Monday Musings: “Your Books Are So Good, I Shouldn’t Have to Pay for Them.”

[Agnosticsherbet]

Monday Musings: “Your Books Are So Good, I Shouldn’t Have to Pay for Them.”
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Dear Ms. Author.

I really like your books. I think they are well-written and I enjoyed reading them. (So far, so good, right? Hang on.) However, I have returned them all because you priced them at $0.99 to $2.99, and that is too much to pay for them. I can’t afford to pay that much for a book, even though I liked it. In the future, can you make sure you make all your books free so I don’t have to return them?

And, when the author in question blocked this “fan” (and it seems, reported her as an abuser of the return system on ebooks), she sent another email chastising the author for blocking her and forcing her to open a second account (presumably to harass the author further). She went on to say that other authors haven’t been this terrible to her, and in fact, have asked her to be a beta reader because she bought and returned their books, so why does this author think she has the right to do these terrible, terrible things?

Uh, WTF? Lemme tell you something, sweetie. This writing stuff? This is work. This is our JOB. It takes time and effort to write a book, edit and revise several times, get it edited and proofread by outside sources, a cover designed, and the e-book formatted properly. Not everyone has the skill set to do all that themselves. In fact, the outside edit/proofread is essential to producing a professional result. Many time, those things we can’t do ourselves cost actual money. Oh, yes, sometimes you are lucky and have a relative or friend who will work gratis or for barter or a small payment. But it still requires the effort from all involved. That 99 cents you paid? That gets the author a pittance of a royalty, but at least it is something. Again, to a lot of us, this is a job.

Working writers put up with a lot of crap.

[hermetic]

1. Word!

Writers are some the hardest working people I know.

Don't have money to buy books? Go to a library! Sheesh, some people....

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. I like the cat.

[hermetic]

3. Thanks

Me, too.

[SheilaT]

4. If you don't want to pay for books,

there's this thing called a public library. Not very many people know about it, but they will let you take books home without charging you anything, and then when you're done reading, or if you start a book and don't like it very much, you take it back to the "library" and maybe take some other books home. It's what I do, because while I do buy books, I honestly can't afford to buy everything I want to read, and I don't have room in my small home for all of the books I read over time.

On a more serious note, since I don't do electronic books (and writers who only publish electronically are making a big mistake because they lose sales and readers) I had no idea you could download a book, then return it and ask for your money back. That's just not right.