Can I borrow...

It's been a while since I had a good rant and there's something bugging the crap out of me lately. It's the "I want that for free" mentality. If I had a dollar for every person who has either asked for a free book or asked to borrow The Road to Ruin from me, I'd probably be able to stop buying lotto tickets.

The starving artist saying comes about for authors because to be able to write books we usually have to either not sleep or stop working full time. For me, because sleeping is one of my favourite past times, I only work part time. Which means if I don't make some money off my books, then I'm doing it for fun. And it is fun. Until the electricity bill is due or I have to register my car or buy the kids shoes. I'm not having this rant because I want more money (even though that would be nice). I'm writing it because I feel as though if you want to support me as an author, then you should buy my books and not expect to read them for a dollar.

I was on a facebook thread lately where alarmingly the maximum amount the readers want to pay for an ebook is $1.99 and for a print book, $5. Never mind that my blood, sweat and an ocean of tears went into it, never mind that someone has to pay for my editor, the copy editor, the cover creator, the hosting of all the websites, the distributors and third parties, the publishers, the bricks and mortar stores who carry it, even take-over-the-world companies like Amazon have to get paid by someone. On the same thread, someone also complained that their favourite historical author had the audacity to switch from historical to contemporary and how dare she!

She may have dared for a few reasons. Contrary to popular belief, unless you're an Indie author, we have to answer to our publisher. If they come to you and say, there's no money in historical romance because your readers are being tight (and believe me, you have the right, it's your money and you worked hard for it) but if you have a rural romance in you, we'd love to see it because that's where the money is. Then that's probably what she's going to do. Or it could be that she wants to write something fresh and new because that was the story that came to her at the time. Not a one of us can predict the market or what it will do, but you can predict my future and that of your favourite authors by buying our books and sharing the word when you enjoyed it. Share it on Facebook, post a review on Goodreads, post it on Amazon and your blog and twitter. In this digital age, some of us are really just trying to get noticed so I can keep writing the stories you want to read.

End rant. I love you guys!