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Another heads up: All of my Meanderings are written by me. Not AI.
Hello, my favorite VIP Readers!
I can’t speak for other authors, but I have to admit to a bit of confusion (dare I say frustration?) about the disconnect in the publishing industry between what we’ve all been trained to expect from our books in the past, both as writers and readers, and today’s market.
I’m not talking about AI. That’s a huge can of worms I will leave undisturbed. Worms. Ew! Can’t even touch them when I fish!
No. I’m talking about all the other changes that are almost impossible to keep up with or make conscious decisions about before something new comes along and changes the tide in another direction. It makes this writer…and reader…dizzy.
Case in point. Something happened this week that reminded me that I’m still languishing in a publishing mindset that’s been around, well, forever. I won’t get into the specific event because it’s not the event that’s important, but the subsequent meanderings it prompted.
I can remember the first time I picked up a Kindle. I’d put off adding any more electronic “stuff” to my beleaguered life as long as I could. When I started considering the possibility of publishing my own book through the wondrous “new” technology of digital publishing—yeah, I was one of the last bastions of a landline phone for the longest time, too—I decided I needed to get a Kindle of my own.
Hmmm, where was I? Oh, yeah....lagging mindsets. I swear it’s senility but my kids do occasionally tell me I’m not that old. Or maybe I’m imagining that, too.
Anyhoo! I’ve been adjusting to the Kindle for years now as an author. I had to as an Indie writer. My reader mindset, though, is still not happy. I love so many things about my Kindle, like the ability to make the font bigger so I can actually read the book. No snarky remarks about old ladies and cave paintings, please!
There are certain things I still don’t like about reading on a machine. All comments aside about type size (print fonts are getting smaller to help publishers save printing costs, which is good economics, especially for us Indies), I like holding a book in my hand.
I like knowing where I stop reading when I toddle off to make dinner for my family. I love the smell and feel of a print book. Well, maybe not after it’s been sitting on a shelf so long it smells old and musty.
What I miss when I read on my Kindle…
I no longer know how many books I have waiting for me to open their pages. Not really. They’re tidily tucked into my Kindle bookshelves, but they’re no longer lined up side-by-side for easy skimming. I read across the genres, and sometimes I feel like reading a historical. I might want a suspense. Or, I just want to pick up a cute little contemporary or a paranormal or a...well, you get the picture.
Or maybe you don’t. I miss glancing at the covers as I’m reading. Once you start a book on Kindle, you have to go back to the beginning to check. And then, sync your way back to wherever you’ve stopped. I can’t easily, for instance, look at my two covers below and confirm the main character appearances and genres, which grounds my reading experience.
Firsts in the True Love in Uniform and Thorne’s Thorns Series
Before I moved, I had hundreds of print books on a bookshelf in my bedroom that I could walk up to, scan the spines, and find what I wanted. Easy peasy. I can’t jump as easily onto Amazon and sift through the thousands of books on my list to find my next read. I’m sure there’s probably a way to improve my skimming, but I certainly don’t know how to do it!
Yes, I’m a collector of TBR books. Good thing they aren’t all in print, or I’d be crushed when they fall off my bedside table!
I miss the feel of a print book in my hand. With a leather cover wrapped around my Kindle, one that opens up like a book, I can recapture the feel...sort of. But I loved throwing my leather book thong between the pages when I stopped on page 85.
I love knowing I’m on page 85. I love knowing that, by eyeball estimation, I still have approximately two-thirds of the book to wallow in before I finish. Yes, I have a love affair with my books, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic!It bothers me that I don’t know these things when I read the same book on my Kindle. Why? Because I don’t feel the same sense of completion when I read that invisible “The End” that tells me the book is finished. I’m still used to closing the binding on that physical book and I don’t know how to get that same closure when I finish an eBook.
I know I’m 25%, 60%, 85% through the story on my Kindle. But I want page numbers. I want to know that I got my money’s worth. As a reader, it frustrates me that I’m unsure whether I’ve just read a full-length novel of 50,000 to 100,000 words, or a novella. When I hold a skinny book or a fat book in my hand, I know exactly what I paid for.
All of these things are based on an old reader mindset that really doesn’t work in this modern world of carrying books in your pocket on your phone. Yeah, I can get print books, but remember, I can’t read the fonts anymore, so I should be grateful to still have the ability to READ. It doesn’t mean these things aren’t still languishing at the back of my mind.
Which brings me to the other side of this discussion.
As a writer, it worries me that readers don’t really know if they get what they paid for either. I know I write full-length contemporary romance, as traditional publishing standards fly, 50+k words. My romantic suspense tends to be twice that at 100+k words…again, as the traditional publisher flies. On digital devices, you really can’t tell. It’s all too easy to feel cheated without a physical book weighing in on your senses, and my suspense might feel as “light” as my contemporaries to some readers. I hope not!
I’m a realist. I know there’s not much I can do to influence reader perceptions, especially when the traditional publishing benchmarks are masked or no longer apply. The story is finished when it’s finished. The last thing I want to do is add “fluff” to a story to make it appear bigger. If the story is told in novella length, under 50k words, that’s how I’ll sell it.
I like to believe I’m moving around this digital world fairly well. But questions pop up and knock me sideways once in a while, reminding me that I’m still a baby in Indie publishing, as most of us are since the digital world is evolving at ludicrous speed. How many of the traditional publishing expectations should writers carry over into our digital publishing? How much do I, as a reader, have a right to expect of the authors I’m buying? I think we’re still all kind of wandering in the dark on both sides of the question. There doesn’t seem to be any easy answers.
Maybe tomorrow, there will be. Of course, tomorrow they might be downloading books directly into your brain, taking this conversation in a whole new direction.
Considering my often disastrous experiences with computers, I doubt y’all want me crashing around in your heads!
START YOUR NEXT READ HERE…
Contemporary Romance with a kick of humor. Karen Docter’s romantic comedies and contemporaries are spicy-sweet hometown-hero romances filled with warmth, love, family, and happily-ever-afters. You might even laugh out loud.
Women hunted by killers…men who’d die to protect them. K.L. Docter’s psychological romantic suspense novels are filled with romance, although the dangers the hero and heroine face are intense…usually because a serial killer is bent on ending one or both of their lives. You’ll find romance, danger, justice, and a happily-ever-after between these pages!
As mentioned in a recent Meandering, I culled my Karen’s Killer Book Bench blogs from two to one, to give me more writing time. (I’m keeping those already on my schedule through the end of the year.) This week was one without a blog on Wednesday. I hope you didn’t miss it too much.
I have to admit, after over ten years, it felt a little weird. I kept thinking through the day that I’d forgotten something important, like not turning off the oven before leaving the house or closing a window on a rainy day.
I’m happy to report, though, it freed up more time than I expected and I’ve spent most of the week actually writing. I’d also forgotten how much time I spend on the weekends uploading the blogs, which freed up a little “me” time. Things felt “lighter” all week. Bonus!
Which meant that I wrote nearly every day this week. I am still revising CATCH THAT SANTA, expanding the story a bit. I also worked up another chapter in my secret project. COP IN THE CANDY SHOPPE is also moving again. Happy writer!
Book Club Appearances
I would love to visit with your book club or library via Zoom to chat about any of the books in my True Love in Uniform or Thorne’s Thorns series. (No speaker fee, of course!) If you’re interested, please contact me at kldocter@yahoo.com.
Please use BOOK CLUB/INVITED in your subject line so I don’t discount you as a scammer and delete you. Thanks.
Website/Karen’s Killer Book Bench & Killer Fixin’s Blog
X/Twitter
Instagram
Karen Docter Facebook
K.L. Docter Facebook
Docter in the House! chat group
Midnight in the Garden chat group
Book Bench for Romance Lovers chat group
Pinterest
BookBub Karen Docter
BookBub K.L. Docter
Explore this week’s books, spotlighted on Karen’s Killer Book Bench (spotlight) & Karen’s Killer Fixin’s (spotlight + recipe).
MONDAY #Historical #Thriller: ASH RECKONING by Stephanie Zayatz
TUESDAY BLOG GIVEAWAYS: Karen’s Killer Book Bench blog giveaway winners
FRIDAY FIXIN’S #Oriental #Chicken #Recipe: CHINESE CHICKEN SESAME from Karen’s Kitchen
What are you reading? I’m always on the lookout for books to add to my TBR pile! Join me for the challenge. It will be fun to motivate each other. You can find my 2026 Goodreads Challenge here.
Interested in booking your own Book Talk Spotlight? Contact me at kldocter@yahoo.com. Does not have to be a new release. Only one spotlight per book.
Thank you for being a huge part of my reader community. Y’all are the best! Wishing you oodles of reading pleasure and happiness. Hope you are getting cooler weather.
Happy Reading!
Karen
P.S. Every heart/like you click helps other people find my books. Leave a comment so I know you were here. I read every single one. Thanks for being here.
Recommend Docter’s House of Books & Meanderings to your Besties!
Karen Docter writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy under her own name, and romantic suspense as K.L. Docter. A book lover, she spotlights books of most genres on her Karen’s Killer Book Bench & Killer Fixin’s blogs and her newsletter, Docter’s House of Books & Meanderings. When she’s not hanging with her own personal hero, a persnickety Border Collie, and a flock of chickens that “sing” really loud every morning, she’s living her best life reading and writing lakeside on the South Carolina coast.
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