DID YOU KNOW… Posted on July 11, 2023 | by C.D. Gorri DID YOU KNOW….buying a book, reading it, and returning it for a refund is actually stealing and here is why.. First, you are buying a product and using, no wait, consuming it, then returning it for no reason other than you didn’t wnat to pay for it. Dude, that is really uncool. And no, it is not a victimless crime. Authors get charged delivery fees by the platforms we use to distribute our books. Sometimes the fee is larger than the royalty and yeah, we have to pay money to get the book to you to begin with. Then, when you return it, guess what? We have to pay for it. Again. I get it. You are on a budget. Believe it or not, so are a lot of authors. There really are only one Stephen King and Nora Roberts and Colleen Hoover. The rest of us are doing our best to run our small business. And a lot of authors (like me) have decided the best way to run our business is to make sure we don’t put all our eggs in the basket (meaning no we are not in KU). But stealing from us is not the answer. When you buy, read, and return, the big platforms just keep getting richer, the reader (you) gets a free read, BUT the author gets screwed. Really, really not cool. And I know you are not a bad person, and you probably did not think this was a big deal… but it is. Not only is heartbreaking to watch your reports show someone systematically going through your entire catalog buying and returning but it is costing the author $$$. I can’t imagine it is good for anyone’s karma either. Soooooooo, instead of doing all that, check this out Wide authors like me might not use exclusivity demanding sub services like KU- BUT we often have ebooks available through public libraries that you can access through sites like Hoopla and Overdrive, Kobo PLUS – which is a subscription service exactly like KU without demanding Exclusivity form the authors, and more and more of us are offering huge DISCOUNTS for series when you BUY DIRECT from the author’s own site. The reason I have removed 99% of my books from KU is simple. KU demands exclusivity and if I did that I would have to say goodbye to libraries and other stores like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple. I want to reach as many readers as I can, so going wide just made sense for me. Here is a list of libraries you can still use for folks who live out of the area: https://www.aworldadventurebybook.com/blog/libraries-with-non-resident-borrowing-privileges Learn more about how to read indie books from your local library here: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-borrow-and-read-ebooks-from-your-library For those of you in the US without Hoopla at your local library, you can get it (and Libby) thru Stark Library in Ohio as a non-resident for $30 a year. https://starklibrary.org/home/contact-us/register-for-a-library-card *If you want a subscription service, seriously check out Kobo Plus. THANK YOU so much for reading my post! xoxo, C.D. Gorri P.S. Here I am on Hoopla https://www.hoopladigital.com/artist/6832289648 Overdrive https://www.overdrive.com/search?f-contentCreatorNames=C.D.%20Gorri Libby https://libbyapp.com/search/mainlib/search/scope-auto/query-C.D.%20Gorri/page-1 AND you can even find me on Apps like KISS, Dreame, and Radish!