Books FINALLY Arrive

My copies of Marrying a Widower finally arrived.

So if you pre-ordered a copy, contributed a story or were a beta reader, then your copy will be mailed first thing tomorrow.

All I can say is that it's finally nice to hold them.

Now Available: Marrying a Widower

Are you in a serious relationship with a widower? Are you considering tying the knot? Any lasting relationship takes a lot of work, but a successful marriage to a widower requires the ability for both of you to work through unique issues that most couples don’t face. Are you up to the challenge?

Drawing on a decade of experience as a remarried widower, Abel Keogh gives you unique insight into what it takes to make any long-term relationship with a widower successful, including:

  • How to make sure your marriage is new, exciting, and fresh instead of a rehash of the widower’s previous relationship.
  • Suggestions and tips for making sure both of you can talk about the late wife, his grief, and any other widower-related issues.
  • What role, if any, the late wife’s family should play in your relationship.
  • How to make the home feel like yours instead of theirs.
  • Ten real-life stories from women who are engaged or married to a widower.

Marrying a Widower will help you decide whether or not the widower you’re dating is prepared to make the ultimate commitment. More importantly, the book will walk you through many of the challenging circumstances that come with tying the knot and help you decide if taking this step is right for you.

Read Chapter 1

Paperback | Kindle | Nook | Smashwords | Personalized Copy

Marrying a Widower: Done

The writing and editing part of Marrying a Widower is done. The final manuscript has been sent to the designer for typesetting. I formatted it for the various eBook formats last night. Depending on how fast the typesetting goes the book could be available as early as next week. I'll post Chapter 1 on Wednesday. Until then I'm going to catch up on sleep and spend some time with Marathon Girl and the kiddies.

May 1 I start another writing project and the process starts all over again.

Why is Goodreads Removing Amazon Book Info from Their Website?

Something weird is going on with Goodreads. While I was rating some books last night, I noticed that one of them had the following message across the top of the screen: "This edition is in danger of being removed from Goodreads. Will you rescue it?"

One of my books with the message. Click for larger image.

I clicked the Learn More button and got the following message:

At Goodreads, we make it a priority to use book information from the most reliable and open data sources, because it helps us build the best experience for our members. To that end, we're making a major change.

On January 30, Goodreads will no longer display book information that comes from Amazon.

This includes data such as titles, author names, page counts, and publication dates. For the vast majority of book editions, we have imported this data from other sources. Those few remaining editions for which we haven't found an alternative source of information will be removed from Goodreads.

Off to the left Goodreads then gives the visitor an option to update the information and rescue the book so long as 1) they can get the information from a reliable sources like the author's website (you must submit URL along with your submission) or a hard copy of the book in your hands.

What you see after clicking Learn More. Click for larger image

I checked my three books on Goodreads and found that the Kindle editions for my two traditionally published books had that same message on their page while the my self-published book did not. (Yes, I rescued my books.)

This leaves me with several questions:

1) Why is Goodreads removing Amazon book information from it's website?

2) Why don't they consider Amazon book information a "reliable and open data source"?

3) What do they consider an "reliable and open data source"?

4) Why does this just seem to be affecting Kindle editions of the book?

5) Why did I have to rescue my traditionally published books but not my self-published one?

Scouring their website didn't give me answers. Several Google searched didn't either. Off the top of my head the only reason I can think of for doing this is that there's a lot of copyright infringement going with Kindle books and they're having a hard time sorting out the real editions from the fake one. But that's just an educated guess.

I did email Goodreads asking them the reason for this change but as of now haven't received a response. (Their website says it may take several days to reply to emails.) If they respond, I'll let you know. In the meantime, if anyone has any information on why Goodreads is removing Amazon book info from their site, shoot me an email or leave a comment below.

Update: Thanks for the comments. It appears it is an Amazon issue which, I admit is a tad surprising. I think I've found the official statement from Goodreads here. Part of what it says is:

Amazon's data has been great for us for many years, but the terms that come with it have gotten more and more restrictive, and we were finally forced to come to the conclusion that moving to other datasources will be better for Goodreads and our members in so many ways that we had to do it. It may be a little painful, but our aim is to make it as seamless as possible for all our members.

Amazon data that we will stop using includes data such as titles, author names, page counts, and publication dates. For the vast majority of book editions, we are currently importing this data from other sources. Once the imports are done, those few remaining editions for which we haven't found an alternative source of information will be removed from Goodreads.

I wish they'd give a little more detail. Please send me any links if you have them.

Update 2: Goodreads finally got back to me. The content of their email is below:

Thanks for writing in. For years, we’ve used Amazon’s data, and while they have always had certain restrictions and requirements, those terms have gotten harder and harder to adhere to. We have been working as hard as we can to find a new, independent source of data. Ultimately, though, this deadline is Amazon’s, and they have told us that we must stop using their data by January 30, and we have to meet this deadline.

Looking at the bright side of this, we’ve never been able to use Amazon data in our mobile apps, and we’ve had to show Amazon buy links and only Amazon buy links on all book pages sourced from them. Obviously, that will now change. Ultimately, we feel that while we would have chosen a more relaxed timetable for all of this, having our own data will make Goodreads a stronger, more independent site.

For more information about the change, please see Patrick’s post.

Update 3: There's a nice thread over on The Passive Voice's post about this.

Early Stocking Stuffer

If you're a Vince Flynn fan or have one on your shopping list, you can get a free download of  his book Transfer of Power from December 22, 2011 through December 30, 2011. The free download is available through Kindle, Nook, Apple, and Kobo. If you haven't ready Vince Flynn but have an e-reader, this is a great way to check out one of his books without any cost. He's a great storyteller. I highly recommend his books.

Happy Holidays!

Ideas for Marrying a Widower Book

As most of you know, I'm working on a sequel to Dating a Widower. Titled Marrying a Widower the book will focus on how you can know whether or not the widower is ready for marriage or some other lifelong relationship. (Dating a Widower is more about knowing if he's even ready to date and start a relationship.) What I'd like to know from all of you is what topics you'd like to see addressed in this book. For those who are married to, engaged to, or divorced from a widower or are just working toward marriage with a widower, what issues have you experienced that others might be dealing with? What do you wish someone had told you before you married a widower? I have a rough outline of topics I'm going to write about but want to be sure I haven't overlooked anything before I start . Put your ideas in the comments below or send me an email if you'd rather keep it private. Any and all ideas are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Update: Thanks to all those who have asked about submitting essays for the MAW book. I'll have a full list of topics that I'll post in early January that will let you know the topics I'll need essays on. Hold off on sending any until then.

My Next Book

I want to thank everyone for the support they’ve given my latest book, Dating a Widower. Sales have surpassed expectations and the reviews and feedback have been very positive. As a result of its success, I’m thrilled to announce that a follow-up book, Marrying a Widower, is in the works and will be released the first half of next year. Look for more details in January. Like its predecessor, I’ll be asking for readers to contribute their stories. So if you’re engaged to, married to, or divorced from a widower, start thinking about a story you might want to share. A full list of topics will be posted in January.

And no, I haven’t stopped writing fiction. I expect to release a novel next year as well. Look for more details on that in early 2012.

More Book Availability

A couple of quick book updates: The Third

  • For a limited time publisher of The Third has reduced the price of the Kindle version to $4.99.  Download your copy here.

Dating a Widower

The Social Downside of eBooks and eReaders

The e-book revolution is affecting bookshelves. According to The Economist:

Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of its ubiquitous “BILLY” bookcase. The flat-pack furniture giant is already promoting glass doors for its bookshelves. The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome—anything, that is, except books that are actually read.

A lot of pundits are wringing their hands over this declaring that end of the print book and the demise of reading. I think they’re wrong on both counts. Books aren’t going to die and people aren’t going to stop reading just because of the switch to e-books and e-readers. IKEA sees that books are moving to the digital realm and is trying to make its bookshelves useful for something other than books. (Don’t tell anyone but you can still put books in them if you want.) Offering a new version of their bookshelves is good business move. However, the article reminded me that as much as I love e-books and e-readers there is a social downside to the digitization of books.

I love talking to people about the books they’re reading. Not only is it a great chance to share something you have in common with someone, but it’s a great way to learn why readers like certain books. For a writer, learning what pushes someone’s emotional buttons and keeps them reading is as valuable as gold.

My friends who are readers or writers always have bookshelves overflowing with book. I like scanning the books and talking to them about the new books they’ve been reading. I’ve also had lots of conversations in airports, parks, or other places just by seeing someone reading a book by an author I like or wanted to know more about. I’ve had people come up to me and do the same thing. For the most part, I’ve really enjoyed those conversations.

But as eReaders have grown in popularity, I’ve noticed the opportunity for book related conversations has decreased dramatically. The bookshelves of my friends, though still overflowing, haven’t changed since they started reading books on their Kindle or Nook. Books still come up from time to time but usually it’s only if they’re really excited about the book their reading. For the most part I don’t know what they’re reading unless they keep their Goodreads account updated.

When I travel, I see a lot more eReadres than I do paper books. Talking to someone about the novelty of their Kindle or Nook was cool a year or two ago but now they’ve become more widely available those conversations just don’t work anymore. Besides, I have a hard time asking people what’s on their Kindle. I’d rather see what they’re reading and, if it’s something I’m interested in, start up a conversation around that. With an eReader its impossible to tell if they’re reading a book, author, or genre I want to have a conversation about.

What would be cool is if eReaders had a feature you could turn on that would let other eReaders within 500 feet know what books you have in common. Maybe something like that exists and I haven’t heard about it. Until then, I’ll have to get more creative on how to start  book conversations.