Annoying - finally learn book is part 1

[rkomar]

Series are the "thing" nowadays. Readers and publishers find comfort in them. I'm old school myself and understand the draw to stand-alone novels, but that sentiment is now unpopular. So, go ahead and eschew anything in a series, as long as you're okay with not finding much that's recently published.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Series are the "thing" nowadays. Readers and publishers find comfort in them. I'm old school myself and understand the draw to stand-alone novels, but that sentiment is now unpopular. So, go ahead and eschew anything in a series, as long as you're okay with not finding much that's recently published.

Series with resolution every book has been going on for decades.
Serials where you just buy pieces are a thing now. As to readers finding comfort, that is not what I am hearing. After so many books, the author gets a rep as a money grabber.
Now resolution of main story with an overlying plot line is ok. Stephanie Plum comes to mind. I really didn't want her to pick a guy.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by petercreasey

Talk about annoying is having my posting vanish from the appropriate place I posted it and then having to search for where it might have ended up.

Finally, I found it here...where I never visit. How I found it is amazing!

In any case, it looks like there are no easy answers to determining if a book is incomplete.

Thanks for the replies, though!

How can you say that it was in the appropriate forum when it's a question about how to tell if a book is self complete or only part of a series rather than about where to find a good deal on the book (or if it is being offered for free) though? With over 700 + posts you must know your way around by now. Generally I myself only go to places like Amazon, B & N or Kobo where it is usually posted that a book is book # of a series.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Series with resolution every book has been going on for decades.
Serials where you just buy pieces are a thing now. As to readers finding comfort, that is not what I am hearing. After so many books, the author gets a rep as a money grabber.

While I do want to know ahead that the book (or short story) is part of a series, I don't mind it in itself. But especially with the "short story" route (every book is a chapter), the books need to be published in a very regular and fairly fast pattern. Such as max a chapter per week, preferably every few days.

[petercreasey]

c, the books published in an incomplete part and without any disclosure of this fact appear to be mostly free or bargain books; thus, my posting was a good fit where I posted it.

. . . . . Pete

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by petercreasey

c, the books published in an incomplete part and without any disclosure of this fact appear to be mostly free or bargain books; thus, my posting was a good fit where I posted it.

. . . . . Pete

The Deals, Freebies, and Resources (No Self-Promotion) section is intended to share links to deals, freebies, and resources. Not to complain about the poor quality of said books.

Moving your thread to General Discussions was appropriate.

And hey, I'm another Houstonian (well, The Woodlands. Close enough for government work).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

While I do want to know ahead that the book (or short story) is part of a series, I don't mind it in itself. But especially with the "short story" route (every book is a chapter), the books need to be published in a very regular and fairly fast pattern. Such as max a chapter per week, preferably every few days.

Such is the premise of those appalling "web novels" of course: poorly written, going on interminably, and never, ever reaching a conclusion (because that would terminate the author's revenue stream).

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

While I do want to know ahead that the book (or short story) is part of a series, I don't mind it in itself. But especially with the "short story" route (every book is a chapter), the books need to be published in a very regular and fairly fast pattern. Such as max a chapter per week, preferably every few days.

Amazon tried to put some books in installments. You paid one price and once a week or was it every two weeks you got more chapters. I don't think it went over well. I tried it once and it wasn't worth it.

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Amazon tried to put some books in installments. You paid one price and once a week or was it every two weeks you got more chapters. I don't think it went over well. I tried it once and it wasn't worth it.

I got one of those, but at least it was just one price, once. It was 1.99. I waited and then they released it as one complete book. Its how it now appears in my account, just as a regular book. Chopped up books though like to charge for every chapter though so it adds up. There are some "romance" authors that did that for a while, some even up to like 18 parts or so, each 2.99 and never finishing the book. And according to reviews they got shorter and shorter.

Chopped up books annoy the heck out of me. But of course they aren't series, which are a very different thing. I read series all the time, heck most things out there are now series of some sort anyway. Rare to find standalone books.

There was a author that re-leased her stuff. I was interested as it was a back list title I wanted to read. The author chopped the book into 5 parts. Mind you, it was not even written as a serial, which is bad enough. It was a book previously out with a big 6 many years ago. It was nothing more than a money grab. I never picked them up and I also never picked up any other books by that author again. My memory is great on these things and if it isn't, there are always my notes.

I always read reviews for that reason that are the 1 star. If the word cliffhanger pops up, or anything like that, I am out.
Doesn't help of course if there aren't any reviews yet, but I probably wouldn't get such a book anyway in that case, free or not. Especially if its a self published title.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I got one of those, but at least it was just one price, once. It was 1.99. I waited and then they released it as one complete book. Its how it now appears in my account, just as a regular book. Chopped up books though like to charge for every chapter though so it adds up. There are some "romance" authors that did that for a while, some even up to like 18 parts or so, each 2.99 and never finishing the book. And according to reviews they got shorter and shorter.

Chopped up books annoy the heck out of me. But of course they aren't series, which are a very different thing. I read series all the time, heck most things out there are now series of some sort anyway. Rare to find standalone books.

There was a author that re-leased her stuff. I was interested as it was a back list title I wanted to read. The author chopped the book into 5 parts. Mind you, it was not even written as a serial, which is bad enough. It was a book previously out with a big 6 many years ago. It was nothing more than a money grab. I never picked them up and I also never picked up any other books by that author again. My memory is great on these things and if it isn't, there are always my notes.

I always read reviews for that reason that are the 1 star. If the word cliffhanger pops up, or anything like that, I am out.
Doesn't help of course if there aren't any reviews yet, but I probably wouldn't get such a book anyway in that case, free or not. Especially if its a self published title.

Like you, I can't stand chopped up books. I want an entire book.
I ran across a self-help book once, luckily free at the time, that was literally chapters 12-15, with links to buy the other "books" at $3.99 for every 3 chapters. Needless to say she got no money from me, though I was "nice" and left a review.

Worst I ever came across was an author that put "standalone" in his description when it fact, the book just stopped on a cliffhanger. Oh yes, I gladly reviewed that one.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

While I do want to know ahead that the book (or short story) is part of a series, I don't mind it in itself. But especially with the "short story" route (every book is a chapter), the books need to be published in a very regular and fairly fast pattern. Such as max a chapter per week, preferably every few days.

A Short Story is self contained, even if it is set in a Series Universe.
OTOH A 'Chapter" is usually just part of the story. The release schedule is up to the Publisher (sometimes this is the Author )

[QuantumIguana]

Serialized fiction is pretty old school. The Pickwick Papers was publised from April 1836 to November 1937. There were a lot of Oz books published, or course these were more independent stories set in the same world rather than the next chapter of a larger story. I'm looking forward to the next book in the Foreigner series. I think a good series ought to have an ending in each book, even if there is a larger story that isn't yet resolved. In my opinion, the author should wrap up some of the loose ends by the end of each book. My willingness to read a series is directly proportional to how likely I think it is that the author will continue publishing. It's disappointing to read the first book in a series only to discover that there is no second book and likely won't be a second book.

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Serialized fiction is pretty old school. The Pickwick Papers was publised from April 1836 to November 1937.

Man, you really had to be a fan to follow that one from start to finish!

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

Man, you really had to be a fan to follow that one from start to finish!

I meant to November 1837. :-)

[HarryT]

Peter, you didn't answer my question about where you downloaded the book from. The answer to your question of how you could have discovered that this was not a standalone book is critically dependent upon that .