All About Animals discussion

What do you want to complain about? Complain about it here.

What don't you like about the books you read?

Is there a topic you dislike, repeat offenders where every book sounds the same from the same author? Do you dislike swearing? Sex scenes in the books? Quotes from other books?

Anything you want to complain about the books you read, post it here.

I don't really like swearing. I can handle a little bit, if I think it's necessary to the character, but when it appears throughout the whole book it bothers me. I hate the f-word and GD, I will put a book down and refuse to finish it if those words appear more than once.

Swearing is fine if the character is written that way. I'm a rock 'n' roll photographer so I live in a world where it's f'n this and f'n that and i'm not bothered at all - although i do prefer to hear someone called 'a big girl's blouse' to a "f'n c..." (although both can be quite humorous in the right circumstances!) What I don't like is racial stereotypes. I read a book that had used colloquial speech only for certain characters and that smacked of racism - by a supposedly 'christian' writer. That really got my back up. Even the darling F. Scott Fitzgerald from across the pond irritated me with some of his descriptions and Daisy's language - although to be fair, he did live in a time when such things were commonplace.

But what I truly dislike and what I cannot abide is simply this: bad writing.

You all might be able to help me with my complaint. It is about the giveaways here on GoodReads. I 'win' about one a month only to find out that most of them are CreateSpace books - self-published. There are some excellent books that are self-published but most of them are not. I wish there were some way I could find out if a book is self-published prior to entering the giveaway. Am I just not finding that information? Thank you. I realize I could look for the titles on Amazon and find out there who the publisher is, but that is a lot of work for each book.

Skye, I don't have an answer to your question on how to find out that type of info unless you maybe able to see who is the publisher and then look them up to see if it is a self-publishing company.

Maybe you could enter just the books that are by authors you already know and that are popular, like Stephen King, Jodi Picoult, Angela Hunt, etc.

I suspect that few non-self-published authors (or their publishing companies) offer giveaways on GR. Anybody know?

Yes, some do. Cat Warren (about SAR dogs) and Chaser, to name a couple I recall.

And, in a perfect world, a publisher would offer at least 10 books not just one. And close it out in 3 weeks not 2 months! Guess I am just dreaming, eh?

Jeff wrote: "I suspect that few non-self-published authors (or their publishing companies) offer giveaways on GR. Anybody know?"

Yes, there are some big names that giveaway books.

There are actually many traditionally published books on Goodreads giveaways, but your chances of winning them are very slim because the authors whose names are known will have a great many more people entering the giveaway. The bigger the name, the more entries there will be.

I personally have won exactly two books on Goodreads. The first was by an unknown writer yet from a traditional publisher, but the second was published by Amazon.

One of the things when you win a book in the giveaway section is to make sure you write a review after you've read it. This will help you win more books.

They say in the rules you don't "have to" write a review, but they also say (I believe) I had read that when you do write a review when you win one, your chances of winning another one is greater.

The reason the author's want to giveaway books is to get reviews, so I think they look at whether or not you are leaving reviews once you win.

You are supposed to put the books you won on a shelf called First Reads, so that they can easily check whether you reviewed them.

Yes...Shomeret...that too. I forgot about that.

I also hate it when there are a lot of misspelled words and grammar mistakes in a book. Once in awhile is OK because I know self-published authors miss a few things occasionally, but when it's on every page, it is very distracting.

Those of us who are self-published, or who go through CreateSpace in the end, are respectful and appreciative of Goodreads for this website in general and the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program for giving us and our writing an opportunity to reach and to be noticed by the reading public.

As one Goodreads moderator wrote, "Please note we must respect the authors and their generosity in sharing their books with us."

Great post, Jane!

I recently gave a presentation with the acquisition editor of a publishing company. She said some great things - breed books no longer sell, you must have your audience (specific) in mind to sell a book to a publisher, advances are rare, only 1 in 8 books is an e-book (surprised me!) and some books that are self-published are then picked up by a publisher - others, rejected by publishers are then self-published.

I recently read Jane's book (a giveaway right now) and it is probably the best self-published book I have read!

As an author I just want to say that some of us belong in both camps. We self publish a book and keep the rights so that we stay self-published. This gives us better financial returns for books sold.
But some of us including me are happy to sell foreign language rights as we have no way of reaching foreign language markets whose languages we don't know, without a traditional publisher who can arrange translation. So I sell foreign rights but refuse to sell English language rights. So I am self published in English but traditionally published in parts of Europe.

Another thing that I do which seems to run contrary to this discussion is never never never solicit reviews. I have just offered my book as a giveaway on the condition that a review is not a requirement. I want to make a gift - not strike a deal.

My complaints about books I read? I don't like it when they have a weak ending. That's when a book just stops any old place and you feel that it stopped simply because the author got sick of writing.
A good book has a super satisfying conclusion with all loose ends neatly tidied and everything as it should be, whether its sad or happy, all ends as it should.
Black Beauty is a good example. This is a sad story in essence but the ending satisfies and reassures.
When the story ends as it should the reader can only utter a mighty sigh of contentment.