The day was June 30, 2023, and I had just experienced my first “Stuff Your Kindle Day.” I want to say that it was a really good experience, but..well..no, it was fun. I’m pretty sure it was my first, but maybe there was another time; I don’t know.
What is “Stuff Your Kindle Day”?
“Stuff Your Kindle Day” is an unofficial day when hundreds of romance books are available for free on Amazon (or on other ebook sites). I don’t fully know when the event started, but two more days are scheduled this year for “Stuff Your Kindle Day.” The Romance Bookworms website had a lengthy blog post with links to all the books on it for this most recent day. It was massive. Not that I was expecting something small, but still, that many books? I’m like a kid at the candy store when I have that much available. It’s kind of fun to see them all in front of me.
How was my experience?
For several days leading up to the 30th, all I had been seeing were videos on my for you page on TikTok about this event. It was cool going on the romance website to see all the books, and then, on the 30th, acquiring the books was so hard. I’m not even joking. So many people were going onto Amazon’s website, and there were “error” messages all the time when I tried to buy the books. A quick hop onto Tiktok revealed I was not alone (far from it) in getting those error messages. Having that sense of camaraderie and community while struggling to get the books was nice. After all was said and done, I had fun, but it would require better planning in the future.
Was it too much?
Not going to lie, it was overwhelming. As I mentioned before, there were hundreds of books, mostly in the romance genre, but touching various others. I want to say that it was easy to find my around, but that would be a lie. I was overwhelmed, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and my finger was trigger-happy to push the “buy” button. That’s all true, and yet it wasn’t super overwhelming. Probably because I knew I could still access free books. AND because that thought tempered me, I didn’t stress too much about what books I wasn’t adding, or the dozens, even hundreds, that I didn’t even look at.
Would I participate again?
I’m not sure because it’s not like it’s hard for me to get free books. I add free books almost daily, so I’m not lacking in reading material. The sense of urgency (1 day only) plus the number of books was tempting, and it was fun seeing how many books I actually had already acquired on an earlier day. I think I would at least be aware of the day (since I hear it happens a few more times a year) to keep better track of what books will be available. I would love to say that I want to be a big-time reader, acquiring all of these free books, but even adding 100 on Stuffy Your Kindle Day was tough. It takes a long time to add so many books in one go, and I finally decided to give up this time around.
What I learned
It’s true that I hadn’t really paid much attention to the event this time around. I had heard that the list was available a few days ago, so I could have gone online to start seeing what books would be free to decide. But also I have so many books to begin with. Yes, the books listed are all free, but still. Even free books take time to read through, and I have so flipping many.
Part of me worries (a very tiny part, but still) that I messed up my TBR list. I didn’t actually mess it up, but I easily added dozens of books to my TBR, and like most of the other books in my Kindle library, I have no idea what they’re about. But still, it was fun to add the books, which really lifted up my dopamine levels, since I was basically spending money without actually spending money.
Leave a Reply