Kindle Unlimited: A Reader's Smorgasbord or Not?

A few months ago, I signed up for Kindle Unlimited and took advantage of their thirty day trial.  It helped that all the historical romances of a particular author were offered on Kindle Unlimited, and I plowed through all of them.  After going through those titles, I then started looking around for other historicals to read, and I've found enough to keep me occupied for a total of four months.  I decided last week to end my subscription to this particular service, although I might sign up again at another time in the future.

On the surface, Kindle Unlimited looks as if it offers a fantastic deal:  over 750,000 titles on any device for $9.99/month.  It is essentially a lending library.   The user must subscribe to it in order to have access to its titles.  Only 10 books can be checked out at a time.  If an additional book is desired, one of the previous 10 must be returned.  Amazon keeps track of the titles that are borrowed, and can even bookmark the location at which a reader stops in the book, for future reference, if one borrows the book again.  The borrowed titles can stay in your library for as long as you subscribe to the service.

I must confess that I really milked out the number of books that I read for the first month and a half that I was using the service, because during that time I read almost 2-3 novels in a day.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I, ah, (clears throat sheepishly) sort of put the rest of my life on hold for a few weeks to go through that particular author's catalogue.  My excuses were that these books were on the short side, I had a free month with Kindle Unlimited, and that I wouldn't be able to find all of her titles available altogether in one location, even in a public library, as I could find them at that time on Amazon.  Also, I had the impression that the titles would only be up for an extremely limited amount of time before being rotated out and being replaced by other offerings.  It was too much of a temptation to resist, so my regular life got pre-empted.  I got through most of her backlist during that time, but I probably could have read her books at a more leisurely pace, because her titles are still offered on the Kindle Unlimited library four months later. 

I haven't reviewed any of that particular author's titles on the blog; I had considered it for awhile, but decided not to.  However, I did read some books from Kindle Unlimited which I reviewed for the blog.  The Heirs of Anton series, including Ekaterina, Nadia, Marina, and Oksana (written by Susan May Warren, and Susan K. Downs) were some titles which I read during my four month experiment with the service.  I found some other titles which I did not review such as the Squeaky Clean Mystery Series by Christy Barritt, the Seasons of Hope Series by Jessica R. Patch, and the Pacific Shores Series by Lynette Bonner.  I enjoyed Straight and True: A Regency Novella by Justice Joy. 

However, as I mentioned before, just because those titles were offered at the time that I read them, does not mean that the titles are still available, and if they are, they might not be available at some future date.  Kindle Unlimited adds and removes titles periodically, but I haven't figured out what sort of schedule exists for this.  When I first heard of Kindle Unlimited, there were a number of titles by Susan May Warren that were available through the library such as ones belonging to the Christiansen Family Series, but by the time I signed up for the service a number of months later, they were no longer available. 

My experience with Kindle Unlimited has also been limited mainly to the romance section.  I've read a couple of titles outside of that category, perhaps from the Science Fiction and Fantasy category, but most of my selections were from historical and contemporary romance.  I've come to the point where I have read most of what I would be interested in unless there is a change soon in the selection of titles to choose from.   There isn't a huge dearth of titles that are by best selling authors, although at the time of this writing there are titles available by J. K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins.  The experience has given me a chance to read authors and titles that I've probably wouldn't have considered reading before.  However, there have been titles that are both offered on Kindle Unlimited and on Kindle's freebie list (the latter has a quicker turnover in title availability compared to the former).  If you are patient enough, a title might show up on the freebie list and you can download the book without subscribing to Kindle Unlimited.

Would I recommend Kindle Unlimited to someone else?  The answer is:  I'm not sure if I would give an outright, "yes," or,  "no."  For me to say, "yes," it would depend on what is currently available on the borrowing list, and how many titles I could get through in a month.  Frankly, my opinion is that in most categories, my local public library has a more attractive selection of books to choose from. Kindle Unlimited caught me this time because it presented practically the entirety of a particular author's historical backlist that was and is still not available to me through the public library.  After reading through that backlist, I found that frequently, I would check out a book, and them promptly return it because I didn't feel engaged enough to continue reading it.  I suspect that this is partly because many of the selections available on Kindle Unlimited in its fiction department are by self published authors whose work may not be as closely scrutinized as if they would be if they worked with a traditional publishing house.  In that case, their books would likely go through a more stringent editorial process checking for grammatical and factual errors.  Spending $9.99/month for borrowing privileges over books that are lacking in readability just doesn't make sense to me.  However, there are some gems and interesting books that are available; you just have to dig for them.  Also, I did find some authors whose work I will look out for in the future. 

As I mentioned before, the number of titles that I could get through a month would also play a significant factor as to whether I sign up for the service again in the future.  I'm used to free library services (I've been spoiled by the public library system here, although, technically, it's not really free because of taxes), so if I spend money on books, I would like having permanent access to it.  I'd have to judge whether the money would be better spent on a single title that I'd own and can read anytime in the future, versus taking the opportunity offered by Kindle Unlimited.  Ideally, I think that I'd like to be able to borrow at least 8 to 12+ titles each month that I couldn't borrow elsewhere, and yes, there are titles offered on Kindle that are not available through the public library.  This number to justify subscribing to the service may differ with other readers because there really are other ways to get access to books they want to read. 

I appreciated having my experience with Kindle Unlimited, but think that I won't regret ending my subscription for now.  If the service sounds interesting to you, try the free one-month trial and see for yourself if Kindle Unlimited is for you.  At this time, Kindle Unlimited is available through Amazon in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada.

Adventures in Wattpad Land

Uh...yes, I fell off the face of the planet for a month.

Where was I?  I was spending time on Wattpad.  I first learned about Wattpad through a newspaper article that appeared in a local paper about two years ago.  It is a free fiction writing site that seems to be mainly populated by teenaged female writers who write a lot of werewolf and vampire stories.  There are also other categories, such as historical, romance, fantasy, horror, fanfiction (lots of One Direction fanfic to be found here), short story, spiritual, science fiction, humor, mystery/thriller, adventure, teen fiction, poetry, and action.

Wattpad has also been fortunate to attach some major names to it.  Margaret Atwood was a collaborator with Wattpad in holding a poetry contest called the "Attys," in 2012.  Harlequin held a contest last year on Wattpad, titled, "So You Think You Can Write," in which several winners had their finished work published by Harlequin.  When Wattpad opened up its chick lit category in 2013, they were able to get Mariam Keyes on board.

Needless to say, Wattpad is filled with a lot of amateur writing, and it shows in a lot of the work that is posted on this site.  However, I have been surprised at some of the maturity in the writing of some of the youths who have posted on the site.  Unfortunately, you have to do a lot of digging to find some of those gems.  It also appears that many of the authors/authoresses post as they write, so depending on when they get around to writing, there could be daily/weekly/monthly/sporadic updates.  There are many stories that get started, and then abandoned. 

As I mentioned before, Wattpad Land seems to be populated by werewolves, vampires, and other dark creatures.  However, the ones who are writing these stories are often young adults who will also read regular teen fiction.  There are many crossover stories that fit under multiple categories.  A story may be categorized under the headings of werewolf/vampire/teen/fanfiction because the plot may include a vampiric One Direction singer who falls in love with a teenage werewolf. (I just made that one up, but wouldn't be surprised it there really was a story on Wattpad with that exact plot.)  There is also fiction there written along the lines of the television show, "Supernatural," based on the two hunters, Sam and Dean Winchester, portrayed by Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles respectively.

What does it say to you when there is such a huge fascination with the occult and supernatural combined with teen angst?  To me, this reflects a vacuum, dare I say...a spiritual vacuum.

This leads to what I really wanted to write about in this blog entry:  if you are a Christian writer/author, or an aspiring Christian writer, please consider posting something on Wattpad.  You don't have to crack into the supernatural world of werewolves and vampires (although I did run across one writer who attempted to write about Christian vampires).  You don't even need to label it under the "spiritual" category either if you are not led to do so.

It's just that it would be nice to have something available on Wattpad to read in which people actually make decisions based on having one's identity firmly grounded in Christ.  There have been so many stories posted on Wattpad, but very few that would qualify as Christian fiction.

There are some problems with posting on Wattpad.  One of these is plagiarism.  I've seen some previously published print titles uploaded onto the site.  When the "Powers That Be" that operate Wattpad found out, they promptly removed those books.  Some users have stolen stories and posted them on other boards other than Wattpad. One of the winners of the "So You Think You Can Write," contest ended up removing most of her stories from Wattpad because of this.    

There are writers who have been published in print who are offering some of their older stories to get more exposure especially for their current work.  One who is currently doing so at the time of this blog post is Scott Westerfeld.  His novel, "Uglies," has been posted in weekly installments in the past few weeks.  I don't think that he has finished posting, "Uglies," in its entirety yet, so there may be still a few more weeks to go before it is completely up on the boards at Wattpad.  However, I don't know if he will leave the story up there permanently; stories can be removed from Wattpad, as I have previously mentioned.  I wonder if posting "Uglies," on Wattpad has helped his sales for "Afterworlds," his latest release.  He is certainly posting, "Uglies," where his target market is. 

I've seen some writers try to get published after posting their stories on Wattpad.  I actually recognized some of these titles offered on NetGalley and in the Kindle Store on Amazon.

The lovely readers on Wattpad have often left comments on stories that are posted; you might consider what the value of such feedback might be to the aspiring writer.

So, Christian writer, please consider posting on Wattpad, perhaps some drabbles, or chapter samples that you could use to direct your audience to where they can find your work.  I hope to read your work on Wattpad.

What I've been reading lately...my foray into Amazon's Kindle Store

It's been a while since I posted here, but I have been reading a lot.  I'm still in my "free books from Amazon" phase and have been going through a lot of self published books.  Occasionally, there will be books offered that have gone through an established publishing house and will have a print version available, in addition to a Kindle version.  Generally, I feel that these books have been through a more stringent editing process than the self published ones.  Because of this, I find that they are a bit easier to read, and with less grammatical and punctuation errors.  Sometimes not all the errors are caught; I've found that some print books still have mistakes in them.  

I've also found it a curious thing to look at the descriptive blurbs/headings/reviews that are provided on Amazon for these books.  I usually look at the listings under historical and inspirational romance, but sometimes the offerings are rather bizarre, and I wonder how certain titles get listed in a particular category.  For instance, for the past couple of weeks, there has been a "shifter" (werewolf) romance offered under the inspirational category.  I can't explain that one, and I haven't read that particular book to discern a possible reason why it ended up in this category.  However, I have learned that "inspirational" may incorporate a very broad definition of spirituality that does not necessarily limit itself to Christianity or even of any other religion.

I have also observed that what is perceived to be "clean" and "sweet" romances sometimes ends up in the inspirational section, even if there is no form of spirituality mentioned in the book. However, there also seems to be broad definitions of what "clean" and "sweet" may mean.  In some books, it means that there is no mention of sex at all and at the most, only chaste kisses are present.  In others, this definition may include some risque behaviour, ranging from naughty talk, all the way to heavy petting, but no actual sexual intercourse.  For other books, it may mean that there is sexual intercourse, but it is not graphically described.

I have wondered how authors who write Christian romances tackle the issue of sex, and sometimes, on author's websites, they may blog about their writing processes on how they tackle the subject.  I think that some publishing companies may provide guidelines on what is acceptable for them.  I recall looking at Harlequin's Love Inspired guidelines for submissions a few years ago, and they set parameters of what they considered appropriate for that line.

Anyways, a couple of weeks ago, I found two free stories in the Kindle store in the historical category.  When I read the first one (a prequel to the second story), I admired the hero because he pulled a Joseph; the heroine was tempting him and he took off because he didn't want to cross that line.  The hero also prayed, not a lot, but he did about his feelings for the heroine and asked for guidance as to what he should do about them.  There was a little bit of risque activity...I think that at one point, they were a little bit too close physically to each other, and once, the hero got caught in his birthday suit because he was trying to bathe. At the end of the story, he makes a heartfelt declaration to his bride about wanting to enter into marriage with her, but also with the Lord as a partner in their relationship.  He made this speech while presenting her with an object that represented this union of the three of them.  When I considered the theology, I thought that this book could be classified under the edgy Christian romance category.

Then I read the sequel.  It was funny.  I liked the characters.  The author also wove together quite a complicated story that had several threads with the primary one being resolved by the end of the book, and the other to be resolved in a future sequel.  It drew me in.  But, in the story, the heroine found herself in an impossible situation, and in spite of her faith in God, threw herself at a rake and slept with him.  True, she didn't have a lot of descriptive prayers mentioned in the book, and she didn't seem to really turn to Him for help, so maybe her faith was actually borderline nominal, or at best, not very deep.  The sex scene was also descriptive.  Usually, I skip these parts if I run across them, but because I had actually considered writing a full review for this book, I went back and read it in full.  I'm not going to compare it or rank it on a hot/purple prose scale; I'm just mentioning that it's there, for about 2-3 pages.

So I found myself a little shocked when the conclusion of the romance ended with the hero (the rake) giving the heroine that same object that his ancestor had given to his bride, and he also ran through a similar speech about what that object represented.  What surprised me was that this is probably the first time that I've read something that seemed to have appropriate Christian theology (albeit at the very end of the book), but with a gratuitous descriptive sex scene stuck in the middle.  I don't think that it really needed to be there.  What also felt weird about it was that in the aftermath of the physical intimacy, there was not much conflict in the heroine's conscience between herself and God.  The book was a typical regency; it was light, funny, rompy, etc..  When the hero and heroine finally got around to discussing the appropriateness of their actions, it got glossed over very quickly; they admitted that what they did was inappropriate for about two sentences, and that was that.  There wasn't any confession to make things right between them and the Lord.  So, it was sort of weird to think about.  The book was not openly a Christian romance, but it seemed to have appropriate theological undertones; however, the descriptive sex scene would likely make it uncomfortable for a certain audience to read.    

I've read another free Kindle book in which a vicar's daughter gets into a raging affair with the male protagonist, but when you consider the rest of the book as a whole, being a vicar's daughter was a convenient plot device to present the female protagonist as a principled caring person, but in reality, her religious beliefs really didn't define who she was.  However, the novel that I described in the previous paragraph felt different.  It felt like it could have been something more.  Francine Rivers or Julie Lessman are authors who I think have been able to balance romance and passion effectively, although some might still consider their material a bit racy. 

Anyways, I couldn't make up my mind for the past two weeks about whether I would write a complete formal review for those two books, but I wanted to write about what I felt was bizarre about it.  Maybe now I can move on and actually write about something with an actual title attached to it.