The expense is no joke!

In my real life, I own a quilting business. I make quilts for people and finish quilts for people. I repair and restore quilts. I also sell a bit of fabric to those that enjoy creating quilts. What likely started as a practical activity designed to use the fabric from items that were no longer wearable and to create a household good to keep a family warm has turned into a billion dollar industry. As much as I try to keep quilting an affordable hobby, for some people, they can’t afford to use new material or my services as a longarm quilter. As much as it hurts my soul, I have to pay bills and employees, and they have to find a way to complete their project that is in their budget.

Thinking about the issue of affordability got me thinking about reading. I read a ton of books. In the past two years, I have read more than 1300 books. This was possible due mostly to a Kindle Unlimited subscription. I also was able to get a Kobo subscription later last year. I get my money’s worth from both. Maintaining my reading hobby at this rate would be unsustainable without them. I would have to slow down – way down. I would be dependent on ebooks from my library, and they mostly seem to have books by major publishers. I would miss books published by small publishers and independent authors.

From a business owner’s perspective, I know that getting people started on quilting and enabling them to keep making quilts is how I make my money. I have loyal clients who make up to 20 or more quilts a year. Reading is much the same. If I wasn’t able to pick up a book when I had a free moment, I would fill those moments with other things.

Yesterday, I saw an ad on social media with a book blurb that I was interested in. The ebook was $12.99! I was fairly stunned. I exited Amazon without even saving the book to my wishlist, and I couldn’t tell you the name of it today. I filled my time with a tour of social media sites, picked at my fingernails for a bit while mulling over a thirteen dollar ebook, and then found another book to read. I realize authors and publishers have to make a profit. They have bills and employees to pay. But man, am I thankful for those authors who have found a way to keep costs down and/or are a part of a subscription service.

And I wish authors would stop!

There are certain things that I read in books that make me say, “Grrrr!!!!” and makes me feel like writing a long complaint to the author. I *always* refrain. Well, as far as I remember I have always refrained. I think I have just imagined doing it so many times that it is almost like a memory. BTW, that is a real phenomenon – look it up! Memory is a facinating subject and nothing like most of us think.

Back to my irritation list –

Calling the part of a handgun that feeds the rounds into the chamber of the weapon a ‘clip’. It is not a clip. It is a magazine. Like seriously – go look up gun parts! A clip and a magazine are two entirely different things.

The use of the word bemuse. Several authors tend to use bemuse and amuse interchangeably. The primary meaning of bemuse is “puzzle, confuse, bewilder”. If your heroine does something the hero chuckles at, he is not bemused. He is amused. Now I know that some will use the whole ‘language evolves overtime and word usage changes or adds to standard definitions’ argument to say that bemused also now means “wryly amused”, but REALLY??!!! Are we just going to accept that we can just be wrong enough times that our wrong becomes correct? We may as well accept irregardless and intensive purposes since people are always using those if we go by this logic. This makes the whole of my insides clench in frustration and mild fury. I have actually had to put books down and walk away for a bit. I’m a book finisher, so I generally always go back but still. It’s the principle.

Cliffhangers that aren’t identified in the blurb/back matter. Look. I know that there are cliffhanger endings in many contemporary series. But please, for the love of all that is holy, put that it is not a standalone in the blurb. If a book has a cliffhanger, I need to be prepared. The last time I read a book that unexpectedly had a cliffhanger ending, I felt like the author violated my trust. I didn’t pick the next book up. I was so irritated and let down by the book. I require a happy ending and cliffhangers rarely provide that. I need to know in advance that I need the second (and/or third) to find the ending that provides me with the ultimate satisfaction of the HEA. I don’t want to be surprised at 9:30 right before it’s time to sleep.

Is there anything that irritates you? Let me know in the comments!