Lee's Musings: opinions

Showing posts with label opinions. Show all posts

5/28/2013

On Writing: Reviews and Stuff

Hey, thanks for stopping by today. Grab a cup of coffee, it's always hot! And I regret that I'm in the stage of life where I've decided to watch my food intake in lieu of actually exercising in the hopes that I'll stop putting on the pounds, so yeah. Long story short, there's no baked goods today.

*sigh* Normally, I don't court controversial subjects. Today isn't normal. I’m a bit stunned by something that I saw last night, and much as I’m usually of the opinion that when it comes to reviews and reader's responses, it's all good, I find that I'd just like to chime in my two cents on something that happened last night.

Let me first clarify by saying that I believe a reviewer has the right to his or her opinion whether it is complimentary or not. I also believe that kindness and respect are key factors in communication between people. Some say that civilization began when groups of nomadic peoples settled in one area and towns began to grow. I'm of the opinion that civilization began when people learned to deal with one another kindly and respectfully. Manners and a code of behavior are the basis of civilization, not housing and infrastructure.

Anyway, back to the point at hand, which I hope is connected to that little ramble somehow. A friend last night shared a review from Amazon for some book, chastising the author for charging 99 cents for a 13 page short story. Apparently, stories that long should be FREE, and if they aren't then you're ripping off the readers.

Here's the review

Downloaded this for free, but it sells for .99 any other time, You Have To Be Joking!! For Only 13 pages!!!! You are another author who Rips Us Off!! Posting on all of your sites!! Just Stop!! Buying books are a luxury! You all sit back and laugh at the poor suckers who fall for this, not me I watch out for you, author who write 4&5 part books who charge the readers outrages prices. If I met you I would tell you right to your faces!!

Now, there are a lot of things that don't cost 99 cents to produce. A cup of coffee, a cheeseburger, an order of fries, and a print of a photo…The list goes on. A book though? Even a short one? Not the case. Cover Art isn't free. Editing isn't free. ISBN's aren't free. And that's only part of the expense of producing a story, even a short one.

And, on that 99 cent short? The author made a grand total of 35 cents for each copy sold. Do you have any idea how many 35 cent short stories it takes to pay for producing a book?

Add to that, Amazon doesn't allow for prices below 99 cents. So even if an author wanted to charge 50 cents for a short story, they can't.

This spreading belief that authors are ripping readers off by pricing their books to cover costs of production bothers me. But what bothers me more is that the only reason this reader was able to get that book for free was because the author made it free. And if you've dealt with Amazon lately, you know it takes a LOT to get a book that is not on their KDPS program free.

So the author is eating the cost of editing, cover and ISBN, and dealing with the corporate monster in order to give this gift to her readers. And this is the response?