Hey and howdy š¤
Gonna admit, I live in a permanent state of confusion. I somehow overthink and over-analyse everything, while also been the most oblivious person ever. It makes for some unique personality traits.
This confusion extends to my reading life. There’s just some things I don’t get and I’m gonna share those things today. Maybe you don’t understand either and we can figure things out in the comments together.
E-books costing more than physical books.
Ok this one doesn’t happen very often but when it does I’m left with questions and no answers. Surely a physical book that has to be printed, bound and shipped can’t be sold for less than an electronic copy.
I’m sure it’s more complicated then my logic is giving it credit for, there’s probably publishing laws or something that I’m not aware of. If you work in the publishing industry and have somehow stumbled acrss this post, please give me answers!
Shipping real life people.
Listen I get the whole āthese two would be cute togetherā, for example I am ridiculously happy that Tom Holland and Zendaya are together, but what I donāt understand is when people become obsessive over two celebrities being in a relationship to the point where they bully the celebs actual boyfriend of girlfriend?? Like what motivates a person to do that??
Shipping fictional siblings or characters with a very obvious familial relationship.
Iām not one to shame people for the fanfic they read, but when Iām on my late night āI donāt want to sleep even though I shouldā scroll through AO3, I do read some descriptions or see some tags and canāt scroll away fast enough, usually with tags shipping fictional siblings.
What is with the incest obsession?!?! Iāve seen loads of fics shipping Andrew and Aaron Minyard and it freaks me out so much!! In that same sense, I don’t like it either when people ship characters that clearly have a familial bond, especially when one’s mother or father figure. I’m weirdly obsessed with 911 and the amount of things I’ve seen shipping Buck and Bobby hurts my soul.
Again. No shame, only confusion.
Changing the cover design halfway through the seriesĀ
Not only is this annoying to the reader, but in my eyes it doesn’t make sense from a marketing point. Like I said above, I have a shitty memory so I struggle with remembering titles and authors. I do remember book covers though, or at the least they wiggle something free and I go digging to find more information.
One of the cover changes that is forever going to annoy me, is the super pretty UK cover for Renegades by Marrissa Meyer, not being used for the following two books!!
Waiting a year to publish the paperback.
Again, there’s definitely publishing secretes surrounding this one. You want to give people no other choice then paying a little bit extra, at least for the first year. I get that. But there’s been so many books that I’ve had initial interest in and would have bought closer to release date but couldn’t afford. Sometimes I end up getting the paperback a year later, but usually I’ve lost interest by then.
How people listen to audio-books.
I am so incredibly jealous of anyone and everyone who can listen to audio-books because I have tried and failed many times. I’m literally that person that concentrates so hard on paying attention that I forget to pay attention if that makes sense. My mind wanders and I end up missing half of it and it’s so annoying because think of how many more books I could squeeze in if I could read while on the walk to uni and work, etc.
Why more books don’t have character guides.
The joy I feel when I’m reading a big ass book with a lot of character and there’s some sort of guide to help keep track, is ridiculous. Especially when those characters are part of different families or factions or have powers.
I read Lore by Alexandra Braken a couple of months ago, a book with lots of characters, families, gods, to keep track of and the whole time I was thinking “I wish there was some sort of guide”. Turns out there was! It was at the back of the book. Why put it at the back?!?!? I was so unnecessarily confused.
One books I wish had a guide was Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. Yes I was familiar with the world and the families, but with this series, it was hard to keep track of who was related to who and how. I legit made my own family tree while I was reading.
Why isn’t there any “what you’ve missed” in sequels.
When I’m binging a show and there’s a recap at the start of a new season, or even every new episode, it’s annoying. Of course I remember what happened, I’ve been sat here watching it for the last 5 hours.
That’s not the case with sequels. I barely remember what I had for dinner last night, let alone what happened in a book I read over a year ago. I think some sort of recap at the beginning of sequels would be a big help. Doesn’t have to go in detail, just a brief summary of the important bits, ya know.
People in publishing who’ve somehow stumbled across this post, take notes!!! (and give me a job).
Is anybody else confused by the things I’ve mentioned in this post. Please say it’s not just me. If it is, well then thanks for reading anyways š
AceReader 
The last one is accurate aah!
And as for audiobooks, I understand. They take a little while to get used to. I’d say maybe try switching audiobooks and listening to one who narrator actually does a nice job, like don’t start with a very heavy book, especially with too much politics and stuff.
Nice discussion!
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Honestly I’ve tried with audiobooks a bunch, think it’s time to admit that my brain jsut can’t do it haha. Thanks for reading :))
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Omg Chain of Gold def needed a character guide!! I spent so much time trying to remember who was who and who was related to who, like god damn! š
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Exactly!! My brain was on override with that book lol
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Love this list!! Iām definitely a proud audiobook reader, which I started getting so into these past several months since Audible introduced the Audible Plus catalog!
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So jealous!
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I’ve wondered the same about ebooks prices also š and I still can’t get into audiobooks and I’ve tried a few times. I have to be doing something like crafting with the audiobook on but honestly…it takes longer to listen than to read a book, so I give up.
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The people who can listen to audiobooks are just built different and I envy them haha
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Ah, well, I recently got into audiobooks, and somehow managed to not lose attention! I do read YA romcoms, so that even if I accidentally miss something, it’s not something huge- I cannot read the heavy ones! And the sequel recap thing- YES PLEASE, MAKE IT A THING.
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Amazing list, by the way!
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Thank you!
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I can’t listen to audiobooks either! I’m deaf (I can hear somewhat with headphones) which doesn’t help, but the bigger reason is because I simply keep spacing out and missing what’s happening.
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Kudos for the first point! Especially when I can’t use an E-book as decoration, smell it or run my hands on it’s pages like a lunatic.
I absolutely cannot listen to audiobooks. How do people manage to concentrate?!?
This is such a relatable post. Loved it ā¤ļø
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Exactly. I want to work in publishing anyways but now I lowkey want to get a job just to get answers haha.
Thank you for reading :))
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