You’re reading an excerpt from a book online. Maybe it’s something someone recommended to you, maybe it’s something you stumbled upon while looking for something else. Either way, you’re reading and everything about it is just perfect. Realistic dialogue? Check. Smooth writing? Check. Action that draws you in and leaves you wanting more? Check. Your mouse is hovering over the “Buy” button before you even finish reading. You think to yourself “This is going to the top of my TBR pile”.

And then there it is: that last sentence that is so off, so jarring that you cry out in disappointment and frustration! Your excerpt experience has been ruined! What if there are more blundering sentences like that, ones that take you right out of the story and throw you on your butt on the sidewalk? Your hand trembles. Now you are afraid. Very afraid.

You think, maybe it’s just because the excerpt’s cut-off point is in an odd place? Maybe the rest of the book won’t be like that. But do you really want to take that chance?

What about you? Would you chance it or give it a pass?

For the past few weeks I’ve been meeting my sister and her mother-in-law at our local Books-a-Million cafe for a small crochet/knitting circle. At the moment, we’re making preemie hats. It’s very relaxing – there’s gossip & coffee and a good time is usually had by all.

The problem comes in when I leave the cafe in order to browse the shelves to see if something catches my eye. Well, a lot of things have been catching my eye, but I’m just not buying – at least, not from the store. Every time I see an interesting book, I think to myself “I think I’ll just get the ebook when I get home”, or “The ebook is cheaper even though this is from the bargain bin”, even “I have the first two books of this series in ebook so I should just wait and get the rest of them that way as well”.

Sigh.

It’s gotten to where I carry a notepad with me and write down titles and authors in order to check the ebook prices online. God knows how much worse this is going to get once my Kindle 3 comes in!

Should I just rename the blog I Heart eBooks? LOL. I don’t suppose I’m really complaining so much as noticing a big change in my book buying habits. Convenience, instant buying, and the lack of heavy lifting are really influencing the way I shop. The “live” bookstores are making more money off me in coffee & bagels than books nowadays.

I’m really, really itching to read something right now but everything I pick up is a challenge read for the new year! Ugh! It’s making me positively antsy.

I should probably rename my blog “I Heart Ebooks” because my ebook buying has taken a drastic step up from my paperback buying over the past year. I find myself with a folder full of ebooks and I’m at a bit of a loss for the best way to sort them. Should I sort them by category (fiction, nonfiction, history, etc), by genre and sub-genre (paranormal, mystery/suspense, romance, etc)? Should I separate all my erotica and romances by content (m/m, m/f, f/f, menage) or just throw them all together in a folder and sort them by author (what about the authors who write both m/m and m/f – do they get a folder in each section)? The more I try to keep them organized, the more frustrated I get in trying to find a good way to do so. So I’m asking all my fellow ebook readers:

How do you sort your ebooks?

Eyre posted today about nice authors and the one whose books she’ll never read. It reminded me of my own experience with an author, who shall remain nameless, a few years ago. I admit up front that it was my own mistake that led to this, but the author’s response to it left me feeling very alienated as a reader.

I read my first m/m romance somewhere in 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though the story was rather a tragic one. I emailed the author and told her how much I’d liked the story. I didn’t realize at the time that her address was automatically added to my contacts.

A little time passed and my son was born. I emailed some photos to friends and family. I saw her email address in my contacts (no name attached) and assumed it belonged to my best friend’s mother. I sent out a few emails with photos and soon got a reply, though not the sort I was expecting. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was basically of the “Who’s sending me this shit? Fuck off!” variety. After a little research with my gmail account, I found that I’d been sending things to this author by mistake. I felt awful for apparently bothering her to such an extent that she would curse in an email, but I also felt her response was a bit over the top. I did apologize to her and explain my mistake.

I realize that she didn’t know who she was ranting at when she sent off that email – the same as I didn’t realize who I was unintentionally spamming. But the fact remains that I felt disturbed by the whole sorry business and have never tried to read anything by her since.

Now, my experience might seem pretty silly to some, but it was enough to turn me off the author completely. It was some time before I even read another m/m romance. Eventually, though, I made it back into the genre and have been reading my little heart out since.

Have any of you ever had a bad experience with an author? In any genre?

The first romance I ever read was Barbara Cartland’s Call of the Heart. I found it in a small box of books my grandmother gave me when I was about 12. There were six Cartland’s in the box total. The rest were various “nurse stories” and gothic romances. I don’t think a single book in the box was published before 1980. Anyway, I read the book – and the rest of the box – and fell in love with romances!

After that, I read every Barbara Cartland I could wrangle from my grandmother’s collection. I read all the gothic romances she could throw at me (easily sidestepping all of her nurse stories). Eventually, I found my way to Harlequins, regencies, and historicals. The rest, as they say, is history.

Who was your first romance author?

Goodnight,