is not their business -- what someone else should pay.

By this system, indies would get a great head start for being in the .99 to 2.99 range. It's hard to argue that .99 isn't a great price and it allows in one of my favorite "songs" -- You only paid a dollar, you're an idjit for expecting a professional effort. It's hard to say something isn't worth .99, so I prefer to stick to if it felt worth my time.

Established author with decades of experience would start out in the hole for 14.99, because a lot of people think that's too high no matter what. People, for the most part, just want to know if you think their favorite author is slipping. If you don't think he is, the potential buyer thinks you have similar sensibilities, and you talk about the actual book, the reader can figure out the pricing on her own. This is true whether the potential reader has a firm stance on pricing or not.

Oh, and how many reviewers are keeping up with the prices and fixing the ratings accordingly? If 1% do, it'll be a miracle. How about when it does it again? That's not even bringing in blogs. The price can change, but what's "inside" -- for the most part -- doesn't.

Like I said, I'll mention price in a review -- and possibly how my life would have been happier had I received the fancy doll house for Christmas when I was a kid (or now) -- but it doesn't figure into my final assessment.

 

[MichelleR]

READ THE BOOK! Read the book!
The movie is a pale shadow of the book!
This film is a classic example of why I rarely watch 'the-movie-of-the-book.' It was so dumbed-down to fit it into a movie length feature I came away feeling cheated and disappointed.

Agreed! The movie made me furious, because what was left out and what was changed. It was sloppy.

Mary is married and her husband dies, leaving her (somewhat) free to be with the man she loves -- except the movie forgets to kill off her husband. Then the ending, with Mary having a roll in Elizabeth's life?

Philippa Gregory writes historical fiction and speculates in ways that make sticklers cringe, but the book was entertaining and had a core truth to it which the movie missed.

 

[MichelleR]

There is another thing you can do - when you don't buy an ebook based on price, go to Lost Book Sales - http://lostbooksales.com/ - register the book you didn't buy, why you didn't buy it, and what you did instead.

Yep.