THE FUSSY LIBRARIAN brings you free-discounted books DAILY #FreeBooks #Freebie #Nov #ASMSG

THE FUSSY LIBRARIAN

Readers, how would you like to get emailed a handful of ebooks custom curated for your unique genre preferences?

What if they were FREE books, or steeply discounted?

Authors, how would you like to have your free-discounted books emailed out to thousands of fans of your genre?

Would you be willing to pay for this customized list?  

What if this service was FREE? (for a limited time)

Sign up HERE

What is The Fussy Librarian?

We’re a daily ebook recommendation service that matches readers with books that they’ll love.

A lot of readers will say, “I already know what I like to read.” 

True, everyone has a list of favorite authors. But for each author on your list, I bet there are 50 more that you’d love – if you only knew about them. And perhaps your favorite author has a book on sale and you weren’t aware.

 

So much has changed in just five years. The ebook never has to go out of print. Ever. Think about the implications of that. The number of choices out there is expanding rapidly and it’s only going to accelerate. Some of those books aren’t very good, to be honest. That’s where we can help.

What's different about The Fussy Librarian? How does it work?

At its heart, the most important part of any book-recommendation website is "the match" -- are you going to receive tips about books that you’ll really like in your daily email?

So we set out to create a better match than anyone else. We offer 40 genre choices – including seven categories in romance and seven in mystery/thriller. We're the only website that gives you content preferences regarding language, violence and sexual situations. If you like your novels without profanity, for example, all of your recommended books will be free of foul language. We also have "I read everything" buttons and some choices in the middle.

We'll keep adding categories and content options in the future. 

 

 

What kind of readers will enjoy The Fussy Librarian?

Anyone who reads fiction, to be honest. We already have a huge number of books lined up in mystery, thriller, romance, women’s fiction, fantasy, young adult … the response from authors so far has been amazing.

We do offer nonfiction books, but they’re a very small part of the site right now.

Who is this Fussy Librarian woman anyway? She's unlike any librarian I've ever heard of.
Don’t let the hair bun fool you. It turns out she's a master mechanic, an expert on French cooking, and she practices the ancient martial art of Bokator. You do not want to meet her in a dark alley, trust me.

But why is she so fussy?

That’s an excellent question. Like all superheroes, it probably goes back to her childhood.

You’re not going to tell me who she is, are you?

Heck, even I don’t know her true identity. I’m just grateful she’s using her talents for good and not, you know, bioengineering new Kardashians for reality television shows or creating WMD for North Korea.

 

Sign up HERE

Amazon & Goodreads: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I have been following this issue very closely since it was first announced. 

There are many stances on it from many different angles.

Lets talk about a few of them here.

The latest posting from Digital Book World brings some interesting points to light:

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/the-future-of-goodreads-under-amazon-ownership/?et_mid=610276&rid=234558344

Amazon's systems are consumer-focused.  This has many potential ramifications for Goodreads.  If that consumer focus bleeds over into Goodreads, how will that change the system for authors?

And a good part of Goodreads is built to cater to Authors in social media, events, group discussions, giveaways.  If Amazon no longer cares to devote resources to this kind of activity, will we see the Author-centric aspects of Goodreads drop off in favor of the reader/consumer focus?

http://bestsellerlabs.com/amazon-buys-goodreads-the-impact-on-authors/

Jonathan Gunson has found something positive about this merger, Kindle libraries will find integration with Goodreads "shelves".  This is wonderful for authors, because all of a sudden, a whole ton of "read" or "owned" or "want to read" shelving will register for all these books.  That kind of activity is a major big deal, adds a lot of popularity to a book in Goodreads.

But there are also a great deal of concerns about privacy.  Many a reader who buys on Kindle, using their real identity, yet keeping their Kindle collection private in this neat little device, is willing to write reviews on Goodreads under a pseudonym.  Goodreads allows this privacy.  People also discuss books in group conversations under their pseudonym. 

If Kindle starts connecting the dots between the device/purchaser, and the Goodreads pseudonym, privacy is out the window.  This has far reaching implications for readers of the more risque erotica material.  Privacy has enabled readers to buy and enjoy these books on their kindle devices.  One might say that ereader privacy has contributed to the explosion of the erotica ebook market.

If that aspect of privacy is lost due to Amazon-Goodreads integration of Kindle libraries and Goodreads "shelves", will there be a drop-off in purchases of the more risque-controversial reading material? 

Not everyone wants their entire Kindle library broadcast to the world.

http://thenightlifeseries.blogspot.com/2013/03/amazon-goodreads-holy-shit.html

And finally, there is another issue for consideration, Amazon's monopolistic control of book sales, discovery, and the discussion forums for talking about books.  In addition to Amazon's own Kindle forums, unbeknownst to many, Amazon is also a major shareholder/partner in Librarything, a Goodreads competitor.  AND obviously, Amazon runs Shelfari, the other major Goodreads competitor.

We, the world of book readers and authors, have very little places left to go, to talk about books, where Amazon does not own/control the discussion format and have full access to all that data.

The megagiant bookseller is positioning themselves to control all the platforms where people go to find and talk about books.  Control of discovery, control of word-of-mouth, control of reviews and ratings.

That's just plain creepy, and it screams of a monopoly.



Additionally, Amazon is infamous for censorship of certain kinds of novels.  They will simply remove a book from their system, as if it had never existed.  That removal reaches straight into Kindle libraries.  Kindle ebooks you have purchased that Amazon deems unworthy will disappear without warning.


Traditionally, Goodreads is a place where everyone is free to discuss every kind of book, to rate and review those books.  There are books discussed, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads, that are not sold on Amazon, have been banned by Amazon.  Will Amazon bring their brand of intolerance and arbitrary book removal to Goodreads?

Comments anyone?

Amazon + Goodreads = ????

The world's largest bookseller, Amazon, just signed an agreement to buy Goodreads.

Goodreads:  Over 14 million book lovers.

Amazon:  Multibillions of dollars in book sales worldwide. (Not counting the Kindle devices)

This is a merging of the two most influential forces in the world of books.

I snagged this image from DigitalBookWorld.com.

Antitrust litigators, where are you when you're needed most?  This is a new kind of monopoly unlike anything ever seen before.  

But what will it mean?

Well lets look at Amazon's attempt to cater to bibliophiles with reviews and recommendations:  Shelfari.  Goodreads has been kicking Shelfari's ass all along.  Will we see a merging of Shelfari and Goodreads systems?  Maybe some linking back and forth?  Maybe a few widgets here there and everywhere?

And what of Amazon's position to control content sales via the Kindle tablet line?  How will they integrate Goodreads into the book-buying experience on Kindle tablets?

And what about the reviews, the lifeblood of popularity and discovery?  What of Amazon's reviews vs. Goodreads reviews/ratings?  Will Amazon forgo reviews for Goodreads plugin widgets or vice-versa, will Goodreads now feature Amazon reviews on each book page?

And what about discovery for us unknown Indie authors? In Addition to publishing with Amazon, many Indies use multiple retailers, blogs, social media, and Goodreads to find avenues of discovery.  Mark Coker of Smashwords nailed it:

“Brilliant move by Amazon ... Amazon just locked up discovery for the next couple years.”

And now, via Goodreads, Amazon is able to dip their fingers into other retailer's sales figures and affiliate commissions.  Goodreads has a thriving affiliate business, and massive tracking systems for affiliate links leading out to book retailers (Amazon and all its competitors).  Amazon can now track who's buying what books from what retailer through Goodreads.

A monopoly of information and book buying habits.

These are just a few of the questions/thoughts in my mind.  This is HUGE.  This is the biggest thing to happen in the world of publishing since ebooks.

Authors & publishers beware.

Here's just a few links to articles on the merger:

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/amazon-acquires-goodreads/

http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/413-exciting-news-about-goodreads-we-re-joining-the-amazon-family

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2013/03/amazon-buys-goodreads

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/03/28/amazon-buys-goodreads-take-that-bookish/

Leave some comments below.  I would love to hear thoughts and ideas on what this will mean for Indies and the world of publishing.

THE MONTH OF MANY BOOKS

CBL Reviews Invites You To Participate In
'The Month Of Many Books' Project #1

For the entire month of March CBL Reviews is hosting giveaways of extreme proportions as well as offering readers the chance to bid for a book bundle of their choice.

Monies raised through this project, will be donated to a local rural library in Port Elizabeth South Africa. This is to help fund reading education amongst, not only the youth, but illiterate adults in the community of Walmer Township.

Your help and support will go a long way.

How it all works:

• All the paperbacks, as listed below, are all signed copies, kindly donated by the respective authors.

• Paperbacks will be bundled up and placed into an ebay widget. You are then welcome to bid towards obtaining your favorite bundle.

But not to worry, it's not all about getting you to spend your money :D

• There will be ebook giveaways done all through the month of March. Each Ebook was kindly donated towards this cause by the wonderful author of each book.

Each bundle is only open for bidding for 7 days! Thereafter, I'll be adding the next two and so on.

Here's the first lot :D

Bid On Signed Paperback Copies Of Some Of Your Favorite Books:

• Bundle #1:

 CLICK HERE TO BID ══► BUNDLE #1

• Bundle #2:

 CLICK HERE TO BID ══► BUNDLE #2

★LAST BUT NOT LEAST★ 

★GIVEAWAYS ★

a Rafflecopter giveaway