MONDAY, 21 JANUARY 2013
Yesterday morning my Smashwords account indicated that I had sold two copies of A shorter version of a longer book (which I had just made available a few hours previously) overnight. By last night, though, the sales appeared to have been the result of a “fraudulent payment method”. What does this mean? A criminal tried to purchase an obscure collection of essays with a stolen credit card? It’s either an interesting comment on my description of the book, or it says something about the criminal.
I did make use of the opportunity to remind myself of a few things:
1. Some people who are going to buy your book are not going to like what they read, and they will attempt to recover their money from the place where they had bought it.
2. Some buyers of your book will not like what you wrote or how you wrote it, or they will be alarmed to see what your opinions are on certain matters, and immediately seek an outlet for their revulsion, which they usually find by leaving mean but what they regard as honest comments on a public forum so that other potential buyers can see what they think of your book (or how little they think of it).
3. Some people will buy your book thinking it would be amusing, then after reading a few pages realise it is indeed not amusing at all – or not enough for their taste or expectation – and then be upset that they have wasted their money.
There, a few thoughts for those who might be considering making a living with words, or any other method of conveying thoughts or opinions to the population outside his or her comfort zone. It is probably the price one has to be prepared to pay if you are not satisfied with merely capturing your thoughts or opinions, but if you actually go so far as to make available what you have written for other people to purchase and read.
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