Sandy Nathan's YOUR SHELF LIFE

Are you relating to this, indie authors and publishers? The total opacity of the system and the impossibility of getting a real person to help you. The sense of being lost in a hostile, incomprehensible world. It’s all true. We deal with this all the time, on EVERY friggin’ thing about getting our books in print and posted somewhere where at least our MOTHERS can read them. It’s a nightmare. This is what happened next:

Do I mind giving my work away? Not all all. A book given away yields the same profit as one not sold. I’d rather get new readers than have my work sit in Amazon’s computers hoping that someone will see it’s value. (And mine . . . DO NOT confuse your personal value with what your books sell for.)

I look at pricing in terms of profit maximization, not “how much my books are worth” or “how much I’m worth.” Our books worth a lot and so are we. We deserve to make a great deal on them. But what’s the worth of a book that doesn’t sell? Nothing.