The Two Q's

This blog has been percolating in my mind for a while and I am just now getting to write it. I have argued with myself for a long while about it. I want to write it but then I think about it and then I don’t because it will pertain to some of my favorite authors. I finally stopped arguing with myself and decided to sit my big old butt down and put it in a word document. So here it goes…

I love authors well most of the time I do. Here is my issue with some of them. I started reading a couple of authors and fell in love with their books and wanted more right after I finished one. They manage to put secondary characters in them that I wanted to know more about and I felt they needed their own stories and happily ever after.  I never bothered the authors but I know I am probably the exception to the rule. I get that authors are always trying to please their readers and I understand that, I mean who wants to hear from unhappy readers. Anyway, I think some of the authors fell into a trap with trying to please everyone.  They started to write shorter stories for some of the characters. It started out harmless enough. Some of the characters didn’t need full books to find their happily ever after’s.

I then began to notice  that a few figured out that they could make a few of their readers happier by giving them books every few weeks instead of making them wait a few months. Herein lies my problem. Some characters need full length books. There have been several books that I have bought lately that I keep thinking that the characters fell into bed so fast that there was no way they had any kind of emotional attachment to each other.  Now a good author can make you feel that they do and yes I have read some that it did happen that way but I have found more that don’t. This disappoints me because I love some of these authors. I want to love their books but I will stop buying and reading their short books because they are not satisfying to me. I feel that I am being cheated and that the quality is not present in some of these books. I know that sounds harsh and it is but it is the truth from where I sit as a reader. 

A few of these authors were automatic buys for me but not any longer because their books have become so bland that I can’t remember who the characters are within a few hours of reading the book. I might be able to give you the story but not the characters names. One time of this happening I can forgive but when it is every book I just end up frustrated and irritated with the author.  Now I won’t buy their books and that makes me sad because they have a unique voice and I used to want more of it.

This part is harder for me because I do love these authors but they have a few series that I totally love the concept and I want to love the books but they are too short. These characters are so interesting and it feels like the authors are trying to cram them into a short book to make a few of their readers happy.  This is a tragedy to me because I would wait for these books. I love these characters and the storylines would lend themselves to longer books but they are made into short books.  I could not tell you how many of these books I have purchased and when I finished I was disappointed by not just the book but the author.  I now hesitate to buy these series because I know what I am going to get when I read them and that is disenchanted by both the book and the author.

Now I am going to be the devil’s advocate. I hope this is not true but it does go through my mind occasionally.  Some of these author who write shorter books make them .99 so their loyal readers buy the books they make the best sellers lists because lots of people do not mind spending a dollar on a book and if they don’t like the book it is no big deal because it was only a buck.  Now I am not saying all of the authors are doing that or anything but the thought does cross my mind.

 I also have seen some of the short books that are put out by publishers being sold for $2.99 or even more and that just pisses me off. Yes, I do know that the authors have no control over how much a publisher lists the books for but damn that is expensive for a book that will probably leave me unsatisfied and is only 50 to 75 pages.

I guess I am ready to get off my soapbox and ask the question. How do you feel about short books?

Sinfully Sarcastic,

 Shmuttmeister