I am aware that the internet is quite flooded with books and music. Why would anyone risk spending any money on them if they ended up with something terrible? I know that you can employ a fancy cover designer and get AI to do your intro text, throw a bunch of money at it, do the advert campaigns, and you’ll get the sales. My books can’t be free on Amazon but they are on Smashwords. I rarely sell books on Amazon but people do read them on Smashwords.
I didn’t sell my music for the same reason. It just sat there as a paid product and no-one listened to it. So the upshot is, I’d rather my stuff was read and listened to, other than just sitting on my laptop doing nothing.
That is why they are free. Free Music Archive, Smashwords, Bandcamp allow people to pay, or tip, if they do like it. That seems a fair way to me. Another thing that troubles me is that the websites like Amazon take a huge cut. For example Burning Wolfhound paperback is £4.99 on there, that is minimum price, I make nothing on that book. It is $11.99 on Books2Read, again, that it just their costs, I make nothing on that. So authors who charge £10 or £15 for an ebook seem a bit greedy to me. I have to charge 99p minimum for the ebook on Amazon.
The money isn’t the thing though. I realised a long time ago that you don’t make money as an author. Only the top 3% do, apparently. I’d rather people read/listened and enjoyed my stuff, from feedback I have had, people do like my output. When I do get a little something or a review, it is nice as it proves I’m not just wasting my time. Makes me want to do more.
There is a PayPal donate option, just so it is available.
PayPal donate:
Please note, it will say you are sending to “T-Media”, that is my wife’s PayPal name, TyLean (ie T). After, you may see a cryptic message about a Christmas album (this is a project of hers not related to my stuff but PayPal is a simple beast)
Thanks for reading!
Justin