Thoughts on writing...

I have written 8 books to completion. They have a beginning, a middle and an end.  That's an accomplishment.  Yes, they are not published but how many people actually write one book, let alone 8?  

While I am happy that I got those stories out, I also am unhappy.  You see, I also have 7 books that are in progress.  I come up with an idea, start writing and then lose interest part way through.  If I can't hold my own interest when writing the book, readers aren't going to want to read them at all. 

I haven't written in two months. I open my book files, read them and try to come up with something new to add and I get nothing.  I even opened up my idea file and decided they all suck.  So now I sit here, trying to come up with a new book idea and so far, all I could think of was writing this blog. 

Sigh...

As for my completed 8 books, I still need to get them published.  I still want to go the self publishing route but I need money for it.  I had promised myself to get one book published this year and yet, here it is almost the end of November and still I'm not published.    The problem is money.  I had saved up a lot of money at the beginning of the year, and then life happened.  I had to pay a ton for dental work (really bad teeth).  And once that was over, I started saving again.  Then a hail storm happened and insurance decided my car was totalled.  So I bought a new car and still have money left over (Hurray!).  However, I'm trying to hold on to that money because I'll need more dental work next year (have to wait for insurance to reset itself) plus, any extra money I get next year will be saved for a new condo.  While I love living in an apartment, it's time for me to move.   Rent keeps increasing and my full time job doesn't give high enough raises.  

So between my sudden car payment and trying to save money for more teeth work and possible Condo buying at the end of next year, I'm starting to lose hope that I'll get one of my books published.  However, I will promise myself here and now, to push all my worries aside and save money just for publishing costs.  

Until then, I'm trying to decide whether to post a first chapter of one of my books here on my blog.   Do I have any readers who would want to see a chapter?   I write mostly paranormal romance so if you are curious, post a comment here and let me know.

Complaints about books

I love reading and I read a lot.  I'll read free books and ones that cost money if they sound good to me.   One thing that turns me off of buying a book is the length.  If it's less than 100 pages, I'm not paying for it (if it's free, I'll think about downloading it).   If it's less than 200 pages and costs 4.99 and up, it's doubtful I'll pay for it.  It has to be a part of a series and I really have to want it to make it okay for paying that much for a book that's not that long.    I have stopped reading series of books because the length is no longer there.

It seems like more often these days, authors are writing serials where you pay 99 cents or more for short segments of books.  I hate that.   Luckily, there are authors who after providing a serial will put the book together when they are done and offer it as one whole book but there aren't enough people doing that.   While short serial type books seem to be popular and okay for a lot of people, I don't like them.

To me, if you publish something that's less than 100 pages, it's not really a book.  However, I've seen authors publish a 50 page story and call it a novel. 

I use Amazon when searching for books to download onto my ipad.  That's just a personal preference.  However, their advanced search leaves a lot to be desired.  I would like it if I could search for books based on length.  Just add another field to their field so it looks like Pages greater than and then you can type in the number.   I don't know what coding they would need to do on their end but I wish they would do it.   It would make me happy. 

Also, I would love it if authors didn't include the extra pages as their total page count. I want the number of pages of the actual story or the word count of the actual story.   I'd be good with word count too.  Too often, I buy a book and find it's actually shorter than what the description says.  I also find some books don't even include a length at all on the website.  Why not? 

I want to read books with a good length.  300 pages or around 80,000 words. I want to be able to search for full length novels. Actual novels and not serials.     I want the length of the book to be a requirement when you make it for sale on websites.  

Sigh.  Having so many short stories out there now, has made searcing for an actual book, somewhat of a chore.  If I find a story that sounds interesting, I look at the cost of the book. Then I look at how long it is.  Books under 100 pages aren't even considered.  Books under 200 pages, make me ask "Do I really want to spend three bucks on a short book?"   99 cents, I'll consider it more.  Hell, even 2.99 I'll consider buying it.  Anymore than that?  I'd have to really want the book.    

If you made it this far in this long rant, leave me a comment.  Tell me what you think.  I can't believe I'm alone in my need for longer books out there.