Years of honing our craft, months of research and writing, endless hours of promoting and pouring money into promoting our books, for which we charge what… £1.99 – £3.99 at most for an e-book – royalties in pence per book- to give hours of pleasure to a reader, and it’s fair to steal this from us? There is no such thing as a victimless crime.
I’ve had a worrying experience with a local book club. I’m not sure it is as it appears, so I won’t name names. But either way, it raises worrying questions about the way authors’ work is valued.
Recently, a book club invited me to make a presentation about Lifeform Three. The club voted to read it. The organiser went out of the room. Ten minutes later she returned. The books were ordered, she said! So quick. Everyone went home happy.
Except. I should have seen seven UK sales within 24 hours but there was only one. An ebook. Being indie, I know the local bookshops don’t have that many copies. Also, cheap second-hand copies on Amazon are scarce. Did the club just pretend they were going to read it?
It was sweet of them to spare my blushes. And I couldn’t exactly ask.
I shrugged it off. But this…
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Rebecca Bryn 