Happy Wednesday!
Where I live, fall is in the air! My windows are open, the boob sweat is gone, the fluffy blankets are out.
I am in heaven, though I am sad iced coffee weather is gone. Well, you can drink iced coffee whenever you damn well want, but hot coffee is a small pleasure when the temps are colder. If you’re curious about which iced coffee/cold brew recipe I use, I use Pioneer Woman’s! I started doing batches this year and it’s been great.
…
The Ripped Bodice is selling Mask Up Romance t-shirts to help raise money for their employees.
…
For those in search of a feel-good thing to listen to or watch, Alisha Rai recommends this:
Do you need a little spot of happiness and hope in your day? Please listen to The Cut’s podcast chronicling Tamara and Frank’s NYC quarantine romance. I’m so excited I was able to weigh in on this IRL romcom and wish the happy couple all the best! https://t.co/o2SxyWh74n pic.twitter.com/fhiNoRh7x3
— Alisha Rai (@AlishaRai) September 10, 2020
…
Frolic has a list of recommendations of grumpy heroines paired with sweet heroes. Totally my catnip!
…
For those whose interests include anime and fashion, boy do I have an article for you!
…
Sarah sent this graph to me! I am definitely Alistair of House Clippy.
DEPRESSIVES OF TWITTER! In this Year of Our Apocalypse 2020, I have made a useful thing for our people: the Depressive Alignment Chart, as illustrated by random and arbitrary media I've consumed in quarantine!
An explanation of my methods: pic.twitter.com/qfhLFBf6nd
— Rachael K. Jones (@RachaelKJones) September 13, 2020
…
Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
“this Year of Our Apocalypse 2020” reminded me of Jay Allen redefining B.C. as Before Covid.
Jay is the guy behind the viral Facebook post with many hashtags describing his middle of the night toilet seat misadventures. #MyKneesHitMyChest #Survivor
Highly recommend following him.
If anyone has been on the fence about joining Audible, now’s a good time to take the plunge. They’ve had tons of kids’ books available for free streaming while schools were shut down, and now they have an Audible Plus catalog of free listens that includes adult books. The books can either be streamed or downloaded to your library. There’s a decent selection/variety to choose from in different genres.
For some reason, I’ve really struggled with reading books this year, but have found it somewhat easier to concentrate on audiobooks. My completed books number is way down–I may not even hit my GR challenge goal–but it would downright paltry without audiobooks.
That’s the end of today’s PSA. 🙂
This was a comfort, and informative:
https://thequietpond.com/2020/09/13/reading-romance-while-demisexual/
These are amusing:
https://www.twitter.com/rommfa/status/1300824525592903680
Thanks so much for the Sailor Moon article. Considering how obsessed with Sailor Moon I was as a child, it’s weird how few specific plot details I remember. It’s on Hulu, maybe I should watch some of it.
This made me laugh this week: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-like-my-men-like-i-like-my-2020-edition
Thank you for that link, Trix. I’m demi but discovered it only very recently. I’ve retroactively understood that I like historicals more because in general they tend to more commonly have those emotional connections develop first (note that this is an extremely broad generalization). In any case, I enjoyed reading something from another demi human. (I’m… not sure what the term is for me… alloromantic demisexual? rather than demiromantic, but I’m excited to go through her recommendations and see if they work for me).
@Susan
The kids book streaming sounds good. Unfortunately, right now I’m so upset at Audible for discontinuing it’s Audible Escape option on Nov 1st. It is like Kindle Unlimited, and contained lots of romance novels and great authors and I have happily paid the flat rate and spent my summer listening to them. I have asked customer service about making the Audible Plus catalog searchable, and they keep giving me,”Well there are so many books, so it’s too difficult.” Sorry kids, that’s not how that works! Any decent programmer could do the trick for you, so let’s stop the BS. Without being able to search the Plus catalog, or at least REFINE your search using that as a filter, makes the whole thing next to worthless.
I listen to an audiobook every two-three days on average, so the credit system doesn’t work for my budget. Audiobooks are my isolation lifeline, and I’m really disappointed. I’ve checked the library and they have a limited catalog, which after the recent article here on SBTB, I understand a lot better.
Right now I have 40 audible Escape books lined up to read, but I can’t get through all of them, and many of those were just first-in-series with the rest of the series on Escape as well. I’ll get through as many as possible while I can and contemplate my options for the future.
@Sabrina: Feelin’ like a baby demi myself (I basically put it on forms if there’s an option, but that’s as far as I’ve gone IRL). Though I haven’t joined/posted thanks to years of horror stories about Reddit, I look at r/demisexuality almost daily and find it incredibly comforting (it’s well-moderated so the trolls get chased off quickly, very supportive, and very varied both as to where people stand on the allo/ace spectrum and where their secondary orientations lie if they have them). Though I know nothing about Discord, there is a demi Discord recommended there often, with an invitation provided…
@Carrie G: If your library’s OverDrive is glutted up, there can be a decent romance audio selection on Axis360 and Hoopla too. Libro.fm (an audiobook platform which can support your local indie bookstore if they have an affiliate signup link) has the Kiss Club newsletter, which offers a few discounted titles every month too…
For the aces (and everyone else) in this comment thread, from the summary of Angela Chen’s newly released book, Ace: “Disabled aces, aces of color, gender-nonconforming aces, and aces who both do and don’t want romantic relationships all share their experiences navigating a society in which a lack of sexual attraction is considered abnormal. Chen’s careful cultural analysis explores how societal norms limit understanding of sex and relationships and celebrates the breadth of sexuality and queerness.”
Also, has anyone been keeping up with the latest chapter of the Omegaverse saga, i.e Lindsay Ellis’ magnum opus on the topic and ensuing threats of lawsuits from She Who Will Not Be Named within hours of the video essay’s release? Fun times.
Not like me to post this much, but was intrigued by this essay tonight (I’m actually waiting for BOYS LOVE MANGA AND BEYOND at the library, will let you know):
https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/anime/sailor-moon-characters-queer-identity/
@Carrie G:
Sorry to hear that about Audible Escape. I’m not a member so I wasn’t aware. As much as I love audiobooks, I prefer to read romance books rather than listen to them so I figured Escape just wasn’t a good value for me.
And I totally agree that the Plus catalog needs to be searchable/more user friendly. That was my primary beef, but the complaint is mitigated by the free part. TBH, I’m not clear how Plus can be sustainable in the long run, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it, too, gets discontinued. In the meantime, tho, I intend to make as much use of it as I can.
@Trix
Axi 360 doesn’t seem to be supported by my library, but Overdrive, Libby,and Hoopla are. The problem is the number of titles and the diversity of authors is very limited on all those platforms. Across all three, I found 1 K.J. Charles, for example, but a dozen Danielle Steele and almost as many Jill Shalvis and Mary Balogh. All well and good, but I’d like a wider selection.
I’ve looked at Scrib’d and will probably give them a go for a short subscription. They don’t have a large romance section but they have some good ones, and I want to look at their mystery selections as well.
I’ll check and see if there is a local bookstore associated with libro.fm. Thanks for the heads up!
@Susan
You could be right. Audible probably isn’t making Plus very user friendly because it doesn’t make economic sense to do so.
@Carrie G: That’s true…if you’re in California there’s also Enki Library (which has a lot of indie romance), but it doesn’t look like it supports audio. Libro.fm usually offers some freebies on Independent Bookstore Day (free account required, but not a paid subscription), and they had one for the first Bookstore Romance Day (but not this year’s). It looks like Audiobooks.com requires a subscription to make any transactions, and I don’t know much about Kobo’s audio platform…
I’m with you, Carrie G. I got that email from Audible yesterday and was super disappointed. I have been an Audible member for ages and have used Escape since it was first initiated. I’ve been introduced to so many authors and narrators through it and have gone on to purchase more titles as a result. I go through at least 1-2 titles per week, so it’s going to be a big shock to the system to have that access cut off. Especially during a freaking pandemic when we all need some self-care and “escapes”. Going from 10,000 odd romance titles available in Escape to about 800 in Plus? Yeah, no thanks. Seriously giving consideration to cancelling my membership entirely.
I just came across this yesterday: An Oral History of Wishbone. Sorry not sorry for getting the theme song stuck in your head.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/wishbone-oral-history/
@sula
Where did you find the information about how many romance books Audible Plus has? I can’t seem to find any information about the Plus catalog at all outside of a few links to book suggestions they’ve sent me. I’m guessing that except for those suggestions they send after you’ve finished on audiobook, the only real way to search is try author names and scroll through the lists. I loved that Escape had it broken down in so many searchable ways, like “road trip” or “friends to lovers.” I found new authors I wouldn’t have known to search for. I’m trying to decide about my membership. I might keep it and shop their Daily Deals and sales, which are sometimes good. So far,no other platform has close to the number of titles. Most of them carry mainly bestsellers.
@Carrie G, I saw those figures on Twitter last night, so while I can’t vouch for their accuracy, they seem about right based on my own experience trying to search through both catalogs. I have done a few searches in the Plus catalog by using filters. First Romance and then there are a few sub-category filters like Contemporary, Historical, etc. But it seems very clunky to navigate and does not have all of the tropes and character suggestions like Escape.
I totally understand the financial logic of doing away with it as Romance fans are notoriously voracious and break the profit models of pretty much every “all you can read/listen” subscription offers. But I would have thought that Audible would have done their research on the front end before even creating the subscription and pricing it. Speaking for myself, I would be happy to pay more for it, particularly to make sure that authors and narrators are getting a fare shake. But the way they are rolling this out feels just peremptory and mean. Their stock response is “you get all of these awesome titles across so many genres through Plus”. But I don’t WANT any of those other categories. Grrr.
@sula,thank you.
I have to be careful what I buy for financial reasons. If Audible Escape isn’t sustainable for Audible or the authors/publishers, then so be it. I’ve read was that was the case and I get it. Audiobooks have been my pandemic lifeline and I’m disappointed. I’ll just have look elsewhere to see what I can afford/borrow for free and save my monthly credit for the hard to find authors and titles or those titles only available on Audible, which is unfortunately common.
@Carrie @Sula:
Maybe the authors who were on Escape are going to slowly migrate to Audible Plus? Have you learned anything?
This link about a real life Bromance Book Club inspired by the fictional one is interesting.
https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a33315450/romance-book-club-for-men/
For anyone who wants to take a look, this is the webpage for the romance category in Audible Plus. https://www.audible.com/ep/romance-in-audible-plus
And here’s the link on the Audible Help Center with questions and answers regarding Escape and Plus.
https://audible.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10216/~/what-is-happening-to-audible-escape%3F
Scribd has LOTS of romance audiobook titles available. Frequently a book I want to read is only available as an audiobook. I pay annually and hope not to single-handedly put them out of business. Scribd usually offers a one-month free trial and advertises “unlimited” audiobooks, with caveats.
@ Stefanie Magura– thank you for the link. So far my interactions with the help desk there have been polite but decidedly unhelpful. Hopefully they will know more as the program goes on.
@LML, I’ll check Scribd again. I was planing on joining once AE was gone, but when I looked I only saw a list of about 500 romance titles. I must not be looking in the right place. Great news, thank you!
@Stefanie Magura
As far as authors migrating to Audible Plus, who knows. We can hope. But since the argument is that AE is ending because it isn’t financially solvent probably means those same authors and publishers aren’t too excited about “giving away” their books on Plus, either. Not that I blame them. I think AE was a victim of it’s own success and the voracious appetites of romance lovers. Unfortunately, on an audiobooks lovers fb page I’m on, people say books have been taken out of their libraries because the books are being removed from Audible Escape already. I don’t think it’s widespread, but it’s unfortunate if it’s the case.
@Carrie G and others:
Here’s a little known thing about Audible memberships. If your membership is over a month in, and you only have one credit or no credits, you can often buy three credits at a time for about $35. You can spend those on anything, and then after you’ve done that you can buy three more credits. So if you have six books in a series, you can buy three credits and use them on the first three, and then repeat the process with the next three. Also most books have Whisper sync, so you can buy the kindle version, and then buy the audio version more cheaply.
@Stephanie @Carrie G
Also most books have Whisper sync, so you can buy the kindle version, and then buy the audio version more cheaply.
I’ve done this, usually it’s $7.99 for a novel and $1.99 for a novella. And if you can get the Kindle book on sale it works out pretty well. I reread and re-listen a lot so it’s worth it for me.
Do you have to have an Audible membership for whispersync? Our problem is that I started my Audible account several years before my husband joined Prime on his account. My husband’s account (our family account, really) is where we have Kindle Unlimited, too. I no longer use my Amazon account since it doesn’t include Prime or KU.
I thought about switching the Audible account to his account, but then all the emails would go to him and not me, a small but significant pain-in-the-rear, so I didn’t do it.
Also, can you listen to whispersync books on a kindle app (like a phone). My Kindle is not able to support it. Thanks!
I was able to answer my own questions, thank you!
@Carrie G:
You can listen on your Kindle app. I prefer to listen using Audible itself, which you can do even if you don’t buy credits. Any Audible book stays in your library whether you bought it through whisper sync, using a credit, or at full price. Also, for years now, people who have Amazon accounts can use those credentials to sign into Audible. I’m not sure if people are even allowed to set up Audible accounts independent of Amazon anymore. TLDR: You can have an Audible account and not have a membership with which you buy credits and still buy books.