I realize I am in the minority, but I do not buy Kindle exclusive books. I have in the past a few times for long-time favorite authors. But I stopped. So there are a few former autobuy authors I have simply stopped reading.
I don’t think the least effort invested problem is always limited to KU books. And sometimes the author voice and story is compelling enough that readers don’t notice or care. That will probably always be the case.
But I have friends who subscribe to KU who will say “well it was fine because the story was free” or “I don’t mind the typos because it’s free” and then they always act surprised when I point out they are paying for KU. It’s like the fact that it’s an automatic payment they just forget they truly do pay for this service. I don’t get it. But Amazon has somehow gotten them to forget the “with Kindle Unlimited” part costs $10 a month and all they see is the “free” in “free with Kindle unlimited.”
I will say for the most part they are happy with the service and treat it as an all you read buffet. If they aren’t happy with one book they move on to the next one.
I don’t like the exclusivity requirement as as a matter of principle, but the truth is I simply don’t like reading in the Amazon Kindle app and I don’t own an actual Kindle. So anything that is exclusive to Amazon I simply don’t buy. I know a lot of authors are exclusive and I appreciate that’s where they feel they make the most money.
I do shop at Amazon for other stuff, just not books for me.
I don’t use KU and pay for all my e-books but I certainly do wish self-published books would be as high quality as most traditionally published books usually are. In the interest of trying to keep comments short, I often omit longer explanations because I doubt you want to read my 12-page dissertation on a topic lol!
Letting inconsistencies slide if I enjoyed a self-published story enough is less “I think this is totally fine and good in a product I paid money for” and more “I can’t fix this so I might as well let it go in a ‘serenity prayer’ sort of way.”
Because as a reader, I can’t make an author write/edit better. You’ve previously mentioned costs associated with your own self-published books and it’s not cheap. I can’t email critiques to the author. If I did, they would probably tell me to go pound sand and rightfully so.
I could leave a review, perhaps sufficiently scathing to warn off other readers but reviews aren’t meant for authors either. I could avoid purchasing future books. In the end, I suspect none of my actions would fix the quality issue related to books being churned out for profit. So I try to pick the better ones and avoid the really bad ones.
I think your friend Megan has a point. The 19th c. had its penny dreadfuls and the 21st c. has Kindle Unlimited. The cheap junk food vs. the $12 Murderbot steak perhaps.
//
I realize I am in the minority, but I do not buy Kindle exclusive books. I have in the past a few times for long-time favorite authors. But I stopped. So there are a few former autobuy authors I have simply stopped reading.
I don’t think the least effort invested problem is always limited to KU books. And sometimes the author voice and story is compelling enough that readers don’t notice or care. That will probably always be the case.
But I have friends who subscribe to KU who will say “well it was fine because the story was free” or “I don’t mind the typos because it’s free” and then they always act surprised when I point out they are paying for KU. It’s like the fact that it’s an automatic payment they just forget they truly do pay for this service. I don’t get it. But Amazon has somehow gotten them to forget the “with Kindle Unlimited” part costs $10 a month and all they see is the “free” in “free with Kindle unlimited.”
I will say for the most part they are happy with the service and treat it as an all you read buffet. If they aren’t happy with one book they move on to the next one.
Oh, that’s interesting – because you don’t want to support KU in any way?
The problem may not be limited to KU, but I’d argue that it’s absolutely pronounced int KU.
That’s the part I hate – the perception that it’s free and thus quality is irrelevant.
I don’t like the exclusivity requirement as as a matter of principle, but the truth is I simply don’t like reading in the Amazon Kindle app and I don’t own an actual Kindle. So anything that is exclusive to Amazon I simply don’t buy. I know a lot of authors are exclusive and I appreciate that’s where they feel they make the most money.
I do shop at Amazon for other stuff, just not books for me.
I don’t use KU and pay for all my e-books but I certainly do wish self-published books would be as high quality as most traditionally published books usually are. In the interest of trying to keep comments short, I often omit longer explanations because I doubt you want to read my 12-page dissertation on a topic lol!
Letting inconsistencies slide if I enjoyed a self-published story enough is less “I think this is totally fine and good in a product I paid money for” and more “I can’t fix this so I might as well let it go in a ‘serenity prayer’ sort of way.”
Because as a reader, I can’t make an author write/edit better. You’ve previously mentioned costs associated with your own self-published books and it’s not cheap. I can’t email critiques to the author. If I did, they would probably tell me to go pound sand and rightfully so.
I could leave a review, perhaps sufficiently scathing to warn off other readers but reviews aren’t meant for authors either. I could avoid purchasing future books. In the end, I suspect none of my actions would fix the quality issue related to books being churned out for profit. So I try to pick the better ones and avoid the really bad ones.
I think your friend Megan has a point. The 19th c. had its penny dreadfuls and the 21st c. has Kindle Unlimited. The cheap junk food vs. the $12 Murderbot steak perhaps.
I’m sure your 12-page dissertation would be very interesting! I get the serenity prayer approach. I do try to do that, too.
Love the analogy of $12 Murderbot steak! That’s a good way to look at it all. 🙂