Good heavens above - the flood of rubbish little books about COVID-19

[lea_owens]

Someone mentioned something to me on FB about the number of books on Amazon about COVID-19 - a veritable flood of badly written, rubbish books promising knowledge, protection, and treatments. I just searched Kindle books for 'COVID-19' and there are 315 of them, mostly very short, pretty much cut-and-pastes of information readily available on websites and Google. For instance, a 22 page book on how to make medical masks was published a couple of days ago - it is $2.99 and is at #620 overall in store. There are 10 page 'books' for $2.99 and more and they are ranked under 20,000. Clearly, the world has gone mad as there is nothing I can see in any of them that you couldn't get for free with twenty seconds of Googling.

Am I a literary snob/dweeb/nerd for thinking that writing this stuff to cash in on people's worries is something Amazon should try to stop? Or should it just be open slather, and make money however you can with self-publishing. I find it distasteful. Or maybe it's just sour grapes that my 180,000 word book with 90% five-star reviews is being outsold by all these 20 page articles that are calling themselves books.  Some of the information I saw on the 'look inside' features was incorrect, and it is frightening to think people might believe the notion that a home-made gauze mask will give them protection from COVID-19.

[Anarchist]

From ASIN B085QM6R49...

Chapter 1: What is a coronavirus?

Chapter 2: Why is it called like that?

As the kids say, bruh.

[Post-Crisis D]

. . . there is nothing I can see in any of them that you couldn't get for free with twenty seconds of Googling.

The same is true for any number of topics.  The benefit of a book is that you have all the information in one handy place.

Of course, the rest of your point stands.  There is a plethora of garbage books for the coronavirus, likely put together by marketers looking for quick cash.  A number consist of content scraped from various websites.  I imagine there's probably a guide selling for $7, $17, $27 or even $37 on how to put together books on the coronavirus for fast money.

[Jeff Tanyard]

I imagine there's probably a guide selling for $7, $17, $27 or even $37 on how to put together books on the coronavirus for fast money.

Maybe I should publish a guide to the guides.   


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[Vijaya]

Lol, Jeff.

But good grief! Why am I sewing a dress when I should be throwing out a little booklet on virology?

It's funny, I get so many ideas for what I call near sci-fi (imagining what's now only slightly into the future) but my heart's in family dramas. Perhaps one day, I'll develop some of those ideas. I tend to have long percolating periods. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

[Jeff Tanyard]

It's funny, I get so many ideas for what I call near sci-fi (imagining what's now only slightly into the future) but my heart's in family dramas.

Write a story that's both.  My short story Mr. Wilson is one such story.  It's futuristic SF, but at its heart, it's a sentimental story about family.  So is Buddy, in a way, though it's not quite so sentimental.

In my opinion, the best SF has a nice blend of science/tech/futurism and the human element.

[Vijaya]

"In my opinion, the best SF has a nice blend of science/tech/futurism and the human element."

I agree, Jeff. One of my favorite novels is The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. It's cool that you 

I'm still a novice novelist so have much to learn. Maybe I'll follow in your footsteps and write a short story first--thanks for reminding me--it is how I cut my writing teeth.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Maybe I'll follow in your footsteps and write a short story first--thanks for reminding me--it is how I cut my writing teeth.

Go for it!   

You're a microbiologist, so you've got the educational background to write plausible science-y stuff.  Use what you know.  Who knows?  You might find you really like writing SF.  You could be the next Andre Norton or Leigh Brackett.   

[Vijaya]

Thank you for the encouragement, Jeff!

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Amazon utterly does not care what is published, the credibility or accuracy of any books, or the content beyond extreme offence. It simply doesn't monitor or check new books apart from algorithms weeding out blatant issues.

It could be a very different, exciting and effective platform if it did, but books are a drop in the Bezos ocean.