Support an Author: 2014

*Mind that I am posting this to get the word out after reading Sarah Faulkner's post at Inklined: HERE*

   (example taken from Sarah at link above) Say you go to B&N and buy a book for $11.76. An author only gets about 10% of that. About a buck and twenty cents.

   Nick (ok, plain story that I've narrated to my brother--just added a name) buys The New Recruit(random book, one that a boy would probably like), reads it, and loves it. But instead of recommending buying the book to his friend, Jack, he lends it to him (of course there is nothing wrong with this, but continue reading). Jack reads it and loves it too, then asks Nick if he can lend it to his friend Xavier. Think about this, say Nick said, "Sure, and he can pass it along to his friends,". And soon all of Xavier's friends have read it, and Jill Williamson just got that buck and twenty cents.

Go Teen Writer's picture, click to find post

   Does that seem fair to Jill? She goes through a bunch of work writing the novel, editing, spending time with it to make it perfect--and then Nick lends it to everyone in his town and Jill only gets that buck. One dollar. Do you think that would be enough for B&N to think, "Oh, this is a great new author who we should continue to stock,"? No, they're going to think, "Only one person bought this book, is there any reason that we should continue to stock?"
  
   It isn't easy for me to buy books since I live in Indonesia, where I don't speak--or read--great Indonesian. Which means I can't just go up stairs in the local mall and buy any book in the bookstore, since I can't read them. So I buy ebooks off of Amazon for my Kindle.
  
   If you scroll down through the comments on Jill Williamson's post at Go Teen Writers, you'll see this: If you buy an ebook, the author gets 25% of the money. Which of course the ebooks are cheaper, but I think more people buy them. Back to the example I gave above, if you pre-ordered the ebook, and the author got 25% of the money I paid, he would get $2.49. Mind that it is that much because it is being pre-ordered.

   That's pretty convincing to buy more new books, right? I thought so when I read Sarah and Jill'sposts this morning. So, since I am returning to America in April for 9/10 months, I am making a goal for myself. :)

   In 2014, I would like to buy *12* books while we are in America, and *20* ebooks throughout the year.

   What about you? Do you want to make a goal for this year? Do you want to support authors by buying new books? It may even encourage them to continue to write. You never know. Tell us. What is the most recent book you bought new?

This was originally posted at my writing blog, Ravens and Writing Desks