Independent Authors and the Kindle: JR Rain, Frank Tuttle, CS Marks, Jason Letts, Tracey Alley

Editor’s note:  This is part two of an article about first impressions of the Amazon Kindle.  You can read part one here, in which the device itself is discussed.

During my adventures with the Kindle, I’ve learned that not all Kindle books are the same.  To begin with, readers seem to expect that independent authors’ books will have a multitude of flaws from typos to poor grammar to odd formatting.  Based upon my very small experiment, this is somewhat true.  Additionally, I discovered that mainstream publishers tend to price their ebooks very close to if not more than the paperback price.  Independent authors, however, will price their books at whatever they feel will work for them.  For the most part, I didn’t see any that were more than $5.00 and most were in the $0.99 to $2.99 range.

I also discovered a multitude of very odd, strange, and downright ugly cover images.  Considering that independent authors must either create their own cover images or pay someone to do it for them, this is not surprising.  What I found surprising is that some of them felt their cover images were an improvement over a solid color and a title.  Hey, independent authors?  Make sure that you have an unbiased (i.e., not a friend who will lie to you and say “it looks fabulous!” no matter what it is) opinion of your cover page before posting your book for sale.  As a reader, I like to see something that either tells me about the book or is just pretty to look at.  If you can’t do either of those without harming the retinas, I suggest a nice blue background and white lettering.

By now I have tried all five of the experiment books.  Here are my impressions of them.

1.  Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t really like it, either.  I felt that there were several logical flaws to the story, especially dealing with her being a vampire.  For example, she is unable to consume regular food but can drink white wine.  It would be more consistent if her body rejected everything except for those things closest to blood–perhaps milk or protein shakes?  Wine doesn’t seem to fit logically.  Additionally, the story begins six years after the accident that makes her a vampire, and yet it is just now, six years later, that all this decides to happen?  Six years is a long time, and while part of the reasoning behind the length of time seems to fit, there are no other explanations, and it seems rather random.  Not to mention a large flaw in her husband’s logic that she fails to catch but she should have.  I also felt that the author rushed the story but stretched out the plot just a bit–she needed to give the characters a bit more time to develop their relationships with each other, while the plot was a little thin and a little weak to be stretched out so far.  I didn’t notice a lot, if any, typographical errors, so it was at least type-edited well before publishing.

2.  Wistril Compleat by Frank Tuttle

I loved these stories.  They were clever and fun, and the characters were a hoot (literally!).  There were only minor typographical errors, so nothing annoying enough to throw me out of the story.  In each of the three stories, Wistril the wizard and his apprentice Kern were enmeshed in some sort of difficulty they had to extricate themselves from.  Making matters more complex is Wistril’s oath as a White Chair wizard who cannot use magic offensively, even to defend himself.  This oath forces Wistril and his entourage to be sneakier than the bad guys, be they boozing blaggarts or burly game hunters.

3.  Elfhunter, a Tale of Alterra by  C.S. Marks

I tried reading this one, but at first I was balked by the plethora of names, places, and such (most of which were nearly unpronounceable), and it got to the point where I was getting annoyed with the flowery “tell” instead of “show” when the bad guy was announced.  The Dark One.  I thought to myself, “Seriously?  The Dark One?  You couldn’t come up with anything more original than that?” and that was the last straw.  I read on for maybe a few paragraphs, but every time I saw The Dark One I got annoyed again and had to put it down.  It is quite possible that there is a good story in there somewhere, but I couldn’t continue reading in the hopes of finding one.

4.  Powerless, the Synthesis by Jason Letts

I got annoyed with my impatience at this one.  I was very conflicted.  At first my thoughts were that it was highly improbable that this family would willingly isolate themselves and then do it for 15 years.  15 years is a long time.  And once I told myself to go on, I realized that the main character was 15 years old, but acted like she was 7.  With all of this bouncing around my head, I couldn’t settle down long enough to continue the story, so I put it down.

5.  Erich’s Plea by Tracey Alley

I had high hopes for this one.  The story summary seemed to be right up my alley, with an underdog fighting the odds to save someone.  Unfortunately I got bogged down with more “tell” than “show” again, and I was continually losing the thread of the story amid alliances and races and other stuff I just didn’t want to know about yet.  So once more I had to put a book down.

Out of the five books, I finished two and liked one.  Not great odds.  But if you had purchased one book for $5.00 (which is really cheap for a paperback unless you are getting it used), there is no guarantee you would like it, either.  The odds are better, as you would probably do your research on who recommends it and what the reviews say, but there is still a chance you’ll get something that isn’t quite to your taste.  For my $4.95 (no tax or shipping–bonus!) I got one great book, one I liked enough to finish but not enough to continue the series, and three authors I now know to stay away from.  I avoided downloading the samples because this was an experiment.  If I had read the sample of the final three I would not have purchased them.

I also learned about Kindle gifting.  I love this.  Say you have a friend who now reads exclusively on their Kindle (or enough that you don’t want to buy them a physical book as a gift), but you don’t want to just get them a generic gift card.  Well, you can gift an individual title.  A friend did this for me, and it was a treat!  I got an email from Amazon telling me that my friend had gifted me the Kindle book Under Witch Moon by Maria E. Schneider, and all I had to do was click on the link and choose to either purchase that book or another of the same price.  Now, of course, I wanted the book (it has witches and werewolves and chips & salsa, what could be better?) so I didn’t explore the other options.  I just clicked, and it got added to my queue, and the next time I turned on my Kindle, it downloaded immediately.  I don’t know if you could just add the amount of the purchase to your account for a later purchase instead, or if you needed to make the decision right then.  Like I said, I wanted the book, so I clicked, and that was that.  Also, this is a great way for smaller gifts for those occasions that don’t warrant a large gift card or gift, but you want to thank someone for something special they did or whatever, and know that they will enjoy it.  And all you need is their email address!  It is a terrific program.

And by the way?  Under Witch Moon was miles better than the ones above that I did not enjoy.  Miles.  I can definitely recommend this one to urban fantasy fans of all shapes and sizes.  Want more incentive?  The Kindle (and Nook) versions of Under Witch Moon sell for $2.99!  I think you are beginning to understand now why I love my Kindle!