MrsJoseph: Books, Life & Wine

FINALLY. The full list.

Like the previous list I posted on this blog An Aficionado’s Guide to The 20 Best Urban Fantasy Novels of the Last Decade this is a VOTED ON list. The group that voted on this list is Fantasy Aficionados and the group had huge participation in this project. Even the placement that each book/series is listed at (with #1 being the best (objectively, of course – this is a very refined list).

As always – if you see a book that is part of a series, the recommendation is for the entire series.
 
 
1. The Fellowship of the Ring
Series: The Lord of the Rings (Including The Hobbit)
Movies: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2014

The dark, fearsome Ringwraiths are searching for a Hobbit. Frodo Baggins knows that they are seeking him and the Ring he bears—the Ring of Power that will enable evil Sauron to destroy all that is good in Middle-earth. Now it is up to Frodo and his faithful servant, Sam, with a small band of companions, to carry the Ring to the one place it can be destroyed: Mount Doom, in the very center of Sauron’s realm.

2. A Game of Thrones
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
TV Series

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Series: Harry Potter
Movies: 2001, Too many to list all

Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He’s never worn a Cloak of Invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry’s room is a tiny cupboard under the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in ten years.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him… if Harry can survive the encounter.

4. The Name of the Wind
Series: The Kingkiller Chronicles

Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet’s hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.

5. Mistborn: The Final Empire
Series: Mistborn

A thousand years ago evil came to the land. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk labor as slaves in volcanic ash fields. A troublemaker arrives. A rumored revolt depends on an untrustworthy criminal and a young girl who must master Allomancy, metal magic.

6. The Eye of the World
Series: Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

7. Assassin’s Apprentice
Series: Farseer Trilogy
Review: 3.5 Stars

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

8. The Gunslinger
Series: The Dark Tower
TV Adaptation (In Progress)

Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1978, the publication of Stephen King’s epic work of fantasy — what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus — has spanned a quarter of a century.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is King’s most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement.

Book I
In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

This new edition of The Gunslinger has been revised and expanded throughout by King, with new story material, in addition to a new introduction and foreword. It also includes four full-color illustrations in the hardcover and trade paperback formats.

9. Gardens of the Moon
Series: The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Review: 5 Stars

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand…

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order–an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

10. Pawn of Prophecy
Series: The Belgariad
Review: 3 Stars

Long ago, the Storyteller claimed, in this first book of The Belgariad, the evil god Torak drove men and Gods to war. But Belgarath the Sorcerer led men to reclaim the Orb that protected men of the West. So long as it lay at Riva, the prophecy went, men would be safe.

But Garion did not believe in such stories. Brought up on a quiet farm by his Aunt Pol, how could he know that the Apostate planned to wake dread Torak, or that he would be led on a quest of unparalleled magic and danger by those he loved–but did not know…?

[source]

I just posted this as a comment to Rose's excellent post of this morning, but I am going to post it here, as a post, too:

I think that it is time to throw in the towel. There will be BBAs. But, the thing is that the whole BBA thing has blown up to the point where being a jackass is a way to market your book. That crazy bitch Elizabeth Llewelyn is bragging about how her trolling of a reviewers 3 star review has helped sell books. Her ranking has steadily increased as the drama has increased.

And I'm absolutely certain that this is true.

So, now what? 

Well, I would say that perhaps it is time to consider responding to BBA behavior with total radio silence. The person being attacked could delete the author comment and move on. If people want to shelve the BBA, they could wait a few days, and shelve them under something innocuous like "pot pie" and move on. If the nonsense occurs on amazon, the reviewer can't delete the comment, but there isn't any need to pile on. Perhaps a quick reply to say, "hey, great review. Ignore the tantrum." No tweets. No calls for solidarity. It benefits the jerk.

Radio silence.

Radio fucking silence. You are irrelevant.

Because right now, there are actually incentives to behave badly. It is a way to get exposure for a book that the author is unable to accomplish by not behaving like a douchecanoe. Change the incentives. Let them sink into the obscurity that their crappy writing deserves.

Helping them to attention whore is counterproductive.

Just a thought.

She deleted this post, but is continuing to rant on her facebook, and pointed all of her fans/followers toward the reviewer. 

I was going to post this at Goodreads in Feedback but then I realized.

GR hates us.  So I'm posting this here  - hoping that simply seeing it in print will help dial down the rage.

___________________

Ok, I do a lot more lurking here than I used to.

And there is something I'm starting to see regularly now:

WHY is it that GR Authors can go around and harass members to the point of tears BUT members are threatened with account deletion and reviews removed??

It seems that Goodreads Staff have set it up so that members are now sitting ducks.
--If we mention on our reviews that the author is attacking people - we get our review deleted and threatened with having our account deleted.
--If we shelve the books with names you [GR/Authors] don't like - we get our shelf deleted and threatened with having our account deleted.


You guys even REMOVED the shelving visibility - so now we have NO WAY of protecting ourselves! We used to be able to warn each other but not now.


And since this started, all I see now is author after author harassing GR members. Authors demanding to have reviews taken down because they are less than 4 stars.

AUTHORS calling members cunts and GR STAFF does nothing. Tells the member to "go talk to a Mod."

Please explain why the onus for behavior has been placed on the member but the damn authors go around harassing and bullying everyone.

There are no words. I just don’t have the words to describe this enough to get out a review.

I don’t have the words to express my relationship with Gardens of the Moon.

I am…my mind is BLOWN.

It’s genius.

It’s intimidating. The sheer scope of what was going on is amazing. There’s so much going on and I don’t know what to even say. The world is so textured and layered.

There are ten books in this series. O_O

I went through a gamut of emotions – the emotional roller-coaster had me strapped down and didn’t let me off until the end.

The sheer…magnitude of the book was on the scale of what I [previously] would have thought to be impossible.

During my reading of this book I felt confused, I felt astounded, tired, irritated, exhilarated, exhausted, engaged, exasperated, drugged, emotionally traumatized…and totally at Erikson’s mercy.

O_o

Dangerous women. One of the things I loved was that the book is chock full of Very Dangerous Women. Erikson doesn’t pretend that women are the “weaker sex.” In this book, women are simply the other sex. And damn. A lot of the women were more dangerous that the men.

So confusing. This book’s magnitude is immense. It’s confusing. But not in a way that allowed me to stop reading. Instead my brain was set on fire and I wanted to SCREAM when I didn’t get the answers I was looking for.

So much.  There is so much going on. And it’s all SO RICH and TEXTURED. And Erikson left a lot of loose strings. SO MANY loose strings and it was with both a terrifying eagerness and sinking dread that I knew I had to continue on.

Still – the ending was satisfying if abrupt. Which surprised me. With ten books in the [main] series, I expected the ending to be an irritating cliff-hanger. But it wasn’t. It was surprisingly satisfying while still herding the reader forward towards the slaughter next book.

But not satisfying enough. I NEED book two NOW. RIGHT NOW. My GOD. The hoops I have jumped through to get this damn book to me has been insane. My book budget met Malazan and then died. O_O

Fuck. WHERE IS MY AMAZON SHIPMENT???!!?!?!

A few things you should know about this list:

*It was voted on by a large group of fantasy readers (majority rules)
*If a single book is on the list and that book is part of a series, it’s a recommendation for the entire series.
*I have read some of the books, but not all.
*I provide a link to the books I have reviewed.

I decided to break this into parts because it’s a pretty long list.

An Aficionado’s Guide to the Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time – Part 5
An Aficionado’s Guide to the Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time – Part 6
An Aficionado’s Guide to the Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time – Part 7
An Aficionado’s Guide to the Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time – Part 8

 
11. Daughter of the Empire
Series: The Empire Trilogy

Magic and murder engulf the realm of Kelewan. Fierce warlords ignite a bitter blood feud to enslave the empire of Tsuranuanni. While in the opulent Imperial courts, assassins and spy-master plot cunning and devious intrigues against the rightful heir. Now Mara, a young, untested Ruling lady, is called upon to lead her people in a heroic struggle for survival. But first she must rally an army of rebel warriors, form a pact with the alien cho-ja, and marry the son of a hated enemy. Only then can Mara face her most dangerous foe of all–in his own impregnable stronghold. An epic tale of adventure and intrigue. Daughter of the Empire is fantasy of the highest order by two of the most talented writers in the field today.

 
12. Wizard’s First Rule
Series: Sword of Truth
TV Show: 2008-2010

The masterpiece that started The New York Times bestselling epic Sword of Truth

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher’s forest sanctuary seeking help . . . and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence.

In a dark age it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion, Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims. Beyond awaits a bewitching land where even the best of their hearts could betray them. Yet, Richard fears nothing so much as what secrets his sword might reveal about his own soul. Falling in love would destroy them–for reasons Richard can’t imagine and Kahlan dare not say.
In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword–to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed . . . or that their time has run out.
This is the beginning. One book. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

 
13. The Color of Magic
Series: Discworld

Terry Pratchett’s profoundly irreverent, bestselling novels have garnered him a revered position in the halls of parody next to the likes of Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.

The Color of Magic is Terry Pratchett’s maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins — with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.

On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There’s an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet…

I love how IMMEDIATELY dorks jump in claiming that this-or-that creature is not a zombie. People are so determined to police the semantic boundaries around zombies, more so than any other creature out there. Maybe it's because zombies are often a stand-in for racial or economic divides, and we (possibly I mean Americans here) are deeply kinked about the semantic boundaries of those too. Either way, this chart is pretty sweet. 

I’m constantly working on me. My lifestyle, my exercise habits, my diet.

I picked up Crazy Sexy Diet from my library. I was looking for a book (with recipes and meal plans) that I could use to adjust my diet.

I am not rating this book because I was expecting something different and I stopped reading it once I realized it was not what I wanted.

My Expectations:
A book that discussed the importance of whole foods with an emphasis on vegetables.
Balanced meal plans and recipes that contained vegetables as well as protein.
21 Day Juice Cleanse

What I got:
A book that discussed the importance of becoming a Vegan (preferred) or vegetarian.
A book with very few recipes and (from what I saw) no meal plans.
A lot of discussion about pH balancing the body.
21 Day Juice Cleanse

While I was not exactly excited about this book once I realized it wasn’t what I expected, I still planned to read it in its entirety. But I didn’t. I stopped somewhere after chapter two.

Why?

Because the author’s chirpy tone, occasional body shaming and the annoyingly “cutesy” language. Seriously. As I read, I just imagined the author bouncing around a room like a toddler on a sugar high:

“I call these misinformed veg-heads ‘muffin vegetarians.’ When I eat like a muffin vegetarians, I develop what is known as a ‘muffin top’ – a puffy tube if blubber that hangs over my jeans.”
- page 13

 

“A generation later we’re as lost and confused as ever. It shouldn’t be so Zen koan complicated.”
-page 15

 

“Take a look at your overall spending. I’ll bet you can find places in your life where you can reallocate the do-re-mi.”
-page 16

I decided to DNF this after finishing up chapter two and skimming the rest. Especially when I ran across “God Pod” – the author’s term for “body.” *shudder*

I almost didn’t post this mini-review but as I have challenged myself to review all…

I would not recommend this to someone who looking for help with macro meal planning.

I can see this book being very helpful for others – especially if they don’t mind the chirpy tone and cutesy language.

I don’t read a lot of self published authors (SPAs). I used to but I stopped because:

1) There are simply too many! There’s way too much noise to slice through so it’s overwhelming.
2) So many SPAs act like gigantic assholes. I don’t want to be bothered with assholes.
3) So much drama surrounding them and their reactions to reviews (negative and positive). Why would I both spend my money AND get harassed? Again, I don’t want to be bothered with assholes.

But recently, I’ve been discussing this with people in the multitude of bookclubs I belong to. I decided…maybe I’m being too harsh? That the SPAs who act like assholes represent the minority and not the majority.

Well, I’m not sure but I’m willing to give it a short go (in small doses). To test this out, I’m going to start with a month of SPAs. I’m challenging myself to read at least 1-5 chapters from a different SPA each week in February. I *hope* to write a short summery as to how the chapter(s) felt to me and if I plan to continue reading the book or author.

I don’t accept review requests so all of books picked will be from books I already own. I tried my best to pick books that I think I will like – I didn’t just grab any book that was self-published.

My tentative SPA reading schedule:
February 1st: Pale Queen’s Courtyard (Moonlit Cities #1)

Kamvar, a soldier, has lost his way. Leonine, a thief and sorcerer, has forgotten that he had one to lose.

When the daughter of a High Priest finds herself exiled and hunted across the entirety of conquered Ekka, both men will remember who they are, and the country’s invaders will learn that memories, unlike temples, are not so easily torn down.

Pale Queen’s Courtyard is the first novel by Canadian author Marcin Wrona, and a finalist in SciFiNow’s 2009 War of the Words.

Note: This is one of my favorite series. I read this series, it’s sequel The Mallorean, and Belgarath the Sorcerer yearly.

Queen of Sorcery is the second book in The Belgariad series by David Eddings. In comparison to the first book, Queen of Sorcery gives the reader a lot more information and a greater incentive to continue the series. One of the things I liked the most about this book is that the reader starts to get to know the side characters a lot better – and a lot of the things left unexplained in book one are cleared up in book two. Eddings is not one for a lot of loose ends, which I greatly appreciate.

Queen of Sorcery starts the same way Pawn of Prophecy does – with an info dump prologue – and then it proceeds into another info dump. The prologue tells of a famous battle that happened centuries in the past and the second info dump gives the reader a rehash of Pawn of Prophecy. It also reminds the reader that Garion is anguished and that the adults are keeping secrets from him.

Unlike Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery tells the questing group (and the reader) the exact nature of their quest at the beginning of the book: The Orb of Aldur has been stolen by Zedar the Apostate. They have to retrieve the Orb before Zedar can deliver it to the evil god Torak, waking Torak from an ensorcelled sleep to take over the world.

Queen of Sorcery also gives the reader a better sense of Eddings’ world. Each country is populated by a different racial stock and each racial stock is a stereotype. Thus far we have met the Sendars (who are sensible) and the Chereks (who are rowdy, drunks and war-like). Queen of Sorcery introduces us to the Arends (who are “not very bright but very brave” and who’s nobles engage in almost casual warfare while severely mistreating their serfs), the Tolnedrans (materialistic and obsessed with stature) and the Nyissans who emulate the snake. The Nyissans are also drug users and dealers, they sell poisons, are untrustworthy and are also slavers. Got all that? Good.

One of the things that the reader notices is that although Garion now knows Belgarath and Polgara’s real names, Garion and the text still refer to them as “Mister Wolf” and “Aunt Pol.” I feel like the text reflects Garion’s mental state with the name usage. Garion has not fully accepted the real identities of his aunt and grandfather – so neither has the text. Some of Garion’s anguish is settled, however – he knows that Polgara is his (many times great) aunt and thus Belgarath is his (many times great) grandfather – so he is not alone in the world as he feared.

We also learn a lot more about the magic system. The rules are rather basic but it seems that those who have “talent” usually are nearly immortal. These talented people have the ability to do almost anything that they can imagine as long as they have the willpower. Eddings names this system “the Will and the Word” and it appears to have few limitations: It takes as much energy or more to do something magically as to do it physically, they cannot try to “unmake” things as it will cause the person attempting the unmaking to be obliterated and magic use makes a “noise” that other talented people can hear. This noise can be heard for long distances and can help enemies locate them.

Garion has started to show that he has this talent. He hears a “noise” when his family or others use the Will and the Word. He also uses his ability several times instinctively but with no control. Although the adults are still keeping him in the dark regarding his heritage, he’s slowly coming to realize something is strange about his parentage. People keep trying to kidnap him – including the Queen of Nyissa, Salmissra. I’m not sure why Eddings decided to make Garion so ignorant as to almost be stupid. Of course something is special about him. He’s the only descendent of Belgarath and Polgara – who are both powerful sorcerers.

One of my favorite things about this book is that you get a chance to really know all of the characters. Barak and Silk are two of my favorite characters and I really enjoy the banter between them. Silk is a prince, a spy, a thief, a merchant, an acrobat and a martial artist skilled in both hand to hand combat as well as knife work. He’s a small man with a smart mouth and a sarcastic sense of humor but as many bad traits that Silk has he’s very loyal and dependable. Barak is a huge, hairy man. He looks rather brutish and he’s a deadly warrior but he’s a gentle person with a great sense of humor. Some of the humor feels a little forced but in general it’s rather amusing.

Queen of Sorcery starts in Arendia. The group (Garion, Belgarath, Polgara, Silk, Barak and Durnik) joins with Hettar, son of the Algarian Chief; Lelldorin, son of Baron of Wildantor (Arendia) and Sir Mandorallen, Baron of Vo Mandor (Arendia). Lelldorin is an Austurian Arend and Mandorallen is a Mimbrate Arend. The Mimbrates and Austurians have been in the midst of civil war and/or hostilities for centuries and Lelldorin is an Austurian “patriot.” There isn’t much to Lelldorion: he is impetuous, emotional, flighty, an astounding bowman, a loyal friend and a walking disaster. Lelldorin was involved in a plot to kill off the King of Arendia – since the King is a Mimbrate – when he needs to depart with the group. Lelldorin tells Garion about this plot in confidence.

The company travels the length of Arendia while on their search for the Orb. During their travels Lelldorin is poisoned during a monster attack near the border of Ulgoland which requires him to stay in Mimbre. Once he realized he would have to stay behind, Lelldorin has Garion promise that he will stop the attack on the King.

That awkward moment when you're reading a new book, and you realize you've already read it before, only it was written by someone else.

I got an interesting email, via my snarkycake blog, from a Concerned Reader.

While reading Trust Me by Kristin Mayer Concerned Reader got that same awkward sense of déjà vu. After going back through their recent reads they realized that there were some striking similarities between Mayer's book and Shawnté Borris' With Love. 

I'm just going to paste in the bullet point list Concerned Reader sent with their email.

• Both books were edited by Jovana Shirley from Unforeseen Editing. With Love by Shawnte Borris was published on January 4, 2013 and Trust Me by Kristen Mayer was published on October 3, 2013. I am unaware if the editor was aware of the similarities between both books. I am also unaware of any friendship between the authors other than being Facebook friends.
• Main character for both books is Allison or Ally for short.   She is a photographer in both novels.
• Sam is a character that Allison is close with.  In Shawnte’s book, he is her dead husband.  In Kristin’s book, Sam is her female best friend.
• Sam dies in a car accident in Shawnte’s book and Allison’s parents die in a car accident in Kristin’s book.  Both Allisons are dealing with the loss by going on vacation to deal with their lack of living life.
• In both books, Allison is leaving an airport and heading to a hotel for a vacation of sorts.  In Shawnte’s book, the hotel is described as having rich gold and red accents.   In Kristin’s book,  the hotel is accented in shades of gold and blue.  
• Allison is staying in Florida in both books.
• Allison in both books meet a man with blue eyes.   The names are different in each book but the description is the same.

Now, it is reasonable to have some similarities between books in the same genre, but these are far from thematic similarities. This is just weird and worrisome. Not to mention the weirdness of the same editor working on both books. 

Concerned Reader wondered if this qualified as plagiarism, it does not, but it is still extremely questionable.

It's enough to put me off reading any of Mayer's work. 

Ebooks have changed the publishing industry, right? Wrong (in my opinion). Ebooks made it easier for people to publish but it did not do away with the biggest impediments to authors everywhere: bullshit, exclusive contracts, geographical restrictions and unavailability.

I am always surprised when I can’t spend money. I decided to start to log my “lost sales,” mostly to see how much money I save by others being stupid.

The Bullshit ~ Everyone knows what BS is. For me it’s BBA (Badly Behaving Author) activities and/or being a total douchebag (BTW, you don’t have to be a BBA to be a douche).

Exclusive Contracts ~ I *think* this is something that actually started after ebooks came about and it is mostly related to self-published authors. Amazon offers the option to publish exclusively with Amazon for a 90 day period. Amazon offers the book to users for free (not sure how long). While this is happening the author can only have that [e]book for sale with Amazon. So if it was in other bookstores it gets pulled (sorry if you bought it!). I have no clue what the author gets out of it but I can tell you what the reader gets out of it: A) frustration that they can’t buy a book and/or B) to keep their money in their pocket because they can’t buy a book.

Geographical Restrictions ~ This is the biggest problem of them all. It is what is says – geo restrictions restrict the reader from purchasing books from a seller outside of the [publisher created] geographical area. Some eRetailers have geo restrictions, too. These restrictions – in relation to eBooks – make no sense. Why stop someone from giving you money?? While I can understand geo restrictions in relation to DTBs (dead tree books)…ok, I’m lying. I can’t understand them at all.

Not Available in preferred store/format ~ If I were to rank these “Lost Sales” reasons, this would probably rank #1 with me. I can’t buy your book if it’s not available in my preferred store(s)!!!! This is slightly (although only slightly) different from Exclusive Contracts. The difference is that the author or publisher is deciding what store(s) to release to (or not). Sadly (for me) Amazon and Barnes & Noble are the primary stores for a lot of companies…and quite often Kobo (my preferred store) gets left out. I’m willing to (and do) buy at other stores like AllRomanceEbooks, Ellora’s Cave and Baen Books but I have a problem buying books from Amazon and Barnes & Noble due to their DRM. I can’t read the book on my ereader and I refuse to read them on my phone or on my computer. Period.

So, that’s the primary list of reasons why someone would lose a sale from me.