How do you organize your books?

I have a history of posting about tech around here! Today, though, I wanted to talk less about tech per se and more about a topic I'm willing to bet is near and dear to the hearts of folks likely to read this blog. Namely, how we all organize our books. Since I read both print and digital, I can talk about both!

Print-wise, my main shelves are easy. I've got the things I've read organized alphabetically on most of the two shelves, with about four shelves' worth of things that I haven't read yet. In theory, the "Not Read Yet" section is also alphabetical. But in actual practice, the bottom couple of shelves can get kind of random, as I have a bunch of books there that are too tall to fit the shelves, so I have to slant them in sideways.

Likewise for several supplementary shelves that hold books too tall to fit the main ones. In general I try to organize those by "Read" or "Not Read" first, and then alphabetically second.

For my ebooks, the question gets trickier. My primary reading device these days is a Kindle Oasis, and I have acres of space on it, enough to contain my entire digital library. Therein lies the problem. I've got a lot of ebooks, and as anybody who has an e-ink device knows, it can get tedious to page through dozens of pages to try to find the book you want to read right now.

So I've been experimenting with the Kindle's Collections feature, trying to figure out the best way to organize my library. Here are some criteria by which I've created Collections!

Digital Magazines: I've got several Collections that contain issues of different digital magazines.

Favorite Authors: Certain favorite authors, specifically ones for whom I have a whole lot of titles, get their own Collections.

Series: Books that all belong to the same long-running series get a Collection, such as "Dresden Files", "Harry Potter", and "In Death".

Same Publisher: Certain publishers will get their own Collections too. I have a "Carina" one, as well as a "Drollerie" one (which has a bunch of titles released by my first publisher, Drollerie Press). In this category, I've also got a "Gutenberg" Collection for titles I've pulled down from Project Gutenberg.

Same General Category: Certain general categories get a collection, like "Classics", "Star Trek", "Star Wars", and "Doctor Who". In this category, I can also add "French" for titles I've got that were either originally published in French, or are translations of things I wanted to read in French as well as in English.

(Important side note re: French, though: I have French and German translations of certain things that also fall into other Collections. I've got French and German translations of Harry Potter titles, for example. Those go into the Harry Potter Collection!)

Read: Self-explanatory. This is the Collection where I stick things I've already read, just to get them out of the general list.

Anna's Current Reads: Also self-explanatory! These are the things I'm working on reading right now, because otherwise I have a hard time finding them. And it's tedious to have to search for a thing that fell off the catousel on the device's homepage.

This has whittled down the length of my book list pretty well. But it's still quite long, so I'm thinking about what refinements I may want to do to this system!

So let me turn it over to you all. How do you organize your books? If you're a Kindle reader in particular, how have you set up your Collections? If you're a Nook or Kobo reader, do you use equivalent features? Tell me about them in the comments!

-----
Angela writes the Free Court of Seattle urban fantasy series as Angela Korra'ti, and the Rebels of Adalonia high fantasy series as Angela Highland! Also, she has a staggeringly ridiculously large library, and is exactly the kind of person for whom the Japanese word tsundoku was coined. Come tell her about the size of your To Read List on Facebook or Twitter or angelahighland.com!

Making it easier to read ebooks again

Holding the Kindle Oasis

Like a lot of writers—and really, a lot of creative people in general—I’ve been feeling a heavy hit to my ability to create art in the current political climate. I’ve seen a lot of different folks talk about their strategies for trying to rekindle that ability, and I am certainly trying several myself. One of these is an attempt to reconnect with what made me want to be a writer in the first place: the simple joy of reading a book.

And given that I’m a tech nerd who loves her some ebooks, this has meant making some changes in how I do that!

For the last few years my reading device of choice has been a Nook tablet. This has been partly because of my day job, where a big focus of what I do is testing web pages, and sometimes being able to do so on a mobile device is useful. So cutting down on the number of devices I carry with me on a daily commute was a goal. But a few things have all combined to make me want to switch back to an e-ink device to read my books.

One: Like it or not, I’m getting older and my eyes are getting weaker. I’ve had to start wearing reading glasses. And given that I spend a great deal of my day staring at various screens, reducing that by even a little will help make my eyes happier. Particularly if I’m reading in the evenings, after spending a long day working on computers at work as well as my computer at home.

Two: My day job’s focus has shifted and I haven’t had to do as much device testing in the last few years. So having a device with me that’s capable of doing web page testing is less important.

Three: I’ve been making an effort to cut down on the ways my mobile devices can distract me. Part of this has involved turning off almost all notifications they give me, as well as removing almost all social media apps from them (with the exception of Twitter, which I keep on my phone so I can check local traffic on my commutes).

And with that in mind, I’ve remembered how very nice it is to read on an e-ink device that has just one purpose in life: showing me whatever book I want to read. It can’t distract me with Facebook, or games, or the Internet in general.

(“Well, Angela,” I hear some of you suggesting, “you know what else does that? Print books!” You are correct, Internet readers. Let it be noted for the record that I do also want to return to my backlog of unread print books in my library, too! But this post is specifically about digital reading.)

The end result of all this?

I’ve gotten myself a new e-ink reader. Specifically, and to my own surprise, a Kindle Oasis. I didn’t buy a new e-ink Nook out of strong concern about the future of Barnes and Noble as a viable store. And while I do the majority of my ebook purchases from Kobo these days, they still don’t have a major presence in the States. So what kept me from getting a Kobo device was the low likelihood of being able to go talk to someone in person if it should happen to break.

Which left Amazon as my only other major option. And the good thing about the Oasis is, good gods this thing is pleasant to hold. It’s specifically designed to be held one-handed, with buttons I can click on with my thumb to turn the pages. Which will make reading on the bus a lot easier, particularly if I have to stand while I’m doing it. (A big risk, on the Seattle bus systems!)

Its screen is very crisp and clear, which is a bonus for my less-young-than-I’d-like eyes. And since the screen is backlit and can even adjust to ambient light, it’ll be easier for me to use it to read in low-light conditions. Like, say, a dimly lit bus during a Seattle winter.

With a nice origami-style cover for it, I can also stand it up to read hands-free. I like to read during my lunch break—and sometimes during dinner as well. So the ability to stand the reader up is critical.

Ready to Read

The one major drawback with dealing with an Amazon device now is that it doesn’t talk EPUB, which I do find annoying. But I am also very familiar with Calibre, having used it for years now to manage my huge ebook library. So I’m easily capable of converting an EPUB to a MOBI, and using Amazon’s Send to Kindle utility to shoot a given book over to the device.

Given the size of my library (we’re talking over 1,700 titles here, people, and that’s just my ebooks), it’s not practical for me to try to shove the entire lot of it onto the device at once. So I’ve had to think instead about doing it in waves. This means I’ve had to focus a bit more on the idea of “what do I think I’ll actually want to read next?”

But really, that’s all to the good. Because the entire point here is to reconnect me with my books. And so far, I’ve already started reading two different things on the Oasis!

I’m very much looking forward to reading more.

---

Angela writes the Free Court of Seattle urban fantasy series as Angela Korra’ti, and the Rebels of Adalonia epic fantasy trilogy as Angela Highland! Come geek out with her about books—her own, yours, or anybody else’s!—on her website at angelahighland.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

The long tail end of ebooks

With the recent closure of Samhain, which was one of my first publishers, I’ve been thinking about the life spans of ebooks.

The reason why this is on my mind is because I had 4 ebooks with Samhain which are now mine again. Do I rerelease them or let them die? The current wisdom is get them back out there as they can earn money, draw new readers and it’s all about the long tail.

But then I see the statistics about how many ebooks are uploaded to Amazon every day. It is a bookstore with literally millions of books as nothing need ever go out of print the way it once did. Which is a double-edged sword, as if nothing ever goes out of print how does one find the new stuff…but now I can read everything a favourite author has ever written.

Given how much the landscape has changed over the seven years I’ve been published, what will it look like in another seven years? How many books and ebooks will be available? It already feels like an avalanche. Yes, every snowflake (book) is unique, but how do you find the specific one you want?

Will anyone really miss 'Ruby’s Ghost' if I don’t republish it?

Would my efforts (and money) be better spent on cover art and editing for new works that I plan to self-publish? Putting out a quality product isn’t cheap. My writing has changed over the years and I’d like to think I’ve gotten better so the old stories do need a freshen up at minimum.

At what point is it better to remove old books…and surely at some point that has to be thought about because otherwise we will drown in the sheer number of ebooks available. I look at some of my books, and I look at their ranking and wonder if I should just let them slip away into the night and chalk it up to experience.

How do other authors feel about old books that have come back to them? Do you revise and get them back out there or let them languish?

As a reader how do you feel about books going ‘out of print’ when in theory ebooks never need go out of print?

What do you think the future holds for the burgeoning tide of ebooks?

New Release: Dead Lady Vanishing

Dead Lady Vanishing is the second book in the Bolde and Baulsey mystery series. This time Natasha (Tash) Bolde and her ghostly crime-fighting partner, Clover Baulsey, are investigating some old and very nasty ghosts, who are causing trouble at creepy Wildfinch Hall. Here’s a sneak peak:

***

My flashlight illuminated the name Wildfinch Hall. Really? Somebody had been reading too many Brontë novels. And we weren’t even in Yorkshire. I wondered whether Heathcliff was at home.

“Stop messing around,” yelled Clover. She was already on the other side of the gates. Unlike me, she could walk right through them. “Come on.”

“The gates are locked,” I said, directing my beam onto the padlock and chain.

“Then climb over.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d trespassed at Clover’s insistence and I guessed it wouldn’t be the last. Sticking the flashlight in my pocket, I surveyed the curls and scrolls of wrought iron, which appeared to provide plenty of hand- and footholds. It wasn’t until I grabbed hold that I realized the metal was dangerously slick with rain. I slipped and banged my knee. Sucking in a breath, I tried again, more carefully this time. As I made my way up, the gates wobbled. The wind whipped around, threatening to toss me on my ass, but I clung on. When I reached the top, I swung one leg over and then the other. For a second I balanced on top then I jumped down, landing with a crunch on the gravel driveway.

Jagged lightning split the sky. For a moment it was bright as day. A large building—we’re talking Pemberley or Downton Abbey—stood on the crest of the hill at the end of the driveway. The scream must’ve come from there.

As I started toward it, Clover called, “No, this way,” and set off across a wide lawn dotted with swaying trees.

Forgetting about the pelting rain, my wet shoes, and the chill that turned my breath misty white, I went after her, flicking on my flashlight again as I ran.

“Is the woman still screaming?” I panted.

“No.” She sounded worried.

“Maybe you’ve gone the wrong way. The scream must’ve come from the place on the hill.”

“It didn’t.” She continued to move away from the house.

“You do realize I’m soaking wet,” I grumbled. Honestly I wished I’d stayed in the cramped car. At least that had been warm and dry. But Clover wasn’t sympathetic. Probably because, no matter how hard it rained, she was bone-dry. One of the advantages of being a ghost.

                I stepped in a puddle halfway up my shin and swore loudly. Mud squelched as I pulled myself free. Clover had gone on ahead. I trudged after her.

Suddenly she yelled and pointed, “Over there. Near the wood. It’s some sort of building.” She moved fast, gliding over the grass. I hurried after her.

The building had been constructed in the style of a mini Roman temple with stone walls on three sides. On the fourth side a short flight of steps led to a porch with a roof supported by columns. By the time I reached the steps, Clover was moving across the porch toward a wooden door. She could easily have passed right through it, but she suddenly stopped and took a step back. Had she met some kind of resistance? I moved closer so I could hear what she was saying.

“What the—?” She squared her shoulders. Then, raising her voice above the storm as though she was speaking to someone, she said, “Who are you? Why did you scream?”

As she listened to the answer, she tapped her foot like she did when she was pissed. “I’ll mind my own business when hell freezes over! Who the hell do you think you are anyway?”

Frustrated that I could only witness one side of their exchange, I yelled, “Clover, what’s going on?”

But all her attention was on the other ghost. She looked it over from head to toe. “You’ve been here a while, haven’t you? When did you die? Nineteenth century?...No, I won’t go away. I heard a scream. Was it you?” Her hands rested on her plump hips, feet apart, in the determined stance I knew so well. She clenched her fists and demanded, “Get out of my way.” A second later, she doubled over. Had she’d been gut-punched?

“Clover!” I rushed up the steps.

“Stay back,” she warned, but I kept going. Her assailant was a ghost. It couldn’t hurt me. Not physically anyway.

I'd almost reached her when her head snapped back. Had she been punched in the jaw? She lashed out, one-two, with her fists. Then suddenly her hands were pinned behind her and she was being pushed toward the door.

“Let her go!” I launched myself at whoever was holding her and swung a punch. I’d never fought a ghost before. I was shocked when my fist sank into something thick, viscous, and bitterly cold. I yelped as the icy sensation crept up my arms and entered my chest. It was hard to breathe. For one terrifying moment, I heard the faraway sound of a woman screaming in torment.

Clover struggled to escape whoever had pinned her arms behind her. She yelled, “You have no right to—” Her voice was abruptly cut off as though someone had her around the throat. I wanted to help, but the icy cold that had settled in my chest moved up through my neck and into my skull. I’d had brain freeze before but this was much worse. I fell to my knees, cradling my head in my hands, moaning. What was happening to me? I couldn’t think straight, could hardly move. I huddled in a pathetic mound, willing the pain to go away.

“Tash!”

Clover was in trouble…I had to help her…somehow. With a huge effort I managed to raise my head. I saw her throw a punch then suddenly she was down on her knees, her back arched, head bent way back. Her bright blue eyes locked on mine. I heard her panted breaths, saw her struggling to defeat her opponent, but she couldn’t do it alone.

“Tash! Help me!”

***

I’m Natasha Bolde and I see ghosts, well one ghost anyway: Clover Skye Baulsey, PI. In life, she was my best friend and mentor. In death, she’s been my rock, my conscience, my shelter. I’d follow her anywhere, but I really wish I hadn’t followed her to Britain’s Wildfinch Hall, because that’s where she disappeared.

The last thing she did was call for my help. Since I don’t know much about the spirit world I called Joe Nettleford, who moonlights as a ghost hunter. He’s good as what he does, but it’s kind of awkward since I refused to date him. So now I’m not sure what’s going to be more difficult: working with Joe or untangling the secrets of Wildfinch Hall and its ghosts. Still I’d better find a way to succeed at both. If I don’t, I’ll never see Clover again.

Available now at:

iBooks

Amazon

Kobo

Google Play

Giving Thanks for Random Stuff

Out of all the American holidays, Thanksgiving is the one I think should be celebrated worldwide. Okay, the awesome food is one reason.  But there’s more. I’ve been doing some historical research lately and it’s made me aware of many things we take for granted in the modern world. So today I'm giving thanks for:

Flushing toilets—I’ve had firsthand experience of using what was little more than a tin drum with a toilet seat plonked on top. It came complete with ripped up sheets of newspaper instead of toilet rolls. The ‘tin drum’ was emptied every couple of days so you can imagine the stink right before ‘empty day’. Ugh!

Reliable birth control—I love my kids, but I’m so glad I got to choose when and how many.

Computers – how the heck did I write books without one? And, as for this post, it simply wouldn’t exist without the magic of computers.

Household Appliances—Back in the day, women could spend an entire day doing the household washing. So I’m giving thanks for washing machines and dishwashers and vacuum cleaners and all those other devices that make housework easier. And give me more time to write.

The Right to Vote—It wasn’t only women who had to fight for the right to vote. Poor men and ethnic minorities had to fight too. (In some countries they're still fighting for that right.) But we can vote. Okay some of the candidates suck, but if you don’t like the major parties, you can always vote for one of the minor ones.

E-books—I read a lot and storage of print books was becoming a problem. Now I have thousands of books in the cloud. I’m giving big, big thanks for my E-reader and all the amazing books and authors, who wouldn’t be published without the electronic world.

Baths—Okay, people did actually bathe back in the day, but it involved boiling enough water to fill a tub and, unless you were wealthy, sharing the water with other family members. No wonder they didn’t bathe every day. So I’m giving thanks for hot running water, lots of scented bubbles and not having to share.

Phones—Whether you call them cell phones or mobile phones, it’s impossible to write a post like this without mentioning those convenient little pieces of plastic. It’s total bliss to be able to take calls and texts wherever you are and whenever you want. Okay, not in the movies...and maybe not in upmarket restaurants…and definitely not during sex… but most of the time. Phones are getting so smart that it won’t be long before they’re giving back massages. And then I’ll really be thankful.

Medical and dental advances—These are too numerous to list, but I’m truly grateful for all the many scientists and surgeons and all other medical professionals, who make our modern lives healthier and better.

So, that's my list. What are you thankful for in the modern world?

***

Janni Nell writes the Bolde & Baulsey paranormal mysteries. Book 1 Dead Monk Walking is available now. Book 2, Dead Lady Vanishing, is coming in 2017.

Dead Monk Walking

Vacations are a bitch. Or maybe it’s just me.

I’m Natasha Bolde, and honestly I’m no one special. Okay, I’ve solved a few mysteries, but I’ve always worked with my best friend and mentor, Clover. She passed recently, and now I’m taking

what should’ve been her trip of a lifetime to Cornwall, Britain. It’s just like Clover to choose a place chock-full of mysteries. Why is the amnesiac woman digging in the fields? Is the psychic medium genuine or a clever fake? And who exactly is the hot ghost-hunter hunting?

I’d like to walk away and let someone else solve these mysteries, but that would be letting Clover down. To honor her memory, I have to find out what’s going on and make sure everyone gets the justice they deserve. Even if it kills me.

Now available 

Amazon, 

iBooks, 

Kobo, 

Google Play

Confessions of a bookaholic

I’m about to say something that a lot of you will find heretical, particularly coming from a published author: that sometimes, I think it is in fact possible to have too many books.

Believe me, I get it. Every time I see Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Belle starts singing about how the book she’s reading is so amazing, I am right there with her. And when the Beast gives her the peace offering of the giant library, I’m happily crying on her behalf that oh my yes, all is forgiven.

Because books are amazing. Shelves and shelves of unread books (whether those shelves are physical or virtual) represent, for me, a bountiful smorgasbord of potential. Having so many books to choose from is in many ways as exciting as actually diving into one and exploring what it has to offer. I’ll say straight out too that this has been a huge factor in my shift to ebooks for most of my reading—because ebooks mean I can carry that potential with me wherever I go.

And certainly, if the Me of My Childhood had had the slightest inkling of how many books the Me of My Adulthood can afford to buy, she might very possibly have squealed with joy. For six or seven straight days.

But here’s the thing: like a lot of other voracious power readers, my ability to acquire books far outstrips the pace at which I can actually read them. Some of the paperbacks on my physical To Read shelf have been there for well over ten years, and some are closing in on fifteen.

And I have to ask myself: “Honestly, Self, if you haven’t read a purchased book for nearly fifteen years, how interested in reading it could you have been in the first place?”

Because sure, I love that potential that a huge collection of books I haven’t read yet presents. I’ve even said more than once how learning French appeals to a part of my brain that’s ridiculously delighted at the prospect of an entire other language’s worth of books I haven’t read yet.

But at the end of the day, the whole point of it for me is not to buy ridiculous numbers of books I’ll never read. The point of it is to buy ridiculous numbers of books I will read. That dazzling array of potential on the To Read shelf is only meaningful if I actually take the time to read some of those books and let them deliver on their promises.

Otherwise, that mighty To Read shelf I have (over 1,300 titles on it according to my Goodreads account, tallying both physical and digital) becomes nothing more than a conversation starter, or a data point to toss around with fellow book geeks. (And if there’s anything I’ve learned in hanging out online with both SF/F and romance readers, it’s that OH MY YES both genres do love to amass stupendous piles of unread books. Let’s hear it for cross-genre solidarity!)

And y’know, if I’m going to commit to buying books, I want them to be something more than just conversational starters gathering dust on my shelves. If a book’s fetching blurb or beautiful cover lured me in enough that I actually put down some money on it, the least I can do is actually read the thing.

Which has meant for me, the last few years, that I’ve tried to scale back somewhat on my book purchasing and take more time to read the books I’ve already got. I’ve also been ramping up my use of the library to explore unfamiliar authors and verify if I’ll like their work before I actually commit to buying them. Which, as a happy side effect, has certainly improved my appreciation of our local libraries, which are awesome!

So how about you, fellow readers? How overwhelmed are you by your To Read shelves? Got any titles you’ve kept around for embarrassing numbers of years that you haven’t read yet?

Consider taking a second look at those titles. Remind yourself why you bought them. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a wonderful story has been waiting for you all this time.

--
Angela, who writes as both Angela Highland and Angela Korra'ti, does indeed have too freggin' many books. But hey, if you want to chat with her about her books, come find her on angelahighland.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

Six Ways to Squeeze More Reading Into Your Day

I read 200 books a year.  Now I admit, I am a stay-at-home mom/writer, but even when I worked full-time I read over 100 books a year.

So how do I do it, and how can you, too?  Here are some ways.

1.  Carry a book and find opportunities to read. 

On public transit.  In the can.  (Okay, this one is more my husband than me.)  At lunch.  Waiting for appointments: doctor, dentist, hair salon, etc.  At the airport.  During TV commercials.  While exercising. (I read while jogging on the spot--though if you get motion sick reading in a car, I don’t advise this one.) While your computer boots up.  While you’re waiting for the microwave or the coffee maker to finish.

2. Get an e-reader.  Or put the app on your iPod or smart phone. 

If you can check your email/Facebook standing in line at the movie theater/bus stop/grocery store, you can read a few pages of a novel, too.

3. Try audio books.

While driving or working out at the gym or doing dishes or anything that busies your hands but leaves most of your mind free.  (Hint: the library has a large selection.)

4. Avoid channel surfing.  

There are many well-written, excellent shows out there.  Keep the ones you love, but don't automatically turn on the TV.  Veg out with a book on the sofa instead.

5.   Set aside reading time as a reward for accomplishing unpleasant tasks. 

Tell yourself, “If I do the dishes/vacuum the living room/wash the floor I’ll let myself read for ten minutes.”
Or, if you're a procrastinator, "I'll let myself read one scene, and then I'll do the dishes."

6. Read something you enjoy.

I really cannot emphasize this one enough. Pick a fast read that hooks you from the first page. Save the meaty, heavy prize-winning books for longer stretches of time (or never if you’re reading them because you think you should rather than because you actually enjoy them). Read (gasp) two books at once and switch between them if you hit a slow spot in one. Give yourself permission to not finish a book that isn’t to your taste and pick up one you’re eager to read.

Happy reading!

P.S. I currently have three books on the go.  Main read: paperback of Shadowborn by Alison Sinclair.  Ebook read: Quarter Square by David Bridger.  Basement read (while computer boots up): Costume Not Included by Matthew Hughes.