Thousands upon Thousands

| |

Kari Trumbo kindle

I will return to my normal Friday Fiction Finds next week. I can’t handle being on Amazon for another moment, read on to find out why.

About four years ago, the world of digital reading was opened to me by a friend who gifted me a card to Amazon. I bought my very first Kindle, the $49 one with ads. It didn’t come with books and I was fairly broke, so I began downloading everything free that looked mildly interesting. A common habit for those who watch their downloads on free days.

About a year ago, I realized the folly of my ways. My Kindle was full to bursting with books I would scroll by every time I needed a new book to read. There were some that “I might someday read” that have never been opened.

Now, today, as I try to go through every book I’ve ever downloaded to try to find books for my girls to read, and I have to search through each and every title, I realized that many of those books don’t even look interesting anymore. I began deleting a few, but even that was a hassle on Amazon’s manage content page.

I have literally downloaded myself into a hole. I have these shiny new fires waiting for books and I have to wade through years of literary download indiscretion to find my way. I’m sunk. Call in the Coast Gaurd. SOS.

Did my tastes change that much in four years? No, not really. What did happen is that I realized that putting something up on Amazon, while a wonderful accomplishment, doesn’t always make it worth my particular time to read. Some novels are written for others, and that’s okay. It is time for me to do a major Amazon purge, and I’m not looking forward to it. Best get to my local McD’s for the free WiFi; my bandwidth might take a major hit.

In the end, I will feel much better about what I have. Looking through my cloud right now at the books I downloaded is actually stressful to me. If a book is sitting on my shelf, it should be read, right? If they are no longer sitting on my virtual shelf, then I don’t feel obligated to read them anymore.

As an author, this also gives me a little bit of a clue into the world of free novels. While free might work sometimes, the great majority of them probably never even get opened. A free novel as your one hope of being discovered might be a long shot. A free book with a great cover…now that’s another story.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *