Every so often I catch a glimpse of the book drama going on over on the Insta/Threads sphere of the Internet, and it makes me so glad Iβm considered too Tumblrina to sit at their tables.
What do you mean an author is railing against people using libraries/the Libby app because itβs βfreeβ (itβs not. you as the author get money from the library purchasing the digital lending license) and meanwhile their book is on Amazon for free to try and get readers??? Hello????
βBut if people read it for free they might like it want to buy the rest of my work!β
You mean like how people read books at libraries, and end up buying them if they like them?
βThatβs not the same π‘β
Correct! Because again, libraries pay us. You putting your books up on Amazon for free means you get nothing.
I am staring directly into the camera like Iβm on the Office in Librarian. Libraries are literally an authorβs best friend. We get books to people they never would have known about otherwise, & create Fans out of disinterested bystanders. And! Libraries are often paying MORE for a book than the average user, at least for digital editions, because it is expected that the library will lend it to more people, so theoretically we need to pay more to compensate the authors! (This is not I think how it works in practice, it more often just benefits the digital lending company instead of the actual author but. Greed is ever thus). Also, in some countries (sadly not the US, boo hiss) authors get paid for every checkout of a book. So, you can literally get royalties on those βfreeβ books. (Also, theyβre not free, theyβre paid for with tax dollars for the good of everyone). How some fool can think temporary freeness on Amazon Kindle is superior to libraries I cannot fathom. Like, how does this person even manage to function in the real world?
Anyway. Authors. Love your librarians. We love you and seek only to help you get more readers so you can write more books. We have a symbiotic relationship, each needs the other.





















