A while ago, I finally organised the sea of books in my Kindle library into their respective genres.
And let me tell you, it was SWIMMING with 'em.
All said and done, it took me the best part of an hour to complete, and I swore after closing my Kindle and tossing it across my desk…
"No more books for the next year!"
(Only to buy a sci-fi novella two hours later…) 🤦♂️
Listen, I'm far from being the only one to have a swelling TBR list of books that will never be read in this lifetime or the next, but it was only after this clean-up operation that I realised something startling.
A good 85% of my library comprised of…
$0.99 purchases.
Some of them I don't even remember buying!
(Liam? Nathan? Laura?!)
Ever since this discovery, I've enforced a self-imposed ban not just on $0.99 e-books… but any title under $4.99. I'm sure this will horrify the authors among the Legion — which there are many (hi!) — but in my experience as both a slinger and eater of fiction:
Cheap usually = lower and slower consumption.
I don't make up the rules, so don't loose arrows my way, Robinhood.
It's just the way it is.
For some deep-seated psychological reason I have yet to get to the bottom of, it seems the more skin we have in the game, the more value we ascribe to the "thing."
For books, that usually means that titles ascend my TBR list.
It's one of the main reasons I price my books on the higher end. Sure, the extra royalties go down well every morning with my morning espresso, but having my books actually read is what I care about most.
It also makes my impending arthritis worth it.
And if you've yet to frolic in my fictional fields, then I invite you to check out my modest, but growing, catalogue of wares here:
I can't promise they will solve your TBR woes, but they will surely make forgetting about them easier.
Have a cracking weekend, Legionnaire.
Stay classy.
DJJW