Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
Daily Diary, Day 1243:
I did finally get some writing done yesterday, but under 300 words. Better than none! The weather had turned warmer, hitting 70 yesterday, supposed to go even higher today and stay above the 70s until Wednesday, with mild Santa Ana winds. Then a big change, with at least according to the current 10-day forecast the temperature will start to drop on Wednesday, followed by rain on Thursday, then periodic showers for the next eight days, with days in the mid 50s! Very, very odd pattern. But, hey, Weather! Today, no phone calls on the agenda, and except for putting the groceries away when they come, I should be able to concentrate on writing after I do this post.
Meanwhile, just a brief mention of what the polls told me about fiction reading habits of those who responded. The overwhelming percentage (96%) read ebooks, a smaller percentage, but still substantial (76%) also read fiction in print, so clearly a large percentage of respondents read both ebooks and in print.
However, I confess I was surprised that less than a third (27%) listen to audiobooks at all, and for only 3% are audiobooks the primary method of “reading” fiction. This last statistic explains why I don’t get much interest in the links to my discounted audiobooks in either my daily or monthly (promotional) newsletters. Then again, until about three years ago, I didn’t listen to audiobooks at all, either, although as you can tell from my recommendation posts, recently, almost all my recreational fiction reading is audiobooks.
And then there was the interesting data on where you primarily read your ebooks, with 45% on a dedicated ereader and another 37% on a tablet, with only 15% on a phone and, not surprisingly only 3% on a computer.
When I have the time, or carve out the time, I do want to do a little research to see if these patterns correspond to the basic demographics of my subscribers.
But if I am going to find that time, I do need to get goingn on the writing!
Here are photos of a lovely flower arrangement I got for my birthday from good friends. Just lovely colors and so vibrant!
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Rarely comment but always enjoy reading your daily diversions!
Interesting statistics. Thank you for sharing.