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So Many Books

I’m a book buyer and hoarder, it’s true. I get all the book email newsletters (Bookbub, EReader News Today, eBookSoda, etc) and I buy books when they’re on sale or download them when they’re free. My Kindle Cloud library is 450+ books strong and exceedingly overwhelming.

I just finished reading a book and wondered what I would read next. This decision is almost always paralyzing. What do I want to read? Something contemporary? Some scifi? Maybe I should try one of the paranormal, or witchy, or shape shifting books I’ve got in my library?

OMG I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO READ!!!

*hyperventilates*

I had to open my computer and use the Kindle Cloud Reader in my browser to look at all my books. Surfing them via my Kindle Paperwhite was like torture because I have so many and not all of them are on my reader. Many are in the Cloud. And yet, page after page, I couldn't decide.

While I was scrolling through, I saw my own books amongst the mix, and my chest clenched. If *I* can’t decide what to read, what’s going to sway people to read my books? I’m sure I’m not the only one out there with hundreds of books to choose from (and this why I donate a lot of books so that others can have plenty to read as well). And when I do choose a book to read, it’s based on how I’m feeling right then. Do I want to dip into a brand new series? Do I want a stand alone tale? Do I want to reunite with old friends, characters I already know?

I sometimes wonder about book marketing. I do it. I send out newsletters, update social media, tell all my friends and fans I have a new book out. But it’s such a drop in the bucket now with the sheer number of books available and many more to come. I look at my BookBub emails and think, “I have no idea who any of these authors are!” My mind boggles at the fact that I’m almost 40 years old, been a big reader all my life, yet I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s available.

Just so you know, I have no answers to these conundrums. Lol. It’s just that sometimes it’s overwhelming, my brain frying to a crisp. Even if I stuck in one genre and stayed there, both as a writer and a reader, my choices would be endless. This is both exciting and crushing.

But it's never “too” many books. It's never enough. There are always new tales to be told, new worlds to explore. What I really need is to employ some sort of system for getting through my backlog of reads. How do you decide? Are you bound by reading deadlines? Or do you choose based on whim?

The good news is that I always know what to write next. I have enough ideas there to last a decade at least. What to read next and how to prompt people to choose my books to read next? Those are other questions entirely.

PS) I think I’m going to read a few non-fiction books next on… you guessed it… book marketing. Lol. It needs to be done.

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7 thoughts on “So Many Books”

  1. Lola R

    Great post! I think as a book reviewer the to be reviewed pile makes it slightly easier and I have some sort of weird method in my head on how to decide what to read next. First I check if I have any (upcoming) deadline books I want to read, if not, I take a look at my list of books for review and maybe choose one of those or I see if there are books for challenges I want to read. If none of those lead to a book to read I usually choose one of my recently aquired books as those are still fresh in my mind. And very seldomly I just scroll through my goodreads shelves or stand in front of my bookcases.

    Sometimes it’s really hard to choose what to read next, although recently I had a month or two where I have most of my next reads planned out. Like now I know that after my current read I will probably start Rice Cooker Revenge or a beta read for a novella if I already received it by then. Then next up is another beta read. By then if it’s still March I have a book for one of my challenges to read. Early April I will receive review copies for a tour to read, then it’s probably that months My To Be Read list meme book. And after that we’ll see.

    Although even though I have a sort of system or my next books lined up I prefer just picking a book what I am in the mood for, although that can be hard as well as sometimes I can’t decide what book I am in the mood for.

    1. S. J. Pajonas

      It is very hard for me to decide what to read! And sometimes I’ll go through a few books before I settle on something I’m really enjoying… which can actually make the process a lot harder! Lol.

      I like that you have everything lined up, but I’m sure if I were to review instead of write, then I would probably be more methodical about it :)

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S. J. Pajonas