Etsy's Folly, eBay's International Shipping, and the Start of School

I decided to relist most of my expired Etsy listings, and I also added quite a few new listings.  Etsy sales are poor, but I want to give Etsy the best chance that I can.  If sales remain too low, then I will consider closing my Etsy shop.

I mentioned in my previous post that Etsy has moved the item description to the bottom of the page underneath the reviews.  Etsy sellers are reporting an increase in returns due to buyers having not read the description that they can't find.  

In order to counter this problem, I have added an image to each listing.  That image contains the text, "Scroll down below the reviews for the item description."

I have heard that the item description has not been moved for all users.  I can see the old item page in one of my browsers, so I can confirm.  Even if some buyers think I'm weird, I would rather have the message in all of my listings in order to help the impacted buyers find the item description.  It's a rather important part of a listing.

On eBay, I sent an offer for 15% off to some buyers who had watched an item.  I do this at least once every couple of months.  I don't send offers to everyone who has watched an item.  Many of my listings are already at the very lowest I will take.  I go down the list of listings eligible for me to send offers and go with the ones where I don't mind going lower or where I just really want to get the item sold if at all possible.

I use eBay's international shipping program.  It's better for me, and it may be better for the buyer as well, depending upon the situation.  It does have one serious disadvantage.  eBay's international shipping does not allow items to be combined.  I have had two buyers let me know about the problem, requesting that I place the books they want in a single lot.  

I pull the books they want, take one group photograph, add the individual prices together, and then create the listing.  This results in the buyer being charged eBay's international shipping rate just one time instead of for each individual listing.

A few of you suggested that I begin selling books on my website due to the low eBay and Etsy sales.  I'm not interested in doing that.  I choose to sell on eBay and Etsy so that I'm not responsible for driving traffic myself.  If I were to set up a store on my website, I would have to do a lot of advertising.  That's worse than my current setup.  The cost of selling on eBay and Etsy is not a concern.  Convenience is more important than avoiding the fees.

Setting up a store on my website would also be a lot of trouble.  That's not feasible for me.  I have an autoimmune disease, and I need to control my stress.

Furthermore, I am not worried in the slightest about the low sales.  I'm a bit mentally detached.  This is due to my roller coaster thyroid levels of the last year.  Here is a rundown of my year, indicating by month whether I was undermedicated or overmedicated based on how I felt.

August 2022 - under
September 2022 - over
October 2022 - over
November 2022 - under
December 2022 - under
January 2023 - under (even worse)
February 2023 - under
March 2023 - slightly under, felt normal for around 10 days at the end of the month
April 2023 - over
May 2023 - over (even worse)
June 2023 - under
July 2023 - under

My levels were just right for around 10 days out of the last year.  That is why I'm mentally detached and don't care one way or the other.  My books will sell, or they won't.  At least they are listed.  I have other concerns.

I go back to work on Thursday, August 10.  School starts one week later on Thursday, August 17. 

As of now, I plan to keep my stores open.  I have misgivings, which are increasing.  

In the middle of July, my medication was adjusted again for the fifth time since I had Covid in July 2022.  This is a slight dose increase.  I had trouble getting the prescription and had to go to mail order.  While I was waiting on my 81.5 mcg dose, I alternated between 75 mcg and 88 mcg, which averaged to 81.5 mcg.  It is okay to do that, although my body is so sensitive that it isn't ideal.

I started the new 81.5 mcg dose yesterday.  It's the same medication I have been taking (Tirosint) with the same four hypoallergenic ingredients.  My body shouldn't be able to detect a difference, yet it does.  My body knows that I've never taken the 37.5 mcg and 44 mcg (paired together to add to 81.5 mcg) capsules before, and I am already having a reaction even though I really shouldn't be having one.  My body is that extremely sensitive.  

This is why I'm having an increase in misgivings about keeping my stores open.  I'm already having an increase in symptoms, including some distinct memory problems.  The memory problems will worsen when I go back to work.

So... the plan is to keep the stores open.  If I end up too impaired, then I will shut down without warning.  We'll see how it goes.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Thyroid Update - Continuing to Seek the Correct Post-Covid Dose

I write these posts hoping that people seeking answers will stumble across them via their online searches.  The online thyroid groups and websites are full of misinformation.  Some of the information is helpful, but everyone is different.  I was extremely overmedicated in 2016 and 2017 and didn't realize the extent of it due to the widespread online content that indicated that everyone should have their T4 levels at the top of the range.  If I had known better, I would not have agreed to some of my medication changes during those years.  

I also now realize why I became so much sicker in 2014 when I started thyroid medication.  I had an increase in fatigue, aches, and pains plus a host of other symptoms that I never had in the first place.

It wasn't that I needed to take a bunch of supplements each day or that I needed to go on an extremely restrictive diet.  I didn't need to check my adrenals, detox my liver, or follow the dozens of bizarre suggestions that are recommended online.  

All I needed was to be on a clean thyroid medication. 

Tirosint, a name-brand version of levothyroxine, is a liquid gel cap with only four ingredients: levothyroxine, gelatin, glycerin, and water.  It is hypoallergenic.  Many thyroid patients, including me, are sensitive or allergic to the fillers used in all other thyroid medications.  We are forced to take medications that increase inflammation, thereby exacerbating our autoimmunity.  We then feel worse after starting treatment.

Generic levothyroxine (the first order of treatment) gave me terrible pain in my gums to where I had to go on a bland diet and could hardly bear to brush my teeth.  Even brushing softly with the most gentle toothbrush I could find caused intense pain.  I had awful aches and pains all over my body that I never had before treatment. The fatigue was far worse than before treatment.

Synthroid was the next order of treatment.  I was okay on the 50 mcg dose that was white with no dye added, but I soon needed a higher dose.  The 75 mcg dose had a dye in it that made me feel as if I had the flu for up to four hours each day.  During those four hours, I had a fever of above 100 degrees and felt very ill.  

I was placed on natural dessicated thyroid (WP Thyroid and later NP Thyroid) for a number of years.  These medications are considered the "be all to end all" by the online folks.  Not for me.  I was very allergic to them.  I had terrible itchy rashes that were nearly unbearable at times.  The rashes were so awful that I had to take four to six antihistamine pills each day to make the itching bearable.  Quitting the natural medication ended the rashes.

Now I am on Tirosint only.  My insurance dislikes Tirosint due to its high cost and will only approve it for one year at a time.  Each year, my provider has to give documentation that the other medications have failed.  One time the rejection letter was sent to me, and I found it a bit rude to be honest.  Insurance companies do their best to keep people ill.  It's infuriating.

Now to my update.

My thyroid situation continues to be problematic.  On July 14, I passed the one-year anniversary of getting Covid.  My thyroid levels have been screwed up ever since July 2022.  As I've said in past posts, that's exactly why I didn't want to get Covid...

Check out my TSH.  TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone.  For someone with thyroid disease, it should be at the bottom of the normal range, at 1 or less.  A rising TSH indicates that the pituitary gland senses that the body does not have enough circulating thyroid hormone.

Basically, my TSH has gone bonkers ever since I had Covid.  My immune system is in turmoil, and it can take one to two years for it to settle down.  I was in a similar situation back in 2016, and that took two years to resolve.

T3 is the active hormone, and I'm getting back to a good level.  The body converts T4 to T3.

T4 is the hormone that is produced by the thyroid gland.  My thyroid doesn't produce enough, so the Tirosint I take gives me the T4 that I need.

The T4 situation in my body is complicated, and I'm not going to attempt to explain fully.  I will say that I cannot have my T4 anywhere near the top of the range.  I believe around 1 is what I need, and that amount is too low for many other thyroid patients.  It angers me to see the misinformation in the online thyroid groups where everyone insists that everyone should make sure their T4 is near the top of the range.  If I did that, I would be miserable from being overmedicated.  

Most thyroid medications absorb at a rate of 60% to 80%.  Tirosint absorbs at about 100%, so patients can be overdosed if providers don't understand how cautious they need to be with it.  Many providers think that Tirosint absorbs the same as other medications, but patients need to be on a lower dose of Tirosint than they would with other brands of levothyroxine.

Thyroid patients are rather vocal about what they need regarding their condition.  This is because our condition makes us feel truly awful when the levels are off.  Being overmedicated and undermedicated are equally bad but in different ways. 

Levothyroxine is a Goldilocks drug.  This means that it must be dosed at the precise amount that the patient needs in order for the patient to feel okay.  This is hard to do, as you can see from my bouncing TSH level.  My medication has been adjusted five times during the past year as we continue to seek the precise amount that I now need post-Covid.

The vocal nature of thyroid patients causes general practitioners to think that their thyroid patients are difficult and have mental problems.  Their patients have results in the normal range, and they don't understand why the patients continue to complain about symptoms.  They don't understand that we tend to be allergic to most brands.  They also don't understand that each of us has a specific level within the very wide normal range which is the only place where we feel okay.  That specific level is different for every thyroid patient.

At each appointment, I am direct about how I feel and what I think I need.  I am fortunate that my provider also has Hashimoto's thyroid disease and works with me.  She has told me of the gaslighting that she suffered when she was diagnosed, and her bad experience led her into specializing in thyroid disease.  Sometimes I defer to her opinion, and other times, she goes with what I feel is right.  

In January, I was not on enough medication and had very low energy levels.  The fatigue was intense.  I was taking Tirsosint 75 mcg.  My provider prescribed Tirosint 100 mcg since I was doing so badly.  Oh, no!  If I were on one of the less absorbable versions of levothyroxine, that dose increase would have been fine. 

I said that I wanted to go with 88 mcg and that 100 mcg would be too much.  I instinctively knew it would be too much.  I know how well my body absorbs Tirosint.  She reduced the prescription to 88 mcg.  

I was correct.  In late March, I felt perfect.  88 mcg was the way to go.  Unfortunately, the additional thyroiditis caused by Covid then cleared up, and I became overmedicated.  I cringe when I think about how bad that would have been if I had agreed to the 100 mcg dosage.

I titrated down by skipping one dose of 88 mcg each week.  In early June, my prescription was reduced to 75 mcg, although I suspected that would be too low.  However, we needed to see, so I agreed to go down to 75 mcg.

I could tell very quickly that it wasn't quite enough.  By late June, I was definitely undermedicated.  I was getting tired more easily, and my gums began hurting.  My recent labs show the decrease in T4.  I requested that my dose be changed to 81.5 mcg (via Tirosint 37.5 mcg paired with Tirosint 44 mcg), halfway between my two previous doses.  My provider agreed and said that it's worth a try.

It could be that my thyroid is tanking again and that I do now need 88 mcg.  However, the high absorption of Tirosint makes me cautious, so I want to try the middle dose first.  Tirosint is the best thyroid medication for me as it has none of the horrific side effects I've had from every other medication, but I must be very cautious with these dose increases.  

I had a problem getting the new prescriptions filled.  This has happened before, so I've changed pharmacies several times over the years.  I end up at whichever pharmacy can get my specialized thyroid medication.  Here I go again.

The problem this time is that Tirosint 37.5 mcg and 44 mcg are new doses that have only existed since early April.  Suppliers aren't stocking them.  I knew that it take me awhile to call pharmacies in central Oklahoma trying to find one that could get those doses.  I didn't care to waste an hour or two with no guarantee of success, so I went with the Tirosint Direct program.  Highland Specialty Pharmacy in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is a supplier of Tirosint through the Tirosint Direct program and is said to be the best source for Tirosint.

As I awaited the new capsules, I alternated the 75 mcg and 88 mcg capsules to simulate the 81.5 mcg dose.  I always have a variety of Tirosint capsules from past prescriptions and can use the leftover capsules when needed.

While I could have gone with a prescription for 75 mcg and 88 mcg and alternated, it's better for me to be on the same dose each day.  I can feel the difference when I take alternating doses.  On the days I take the 88 mcg, I feel hot for a short time.  That's a sign of too much hormone circulating.  I feel a bit cold on the days when I take the 75 mcg capsules, which indicates too low of a dose.  This variance tells me that I'm probably correct that I need 81.5 mcg. 

Before I conclude, I want to state that I don't feel bad at present.  I have some symptoms but am okay.  I'm not working right now.  It's going to be far different starting August 10.  I have some misgivings about keeping my eBay and Etsy stores open, but I'm going to wing it.  If I can't handle it, then I'll close whenever I reach that point.  If I can, then I'll keep the stores open.

More Etsy Ineptness + My Etsy Decision

Etsy continues to do strange things.  It's kind of amusing, since 15 years ago I complained about eBay endlessly.  eBay settled down years ago and quit making bizarre decisions.  Now, it's Etsy acting strange.  The latest debacle is that Etsy is hiding the item description way down at the bottom of the listing page below reviews where buyers will never see it.

Here is the top part of one of my listings (click on the image to view it more clearly).  I have cut out the user IDs and text of the two reviews seen underneath the image.  The item description used to be on the right just underneath the promotional text about free shipping.

Here is the next part of the listing under what is seen above.  Two more reviews appear, and I have also removed the user IDs and text from those reviews.  I have placed a red box around the item description.

It is so far down on the page that many buyers will never see it.  That's just asking for trouble.

I've already had problems on Etsy with truncated item descriptions.  Now they are just plain hiding the item descriptions.  Etsy seems to think that buyers only need to see the images.  Buyers certainly don't need a written description...

Etsy has started spamming my email with marketing information.  That was where I was given the advice that I mentioned in my previous post.  Since my blog post of a few days ago, I have received three more messages from Etsy with advice. 

I can regard this spam in two different ways.  Etsy could see me as a fledgling seller who needs help.  On the other hand, Etsy may be in trouble and is trying to spur me on so that they can dig themselves out of a hole.  

The first message told me this.

Huh.  So, my most popular listing has been favorited by one buyer.  Thanks, Etsy, for reminding me about what I already knew, which is that practically no one is favoriting my items these days.

I then received a message the next day with this advice.

First, my Three Investigators books are actually selling, unlike the rest of my books.  Aside from that, I'm not sure why a video would help.  I guess I could take a video of me flipping through the book.

I received another message today with the same advice that I covered in my last blog post.  Gosh, Etsy must see me as a failure.

In summary, Etsy is getting really obnoxious.  For now, I will keep letting Etsy send me messages just to see what kind of useless advice they give me.  Once I finally grow sick of it, I will unsubscribe from Etsy's marketing emails.

After much internal debate, I decided to renew most of my expired Etsy listings.  I have held some back, and those might go to eBay in bulk lots or as individual listings.

After I renewed the listings, I then sorted my inventory by highest price first.  I went down the list and lowered the prices of at least half of my books.  Maybe that will help.  Most likely it won't, since my items are still buried in Etsy's search results.  Whatever.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

The silver lining is that I can keep my stores open during the start of the school year since I'm not getting many sales.  It's a win-win situation.  Low sales... the stores stay open... the people who want to buy are able to buy.  Win-win.

Continuing to Mull Over the Etsy Situation

I'm in the process of removing some eBay listings and changing them over to bulk lots.  Every so often, it's necessary to have a fire sale.  When I set up a bulk lot, the books are typically being sold at a great discount and at a loss.  I want them to go away and hopefully fast.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Most of my eBay listings will remain as they are.  I'm not that worried about the low sales.  I figure things will get better eventually.

Etsy is a different situation.  I had been taking that situation in stride just like I continue to do on eBay.  Now, I'm getting angry.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Today I checked the placement of my Nancy Drew listings in Etsy's search and did not find the first item until the 12th page of search results.  That is unacceptable.  Etsy is hiding my stuff and acting like I need to work harder to fix the situation.  Yes, indeed.  I'm supposed to fix this.

Etsy sent me an email a few days ago.  The email is titled, "Growth takes time.  Keep going, JennifersSeriesBooks!" 

I feel insulted.  They make it sound like I'm a new seller who hasn't sold much of anything. 

Hey Etsy, check this out.  Since 2016 on Etsy, I have sold 3,868 books in 1,688 transactions.  I'm not new, and I used to be very successful on your site, but that was before you started hiding my books.

Let's just place the blame squarely where it needs to be, which is on Etsy.

A few weeks ago, I received this gem from Etsy.  

Our research shows that a quick settings update may boost your annual sales by about $6.00.  In the last year you processed 92% of your eligible orders on the weekend.  Now you have the option to update your processing schedule to include weekend days, showing shoppers faster delivery in some cases with little or no change to how you work.  Etsy shoppers have shown they're more likely to buy items that ship faster—even if it's only by one day!

Where to begin... 

Why would I bother to change a setting if I would yield only a $6.00 sales boost in an entire year?  Are they on crack?!

Also, I don't get this statement that 92% of my orders are processed on the weekend.  Granted, I really don't know, and I'm not going to go through my Etsy sales to see what the breakdown is.  Nevertheless, I am certain that there is absolutely no way that 9 out of every 10 of my Etsy orders have been packed on or for the weekend.  There is no way.  Nope.  A good many orders might have been packed on the weekend, but it cannot possibly be 92%.  It could be half, maybe.  Not 92%.

But even if it were 92%, how could a change in settings only gain me a whopping $6.00 in sales in an entire year?  Again, I feel insulted.  It's like they are telling me that my sales are so awful that this wonderful settings change would only yield me $6.00.  Wow.

They are on crack.  They must be.

The email had a link to a page with a list of ways I can improve my placement in Etsy's search.  I certainly do need that, so I followed the link.

1.  Your listing’s first photo, the image displayed in search results, is crucial when it comes to inspiring shoppers to click and increasing your conversion rate. The first photo should clearly show the item that’s for sale and be eye-catching enough that buyers want to take a closer look. 

Hmm.

I mean... I don't see what I can change.  I show the entire outside of the book, and the title and cover art are clearly visible.  

2.  Your titles can also play a role in getting shoppers to click on your listing. Your title should make it easy for shoppers to quickly see what you’re selling and what makes it unique. Shoppers only see the first few words of your title when they’re looking at search results, so make sure you’re using that space to describe what your item is.

My title is "Nancy Drew #32 Scarlet Slipper Mystery Original Text PC."  That tells buyers what they need to know.  I don't think changing it to "Nancy Looks for Ballet Slippers" is going to help.

3.  Shoppers also compare prices when looking at search results, so your listing price can also affect whether or not a buyer clicks on your listing. Shoppers may have a specific price point in mind before they even start their search. 

Of course.  But I'm not going to give my books away.

Etsy also gives a helpful formula for calculating how to price one's items.

One basic formula for calculating price is:  (hourly overhead + production cost + profit) x 4

The part in parentheses is what I already do.  I guess I'm supposed to multiply that by 4.  The Scarlet Slipper book is priced at $19.99.  I guess Etsy wants me to change the price to $79.96.  Somehow, I don't think the book would sell...

4.  Running a sale or offering free shipping can also make your listings stand out from the competition in search results. You can offer free shipping by running a free shipping sale using Etsy’s sales and coupons tool. Shoppers will see your free shipping offer on the listing in search results and your listings will be included if a shopper uses the free shipping search filter.

In June I caved and went back to Etsy's free shipping promotion.  It's not helping.  I even ran a sale for 10% off for a few days and did not get even one sale.  That had never happened before.  

5.  Shoppers can also see your shop’s review star average when browsing search results. A high average will help to build trust, and could encourage some buyers to take a closer look at your item.

My average is five stars, and it's not helping.

6.  Your listing descriptions can also help convert views to sales... Aim to incorporate relevant keywords in the first few sentences.  Avoid copying your title verbatim or simply listing your top keywords.  Instead, you want to craft a sentence or two that casually incorporates a few of your top keywords in a way that sounds human and written in your brand’s voice.

My Scarlet Slipper listing starts as follows.  "The back cover lists to Fire Dragon. The inside lists Nancy Drew to Moonstone Castle and Dana Girls to Lost Lake. The book has the original 25 chapter text."

Maybe I should throw in "#32" and "Scarlet Slipper" somewhere.  I'm so annoyed.

I'm going to stop here.  Etsy also suggests that I have competitive shipping prices and a fast handling time.  I'm not going to lower the shipping I charge when I'm already taking a loss.  I'm also not going back to shipping the next day.  No.

This is frustrating.  Etsy's advice is not helpful.  Do you know why?  Because my Nancy Drew listings are buried down on the 12th page of search results!  That's why.

Etsy tells me that 159 of my 269 listings will be expiring in the next week, starting tomorrow.  I believe that most of them will come down tomorrow if Etsy is telling the truth about the date.  Sometimes the listings stay up for a couple days past the date given by Etsy, so I don't really know when they are going to deactivate.

I still haven't decided what to do.  I keep going back and forth on whether I should renew them or just leave them down.

At a Crossroads with Etsy + Back to School

Etsy sellers continue to complain about the site, more than what I've ever seen.  

The handmaid item sellers are up in arms since Etsy continues to cater to sellers who list factory-produced "handmade items" that ship from China.  Their sales have plummeted since the sellers sourcing from China can list similar items for much lower prices.  

Etsy has placed many sellers on a 90-day reserve.  Imagine a seller's funds being held for 90 days.  Etsy has placed some sellers on reserve if they are slightly late in shipping out orders or if they have received more orders than they usually receive.

Etsy recently had a bot running amok.  The bot was shutting down listings for nonsense reasons, saying that the seller had violated policy.  For instance, the bot shut down a seller's authentic vintage Star Wars glasses for being drug paraphernalia.

Sellers are also complaining of low sales.  This is where I come in.  My sales on Etsy are quite poor, probably the worst they've been since I started on Etsy.  My listings are buried in Etsy's search results.  I test how my listings appear by using a browser that I've never used to login to Etsy.  This way Etsy doesn't favor what I might like or have clicked on in the past.  It's like I'm someone new to Etsy, and the site serves up search results that are objective.

When I search Etsy on an alternate browser while not logged in, my listings show very low in a Nancy Drew search.  Back in June I checked, and my books were not shown until the ninth page of the results.  Early this month I checked and found one listing on the first page.  Last week I checked, and the first visible listing was on the fifth page.  Yesterday, the first visible item was on the sixth page.

The poor visibility in search is why my sales have dropped substantially.  Take a look at my Etsy inventory.  Click on the image in order to see it clearly.

Slightly over 60% of my inventory consists of Nancy Drew books, which are all showing poorly in Etsy's search.  No wonder my sales have tanked.  I always did well on Etsy because my Nancy Drew books showed up prominently in Etsy's search.  No more.

Right now I'm at a crossroads on Etsy.  I feel exactly the way I did around a year before I left Bonanza.  Etsy, at least for me, is tanking like Bonanza did. 

I should note that eBay sales are lower than they should be, but they are better than Etsy.  Something is going on with people not buying books in general, but my sales on Etsy have been impacted more severely.

I feel like I can see paying to relist my current inventory on Etsy for one more listing cycle.  If sales remain poor, then I close my Etsy shop.  Sayonara. 

That's where I am.

For the last few years, I've closed my eBay and Etsy stores when school starts.  I still have a few weeks to decide for sure, but right now, I feel that I should keep them open.  My sales are so bad that I should be able to handle any sales that should occur.  If I close the stores, then I lose what little momentum I have.  

I will decide for sure what to do in early August.  My Etsy shop will soon have far fewer listings, since most of them expire on July 25.  I will have to decide for sure whether I will stay open before I consider renewing those listings for one more cycle.  I hope that I don't have to leave Etsy, since I do like the site.  However, I'm not going to continue to pay $0.20 per listing when my sales level doesn't justify the fees.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I want to add that I've been thinking over the situation since I wrote the bulk of this post a couple days ago.  I'm going back and forth about whether to renew the Etsy listings that expire on July 25 and whether to close my stores for back to school.  

My thyroid medication has just been adjusted for the fifth time this year.  I don't anticipate that this change will impact my decision, but school starting will cause another autoimmune flare that will mess me up for a month or two.  This just means that even if I keep my stores open, I might decide to close abruptly at any time.  

I will go into more detail on the thyroid situation in another post soon.  I like to detail my journey because of the huge amount of misinformation that is in all the online thyroid forums.  My situation does not follow what the "self-appointed thyroid experts" say to be true.  It's infuriating to see so many people being led down the wrong path by snake oil salesmen.  My hope is that a few people stumble across my posts in their online searches and realize that not everyone falls under the "one size fits all approach" of the thyroid groups.

The Dilemma of Book Length and How to Teach Reading in Schools

I have read two articles recently that shed some light on a nuanced issue.  At hand is the apparent reluctance that children have in reading books and what to do about it.

I first found this interesting article with which I wholeheartedly agree.

Why Kids Aren't Falling in Love with Reading

The article is paywalled, so you might have trouble reading it.  I will summarize and then provide some short quotes.  The author points out that schools tend to have students read short excerpts of books, such as a few paragraphs, and then analyze them.  This takes away all the fun in reading.  I remember having to do that myself, and I never enjoyed that reading.

Even when I read full-length books for school, I never enjoyed them much.  There's something about being forced to read a preselected book that takes away the fun.  I remember reading To Kill a Mockingbird in school.  I remember it as the best book I read for school, but I won't ever read it again. 

I read A Tale of Two Cities in school and did not like it very much.  I remember that particular senior English class was unruly, so that may have helped ruin the experience.  Additionally, that teacher quizzed us on each chapter and asked us really obscure questions, like what color of dress a character wore.  I felt that her quizzes were unfair and designed to fail us.  

I did later read some Dickens novels on my own for myself (David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend) and enjoyed them greatly. 

I also recall reading Huckleberry Finn in school as well.  I did not enjoy it.  My one memory about the book, aside from not liking it, was that we read it aloud including the n-word.  This occurred in 1988 or 1989.  Those were different times, but still, that I remember this clearly tells you what I was a bit uncomfortable.  Perhaps that was the point.

Here are some short excerpts from the above linked article.

"But what parents today are picking up on is that a shrinking number of kids are reading widely and voraciously for fun." 

"I recently spoke with educators and librarians about this trend, and they gave many explanations, but one of the most compelling—and depressing—is rooted in how our education system teaches kids to relate to books."

"What I remember most about reading in childhood was falling in love with characters and stories... In New York, where I was in public elementary school in the early ’80s, we did have state assessments that tested reading level and comprehension, but the focus was on reading as many books as possible and engaging emotionally with them as a way to develop the requisite skills.  Now the focus on reading analytically seems to be squashing that organic enjoyment.  Critical reading is an important skill, especially for a generation bombarded with information, much of it unreliable or deceptive.  But this hyperfocus on analysis comes at a steep price:  The love of books and storytelling is being lost."

"This disregard for story starts as early as elementary school. Take this requirement from the third-grade English-language-arts Common Core standard, used widely across the U.S.:  'Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.' "

"But here's how one educator experienced in writing Common Core–aligned curricula proposes this be taught:  First, teachers introduce the concepts of nonliteral and figurative language.  Then, kids read a single paragraph from Amelia Bedelia and answer written questions."

"The process of meeting a character and following them through a series of conflicts is the fun part of reading.  Jumping into a paragraph in the middle of a book is about as appealing for most kids as cleaning their room."

The author points out that a better approach is simply to have students read Amelia Bedelia and engage with the characters.  By laughing at the antics of Amelia Bedelia, the students will learn to love reading.  The teacher can then discuss aspects of the story with students.

I recall that I never enjoyed reading excerpts in school.  My love of reading came from reading Nancy Drew books at home during my own free time.  Give me The Secret of the Old Clock anytime over some dumb out-of-context passage.

That said, reading short passages is important since students need to be exposed to a variety of topics and writing styles.  However, those students who learn to love books will quite naturally end up reading a wide variety of content.

Here's more from the article.

"A friend recently told me that her child's middle-school teacher had introduced To Kill a Mockingbird to the class, explaining that they would read it over a number of months—and might not have time to finish it.  "How can they not get to the end of To Kill a Mockingbird?" she wondered.  I'm right there with her.  You can't teach kids to love reading if you don't even prioritize making it to a book's end."

"Longer books, for example, are considered less 'fun'; in addition, some librarians, teachers, and parents are noticing a decline in kids' reading stamina after the disruption of the pandemic.  You can see these factors at play in a recent call for shorter books.  But one has to wonder whether this is also the not-entirely-unsurprising outcome of having kids interact with literature in paragraph-size bites."

"We need to meet kids where they are; for the time being, I am writing stories that are shorter and less complex." 

The above passages segue nicely into the second article.

It's Not Me, It's You:  An Argument for Shorter Middle Grade Books

This person reviews books, yet she is having trouble getting through them.

"Usually, I love all the books.  And I'm a fast reader. But when I look at the books on my shelves and my apps, I notice that in the past few months, I've finished 17, abandoned 19, and have yet to read five.

This gives me pause. Even more interesting is the fact that most of the recent books I've abandoned are around 350–400 pages."

She explains further.

"I'm saying that if I, an avid reader who literally reads books for my job, am struggling to get through these really long, newly published middle grade books, is it possible that some kids aren't loving these long books, either?

The answer is yes: many kids won't even pick up a long book, as confirmed by all the responses on Twitter.  When looking at a book with a lot of pages, children might be intimidated, they might prefer quicker stories, they might be struggling readers, and/or they might have attention issues, among other factors."

The author also points out that the quality of writing is also a factor.  That's the biggest factor for me.  These days, a book must grab me within the first few pages, or I won't read it.  I don't have the attention span or stamina to slog through a book that doesn't highly captivate me.

I occasionally get requests to read and review books.  In just the last week, someone offered to send me a book to review.  I just can't.  I have books that I personally want to read, yet I can hardly force myself to read them.  Reading the Keeper of the Lost Cities series was a such a wonderful experience for me, because I was fully engaged and am still thinking about the books even though I'm done reading them.  Now, I once again can't seem to force myself to read much of anything.  It's really sad.

Most people don't have a good attention span these days.  The Internet and social media have caused this.  We need information presented to us in smaller chunks.  When I write posts for this blog, I cut most long paragraphs in half to make it easier for readers.  I don't worry about whether the paragraph break makes sense; it needs to be shorter to make it easier to read.  Logic is less important than ease of reading.

What's great about series books is that we get to read multiple stories in smaller chunks.  Each volume serves as a good stopping point.  It's great reading one story and later being able to read another one.

Seller Slight of Hand on Amazon, AbeBooks, Biblio, and Alibris

I prefer to purchase my books on eBay, simply because I have fewer problems.  To be fair, most purchases made from the other sites go fine, but the strict seller standards imposed by those sites often cause sellers to use deceptive practices.

I ordered some books from several sellers on June 14 on Amazon and Biblio.  All but one purchase arrived quickly.  One seller on Biblio did not make contact for one week.  They sent a message, telling me that the books had been shipped.  I received a shipping notice from Biblio.  I checked the tracking number and saw that it had been cancelled after it was generated.  Hmm....

The seller waited the maximum number of days that they could wait without risking having Biblio cancel the transaction.  This told me that the seller was using a delay tactic.  They waited as long as they could, then they created a shipping label.  By having a tracking number entered, they fulfilled the on-time shipping requirement.  They then cancelled the label.

Most likely, the seller didn't have one of the books on hand and needed to purchase it from another seller.  I was annoyed, because I would have purchased from someone else if I had known this would happen.

As the days passed, I kept waiting to see if the tracking number would update to a valid one or whether the books would show up.  I decided that July 5 was the earliest I could expect the books to arrive if the seller had to purchase from someone else first.  My plan was to contact the seller on July 5 after my mail had arrived.

I then decided to delay a little longer, because I felt like the books were going to show up within a few days.  Finally, they arrived today.

The shipping label showed that it was created on June 20, so at first glance, it appeared that the post office screwed up.  But I knew that was not likely what had happened.  

I entered the tracking number into USPS.com.  The label was created on June 20, but the package was not accepted at the seller's local post office until July 3.  Ah, so I was right.  The seller played the delay game so that they could purchase the needed book from someone else.

Sites like Biblio require sellers to maintain a rather high fulfillment rate, and furthermore, the books must be mailed promptly.  Sellers cannot avoid any mistakes, so they use delay tactics to hide when they are unable to ship on time.  This has happened to me a number of times before.

At least this seller followed through. 

I will say that the condition of each book does match the seller's written description.  Perhaps something else is going on here.  However, this seller states that they ship each day, and that is most certainly not what happened in this case.  Even if I did receive the exact books as offered, something odd went down.  The seller shouldn't have waited until July 3 to hand off the package to USPS.

In one past case, I purchased the only book available online from a certain seller.  That book didn't arrive.  When I finally asked, the seller cancelled the transaction.  I think that seller didn't have the book but couldn't buy one from someone else.  They were probably hoping I'd never notice that I didn't receive it.

Buying from the various bookselling sites can be problematic.  eBay gets a lot of criticism, but I have far more confidence in my eBay purchases.  eBay sellers usually photograph the actual item that is for sale and ship promptly.  They don't play games like some sellers on other sites.

My Thoughts on Simon & Schuster's Children's Book Offerings

Back in March, I browsed the specific category on Simon & Schuster's site that contains the Nancy Drew Diaries books.  On March 13, I wrote:

I am perusing Simon & Schuster's website, with my results limited to children's books aimed at the same age as the Nancy Drew series.  What is this stuff?  Why would I want to read these books?  I am so out of touch.

I do judge books by their covers and by their titles.  I won't try the Dork Diaries series.  I do tend to gravitate towards books with titles not completely dissimilar to classic series books.  I also gravitate towards the more nicely painted covers.

The Keeper of the Lost Cities series looks like it could be a possibility.  I am about to check out the sample on Amazon.

That, of course, led me into what has now been a Keeper of the Lost Cities three-month-long obsession.  Since my last Keeper post was published yesterday, it's time to move on.  Back to S&S's website I go!

My problem is that I can't find the page that I used back in March.  That page had a nice assortment of S&S's children's books aimed at the 8-12 age group.  I'm now using Google to try to find some usable sections of S&S's site.  The purpose of this post is store the links I have found so that I can return to them in the future.

Mystery Books for Kids Ages 8-12

The above page has a Nancy Drew Diaries book listed along with other mysteries for children.  I am struck by how the books listed on this page are described as middle-grade books.  I suppose that is where the Nancy Drew Mysteries Stories have always fit, but in my opinion, the original set, #1-175, was written for a slightly older target audience.  That is the problem with the current Nancy Drew Diaries series.  They are ostensibly the modern continuation of classic Nancy Drew, yet they are something else entirely.  Something is off about the Nancy Drew Diaries series.

Must Read Books for Kids Ages 8-12

No Nancy Drew Diaries books are listed on this page.  Even the folks at S&S realize that the Nancy Drew Diaries books are not "must read" books.  That says a lot.

Fantasy Novels for Kids Ages 8-12

This category excludes Nancy Drew, but it is a category in which I do greatly enjoy the content when it is of a specific type.  I can only enjoy fantasy books when they are set in a world very similar to ours (like Harry Potter, Keeper of the Lost Cities, etc.) where I don't have to struggle to visualize a distinctly different world.  For modern children's books, I enjoy this type of book much more than I do the modern books that feature mysteries.  That might surprise you, but there's a distinct difference between modern mysteries and vintage mysteries, like the inclusion of cell phones and technology.  Fantasy books usually dispense with the technology, which solves that problem.

Books about Spies for Kids Ages 8-12

I'm not into spy books, but I'm willing to take a look.

Adventure Stories for Kids Ages 8-12

Some of these could be worthwhile, if they meet the conditions of the kind of book I enjoy.

Books with Magic for Kids Ages 8-12

Magic overlaps with fantasy, so some of these books could be of interest.

Girl Power Books with Strong Heroines for Kids Ages 8-12

It is truly sad that Nancy Drew isn't included on this page.  Truthfully, Nancy Drew has been written too weak for much of the Diaries series, so she shouldn't be included in a list of books with strong heroines (see Heliotrope Lane review).

I also found S&S's entire 2023 digital catalog of children's books in my Google search.

Spring 2023 Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Catalog

I believe that this catalog is of new releases only.  Still, it's another way to find interesting books to read.