Support Our Authors

Posted May 25, 2016 by Nerdy Chic in Blog Post / 2 Comments

I’ve been reading a lot lately of the total disrespect that authors have been getting on their book pricing, and I wanted to add my two cents. I will say, that the first time I wrote this, it was a complete and utter rant with colorful swear words littering every sentence. If you continue reading, you can see for yourself that’s not the post you’re getting below. Or at least not all of it. I will warn you though, there will probably be swear words anyway. I just can’t help it.

Authors are humans. For some reason, this seems to be an abstract concept to some people so let me explain. They buy food, they pay bills, they have kids, they pay taxes, they have a house, a car, a dog (they’re not cheap). Are you adding up the expenses yet? They spend hours upon hours to create a work that will bring readers joy. They spend WAY too much money on advertisements, publishing, editors, giveaways and plethora of other things to promote these books so that you know they created something for you to read. So with all the money that is obviously coming out of their pockets and the little that they can make back on this, why, in all that’s holy, do you dare to go and tell an author how much their book should be?!! What the fuck!? (I warned you, didn’t I?)

Let me repeat this part. THEY HAVE BILLS. For some authors, this is a second job. For others, this is their primary income. And for some, it might just be for fun. But with everything that I’ve just mentioned, how do you think it’s fair to tell an author that anything above 99 cents is too much? I can understand being strapped for money. I’m by no means even a middle class individual. But there are ways to get books. Borrow them from a friend, go to the library, sign up for KU, download a book from another author that is free, wait for a sale. You have options. And I HATE the whole “if you can pay five books for a cup of coffee, you can use it for a book” meme going around. I need both. While I won’t pay $5 for my coffee, I am one grumpy SOB without it so I’m not giving it up. But I will give up something else if it means I get my book.

For me, I need books like I need air. I always carry my kindle. I don’t care where I’m going. I read when I wake up and I read before I go to bed. I would rather lose a limb than lose my eyesight. Extreme, I know, but also pure truth. Authors, to me, are the celebrities of my world. Some girls would fan girl over meeting Chris Hemsworth, I would fan girl over meeting Darynda Jones…Ok, let’s rephrase this. I would totally fan girl over Chris and possibly kidnap him but I’d do that with an author too so let’s just say, I’d fan girl just as hard. So why shouldn’t I pay good money to get great product. Something that makes me happy with a world created by the imagination of an author. You travel the worlds, and go back in time, fall in love, become a murder suspect, meet a genie. Whatever it might be. You want $5?! Here, I’m happy to give it to you. I’m telling you now, my JD Robb books are not cheap and never go on sale and I have never failed to purchase them. I love my books and more importantly, I can respect an author and the value they pour into their craft. So please, support an author! If you can’t afford it, it’s ok! Just wait. Even if it’s a year, it may eventually go on sale. If it doesn’t, save that hard earned money and get that book that you’ve been wanting. And, for the love of God, do not be that douchbag who buys books and returns it! No! Just no. Unless there’s something seriously wrong with the book like it’s glitched and missing pages or, like what happened to me, I already had the book and the title was changed making it seem like a brand new book, don’t do it!

Please, respect our authors. Make them feel like we appreciate all the hard work they do. Read their books, leave a review if you can, send them a message saying “you’re awesome”, whatever it might be. But don’t be a troll.

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