Mindless Rant

Wobbling Star is free for Kindle October 12  and October 13 of 2012.

I realize that this doesn't affect everyone, but I'm not sure why Amazon allows the following kind of nonsense.

As an example, I just went to Kindle<Kindle eBooks<Fiction<Fantasy, and the first page is Showing 1 - 12 of 38,307 results.  That's a lot of titles to browse on any bookshelf. I've complained about the classification system before, particularly that Kindle Digital Publishing doesn't use the same classification system for books as Amazon.com. In response to this complaint, KDP said

The categories in the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account don't always match the Kindle store categories. Books published via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) can fall under two different types of categories - KDP uses BISAC codes to categorize books, while the Amazon website uses a broader classification. Therefore, when you add a category path in the KDP Bookshelf, it will automatically be mapped to the closest classification under the "eBook" category on the website, in order to give more visibility to your book on the website.

I don't find the BISAC codes (Book Industry Standards and Communications) particularly logical or useful, but I suppose they are the closest thing to a recognized classification standard, and KDP did offer me a work-around to reclassify a published book under the Amazon non KDP/BISAC category of my choice. This is not the subject of my current mindless rant. Rather this rant is about the so-called publication dates (for which I don't get much choice when I publish with KDP).

When I sorted Kindle<Kindle eBooks<Fiction<Fantasy by publication date, the first entry had a publication date of (Kindle Edition - Jan 1, 2035). Yes that is 2035--twenty-three years from now--but I could pre-order if I wished. First of all, the word pre-order irritates me because it suggests that I can order before I order when they actually mean I can reserve a copy that will be sent to me on release. Keep in mind that this is an eBook. The eBook price is $7.99 discounted to a Kindle price of $6.39. Does this mean I would pay now in anticipation of delivery in 2035? 

What about the next books on the list after (Kindle Edition - Jan 1, 2035)? They are (Kindle Edition - Dec 1, 2015) followed by (Kindle Edition - Nov 5, 2013)

I then thumbed through 24 pages (almost 300 titles) before I found a title that I could order and have delivered today.

In another set of categories came this intriguing entry: Untitled *** Book 3 by *** (May 1, 2014). I used *** in place of the name of the well-known author.

Okay, I understand that some authors are very popular and their fans can't wait for the next installment, but how far in advance do you need to clutter up an already massive bookshelf? In some cases I'm reminded of vaporware. I would think a month maybe two at the most would be enough. Hype simply doesn't last long term--too many distractions to numb its effectiveness, too many others trying to generate the same kind of hype.

Certainly, this is a mindless rant, because all I have to do is sort by some other category, say by reviews, and these difficulties should disappear. Except under Kindle Store › Kindle eBooks › Children's eBooks › Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror › Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic sorted by publication date, I found a book with a release date of about 2030 with reviews by 18 fans complaining about the wait. Some even expounded that they had already waited for years and did not expect the novel would ever be available, others said 2014. In fact, this book entry is what set me off. 

Surely, there is some strategy of maintaining fan enthusiasm without these ridiculously long release dates announced in pre-release notices.

At first glance, Barnes and Noble appears to have separate categories for new releases and coming soon. But when I called up new releases and sorted by date, newest to oldest, page after page of pre-order opportunities came up. However, the list began with a date of January 8, 2013, which I don't consider to be excessive even if wrongly categorized, but then the B&N pages were acting very strangely, possibly because of my road warrior web connection.

Does this matter? No, not a lot. But there is already sufficient silliness in the world. This blog is my contribution to World silliness.

Just saying. 

 How did I notice the pre-order timeline? I was attempting to locate where my newest release Mistress of Vision (. . . plug the book, plug the book!) had mapped to from the KDP BISAC categories when translated to Amazon categories. After thumbing through 20 pages of pre-release notices to get to current releases, my novel was not where I expected. I then petitioned KDP and they moved it to the correct location with thousands of other books. Ah well, I think I will rant in more detail about the Amazon categorization system on another day.

Take care. Read well. Write better.