Upcoming Hardcover Releases

Bitchpants = a leeetle Snug

I love books. Just LOVE them. But several of the authors previously on my "Must Buy" list have unfortunately shifted to my "Must...check out of the library" list because someone, somewhere, made a business decision to release these authors' upcoming books in hardcover.

I understand that this is an accomplishment for these authors, an indication that they've arrived, that they've hit the "A List", that their publisher is willing to invest in their careers. Congratulations. But... someone really should have asked their readers about this first, because with this decision, they've lost a sale. Mine. And I don't think I'm alone.

I'm a voracious reader, buying at least a hundred books a year. My library card smokes from frequent use. But I don't buy hardcover fiction. EVAH. Hardcovers have serious usability problems. They're too big, too heavy. They don't travel well (again - big, heavy) and they are not easy to read in my preferred reading location: the bathtub. Heavy, heavy, heavy. And? Water. It's so annoying when an author has released 10 books in a keeper series in paperback, and the 11th comes out in hardcover. It fucks up my bookshelf feng shui.

So, Sherrilyn Kenyon ("Acheron"), Laurell K. Hamilton ("Blood Noir"), Christine Feehan ("Dark Curse")? Love your work (okay, I'm on the fence with LKH), but... I'll check your new releases out of the library, take them for a test drive, and buy them in paperback if I decide they deserve a space on my keeper shelf.

Because with a hardcover costing half a tank of gas, that test drive is pretty damn expensive.

Listening to: "I'll Fly For You" by Spandau Ballet