Sunday Bookends: Juggling four books (I can explain!), and a little vent about Kindle Unlimited for authors

/ Lisa R. Howeler

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about our semi-busy week last week in my blog post yesterday. After that busy week, I had to spend most of yesterday with my leg propped up to try to get the swelling in my injured knee to go down.

I wrote about the knee drama here.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Currently:

I am currently reading four books – but let me explain. I’m reading some in one book and switching to another on another day and then whatever book I start to get into more than the other ones takes precedence until I finish it. That’s sort of how I roll some months.

So the book I am reading the most right now is Lord Edgware Dies: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie. The Poirot books are usually quick reads so I’ll probably finish it this week.

I also started The Sentence is Death (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery) by Anthony Horowitz.

In between those two I am reading, The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by James Wight and Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. I’m reading Rilla because I felt like I need something fairly light or old fashioned in between the murder mysteries.

Just Finished:

A Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly. This was a bit of a disappointment. Well written in some ways and ridiculous in others and a fairly predictable ending. Predictable isn’t always bad but I was a bit disappointed with this one.

Soon to be read:

Joanna by Donna Stone.

Nancy Drew: The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipers by Carolyn Keene

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I watched a couple episodes of Lovejoy, two or three episodes of Lark Rise to Candleford, and with the kids I watched Onward and Mulan.

My daughter said she liked Onward but said she never wants to watch it again. I forgot part of the movie and we ended up sobbing through part of it. The Husband was at work so the kids couldn’t hug them like they wanted to. The Boy was very emotional the last two times he saw the movie so he bowed out.

We tried to watch Chicken Run but Little Miss said she found it boring so we didn’t finish it and instead watched Mulan.

The Boy and I have seen Chicken Run a few times and he said, “kids today need to get an attention span,” which cracked us both up since he was on his phone while watching the movie.


What I’m Writing

This week as I was thinking about where I want to sell my books, I thought about how a lot of readers don’t know how the subscription services at larger retailers work.

They save readers money but really take money from the authors.

One thing I don’t know if readers know is that if an author’s book is in Kindle Unlimited they are only paid .004 (less than a cent then) per page read and it’s Amazon that decides what constitutes a page. They don’t tell anyone what their formula for deciding what constitutes a page either – especially the authors. In addition, the ebook can’t be sold or shared anywhere else (including with a library) in ebook form while it is listed in Kindle Unlimited if the author is publishing the book on their own. If they are traditionally published the same rules don’t apply. Traditionally published books (by big publishing houses) can have their ebooks in Kindle Unlimited and still sell them on other retailers. So they get to make money in a variety of ways.

Most authors will make more when you buy the book (say if it is $3.99) than if you read it in KU.

This is not necessarily a negative thing to share – just letting readers know how things work. Sometimes KU helps authors and sometimes it doesn’t. In my case, it has helped me some months and hasn’t helped me others, but even if it helps me, I feel good that I’ve pulled my books out of KU so I can share them wherever I want.

People may not read them as much but at least I know what fee Amazon is taking from my sale versus not knowing what they decide is a page when it comes to paying me for what is read if my book is in KU.

What I shared on the blog last week:

What I’m Listening To

I am almost done with Around the World in 80 Days so that’s what I’ve been listening to.

Photos from Last Week


Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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21 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: Juggling four books (I can explain!), and a little vent about Kindle Unlimited for authors”

  2. If I have actual books in hand, it’s not unusual for me to read several at once. But, I have been using my Libby (through my library) and only read one at a time. I really, really need to go to the library because real books are best!

    I had no idea there was such a thing as Kindle Unlimited because I’ve never had a Kindle…I know, I’m a dinosaur. It does seem unfair not to know what constitutes a page so you can calculate how much you’re paid.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  3. I often read a few books at a time, as I like variety. So nice to see the photos of your roses, and have a wonderful week. Nancy Andres @ Colors 4 Health.

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  5. Nancy Drew was a favorite of mine when I was in around 4th grade, but hasn’t been as appealing the few times I tried as an adult I wasn’t especially interested. Now the original un-revised ones seem dated. These dats — like you — I am more of an Agatha Christie fan.

    best,mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  7. I’m reading three big books slowly, just a chapter a day. I also like to read a book right away when it comes in for me at the library. So I can end up reading a lot of books at one time.

    I’ve never subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, and I didn’t know how it worked for authors, so thank you for sharing that. I wonder if it is the same for Hoopla.

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    • My husband always acts like I am weird for reading more than one at a time. He reads one book straight through and goes to the next. Even if he hates the one book. He’s very linear like that. I, on the other hand, am very chaotic.

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