Book pirates. No, these aren’t guys and gals in flowing, open-necked white shirts sailing the high seas with books tucked into their sashes instead of a cutlass. Book pirates are people who take copies of books and illegally upload them to be shared on the internet. Every few months, there’s a new internet explosion as authors find out about a site or group that is hosting their books for free and without their permission.
There are a couple of author schools of thought on book piracy. Some authors despise it, and go after every site they come across that has their book with a request that they be taken down. There are even services that authors can use that will do the work for them. Other authors feel that it’s not worth the hassle and pretend they don’t see the online sharing. For the people who host the pirate sites, they rationalize it as free publicity. They feel a reader would never have heard of an author if they didn’t see the pirated book and now that they’ve read it for free, they’ll go and buy it and an author’s back list if they like it. I’m not sure I buy this theory. I know people who have scads of free music on their musical playing devices. If that’s the case, why would they bother to buy music? I have a feeling the same holds true for pirated books. On the reader side, many feel that they should get free books because they can’t afford to buy them. On the one hand, I feel your pain. When you’re a voracious book worm, that $3.99 habit can add up fast. But on the other … if you were low on funds and you really, really wanted to see a movie you wouldn’t go into a theater to see it without paying. And if you did, you’d have to be sneaky and pray you didn’t get caught because you know you’re stealing. Same thing applies to books. It’s just easier to get away with the sneaking online because there aren’t any movie theater staff watching to make sure you came in the front door with a ticket. Unfortunately, books aren’t always valued as worthy of paying to read. Part of the problem is, many people don’t understand the labor and cost that goes into producing a book. Never fear, your Friendly Neighborhood Author is here to break that down. First, let’s cover the labor. Let’s say an author has a 60,000 word book and they write at a rate of 500 words per hour. If we give that author minimum wage for their labor, they would make $870. But wait, they also have to edit the book. If they do it in two weeks working the typical eight-hour work day, that’s $580 in wages. A week of rewrites would net $290 and three days of proofing earns $174. That’s $1,194 that the author needs to recoup in book sales in order to pay themselves. (I’m over simplifying this to umm… keep it simple. Also, complicated math makes me itch) After the book is written, come the costs that a self-pubbed author has to pay out of pocket. First, the editor. That’s probably going to be about $600. For a book to be taken seriously, a professional cover design and a few graphics to advertise the book are necessary. Lowball price for that is $300. If an author isn’t tech savvy and can’t do the book formatting on their own, they’ll have to hire someone. That’s $150. A promotional book blog tour is helpful to get the word out, so we’ll need to add another $150. Ads on relevant sites? That’ll be about $70 each. Now if we add all that up to the author’s wages and carry the one, it comes out to about $3,384.00. So! As you can see it is not free for authors to produce a book. Yes, the final uploading to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, etc. is free, but before we get to that point we’ve already shelled out a few buckaroos. And authors need sales in order to cover those costs and hopefully make a little profit. Okay, so maybe after reading this, people might feel a little bad for taking free books, but still aren’t able to pay for them. Well, my friend, don’t despair! I’ve got a Top Ten List of Ways You Can Get Free Books. Wait, no. I couldn’t think of ten things. I’ve got a Top Eight List of Ways You Can Get Free Books! 1) Become a reviewer! There are sites like The Romance Reviews, Romance Studio and blogs like Two Chicks With Books & Eye Candy that are often looking for reviewers. You get a free book, and in exchange you’re required to write a book report. It doesn’t have to be as in-depth as a New York Times review. Just state what you liked and/or didn’t like about the book and try to keep it spoiler-free. 2) Join an author’s ARC group! Most authors have opportunities for a core group of fans to get a copy of their latest in advance of release. In exchange, they ask you to post a review to sites like Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. 3) Swing by Goodreads and sign up for book giveaways. I have lots of books on my Goodreads TBR list. Whenever there is a giveaway for one, Goodreads sends me a little notification. I sign up, and one day I’m going to win! 4) Shoot on over to Library Thing and do the same thing. Library thing is a little harder to navigate. But they do allow ebook giveaways, so that makes it easier for authors to give away more copies of their book babies. 5) Join a genre ARC group. In these groups, authors come in, state what their book is about and how many they’re giving away. If you’re selected, you get a free book and in exchange you write and post a review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. 6) Volunteer as a beta reader. Lots of authors periodically call for beta readers to help them out. What does a beta reader do? They read for the author, giving them their perspective on the book as a fan of the genre. Their role is not to be an editor, but to let the author know what did and didn’t work for them about the story. Some authors just ask for a read and general feedback. Others (*cough* me *cough*) have handy-dandy sheets that break down the things they’re looking for feedback on. 7) Go to the library. I know what you’re thinking. A lot of self-published books aren’t available through library systems. But some are. And if they aren’t there, you know what would be cool? Asking the library to carry them. If librarians know there’s an interest in a genre and/or author they might make more of an effort to get those books. I know I was ecstatic when I saw that Alexis Hall’s ebooks were available through the Harris County Public Library system. 8) Join Facebook groups, Like authors’ pages, and sign up for their newsletters. These are the ways that authors usually reach out in order to give away free books. It works both as a way to build some buzz, and to say thanks to those who have become our fans. All of those methods require a little effort on the reader’s part. But in exchange you’re getting that free book. That seems more than fair. It’s a win-win for author and reader. Reader gets the free book, author gets another review which is helpful for sales. For me, I don’t agree with book piracy. I’m the nerd who buys all her music from Google Play and pays to rent movies on VUDU. But, I don’t go after book pirates either. Unless it’s a huge and blatant site – then yes, I’m sending a take down notice. I want everyone to be able to read the stories that they love, but I also want authors to receive payment for their labor. In closing, I shall put my books where my mouth is. Or however that saying goes. Go to my Giveaways Page and enter to win a copy of my latest, An Officer’s Submission. Yay! Free books! Also, feel free to share this post. And if you have additional and LEGAL ways to get free books, please add them in the comments. Thanks for reading! Love, Christa Visit my website: www.ChristaTomlinson.com Follow me around the internet! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub View my titles on Amazon Sign up for my Newsletter Book IV of the Cuffs, Collars and Love series is now available. Amazon - Amazon UK
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It's Father's Day! The day where all the fathers, stepdads, favorite uncles, awesome big brothers and found fathers are honored by the people who love them. For me, it's my dad, James. My childhood bestie and I affectionately nick named him Big James back in high school, because he was tall and had impressive Dad Guns from the hard work he did. We had a few rough patches when I went through my obnoxious I know everything late-teens phase, but he's always been there for me. He supports me in my writing, whether it's financially, or listening to me drone on about the process of self-publishing. We're a lot alike in many ways. Introverted, short-tempered and stubborn. And we'll do anything we can to help the people we care about. But we're also really different. I love curling up on the couch with a good book for hours. He can't sit still long enough to make it past chapter one. Whenever I'm home visiting and I whip out a notebook to jot some ideas down, he always shakes his head and says, "I just don't see how you come up with these stories." It cracks me up every time. Of course, once he blew my mind when he added, "I guess it's like a movie playing in your head." Yes! It's so like that! My dad in the early eighties. Big James is funny (especially when he's acting out something one of us kids did to get in trouble), can fix anything, can build most things and has far more patience than I could ever imagine myself having. He's a great dad and I'm super lucky to have him.
Happy Father's Day to my dad, and all the other people who have played an important fatherly role in someone's life! Thanks for reading! Love, Christa Visit my website: www.ChristaTomlinson.com Follow me around the internet! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub View my titles on Amazon Sign up for my Newsletter Book IV of the Cuffs, Collars and Love series is now available. Amazon - Amazon UK “You’re black. Why do you write about white people?” I’ve been asked this question in one form or another by several people, both white and black. I can answer that question in photographic form. Let me break down my photographic evidence. When you go into Barnes and Noble and head to the romance section, the vast majority of the books feature Caucasian characters. But wait, who’s that down there in the bottom of the last picture? Oh hi, Ms. Beverly Jenkins! I’m so glad she’s there. And a few spaces over is Brenda Jackson. Both wonderful authors who are responsible for giving me hope for myself and my characters. But yikes, out of all those rows of books only two authors of color featuring main characters of color. Apparently, that’s B&N’s quota. That pretty much answers the “why do you write about white people?” question. But keep reading, because change is a comin’. Romance has always been my favorite genre. I’d go to the library, thrift shops, and later when I had my own money, to the bookstore, always looking for new romance titles to read. And those titles nearly always featured Caucasian characters. As an adolescent reading romance, I just assumed those were the only characters that were published. I remember the first time I came across a romance with a black hero and heroine. I was in high school, and it was one of those contemporary Harlequin type books, maybe Kimani or Arabesque. I immediately checked it out and was excited to read. But boy was I disappointed when I got to the end. The main characters both ended up scarred and paralyzed because of a horrible car accident. I didn’t get it. All the romances I’d read up to that point ended with the scrappy village girl married to the duke and she gave him adorable babies and became a well-loved chatelaine of the manor or whatever. Not once did any of them have something so harsh happen to them. At that young age, I thought the book was saying that black heroines didn’t get the perfect happy ending. It hurt, and it turned me off from reading any more from that line for a long time. That’s not to say there weren’t any books by black authors and featuring black characters. There are. But in book stores, books featuring African American characters are usually African American lit, which isn’t romance. And even if they aren’t AA lit, they are all lumped together in the African American section by themselves away from romance. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to read romance. When I started writing, I wanted to write romance. And I wanted my books to be grouped with all the rest of the romance novels. So when I wrote my first little novella, I wrote white characters. Based off what I’d seen of publishing so far, I assumed that’s what I had to do in order to be published where I wanted to be published. When I wrote my second book, I was still in that mind-set even though I was self-publishing. Why? Swing by Amazon’s best seller page for romance and check it out. Or I can just tell you. The majority of the books feature white cover models. You have to specifically type in African American romance in order to get black characters. Am I wrong for just wanting to be in the freaking general romance category? I got away from that mind-set a little bit when I wrote the Bad Boys series. Each of those books features a POC hero. Joseph is Persian, Kevin is biracial (with black and white parents) and Max is black. Each of those books features the “bad boy” of the pairing on the cover. Of the three bad boys, Max is the only one of color. And let me tell you, there was some fear that Max wouldn’t sell as well because there was a black man on the front of the book. Why did I have that fear? Well, let’s just say I have seen on more than one occasion, a reader saying something along the lines of “I can’t relate to a black character.” Also, whether consciously or not, readers sometimes pass over books that feature a non-white character on the cover. And again, I’ll refer you back to the Barnes & Noble shelves and Amazon Best Seller pages.
Thankfully, my fear was unfounded. Readers loved Max. And he made it to the Best Seller page for his category on his release day. Yay! That proved to me that many readers are happy to read a story that interests them, regardless of the race of the character. Double yay! Now that I’ve been doing this for a couple of years, I’ve gotten over those fears. And to be honest I don’t care anymore. I’m not going to erase my own ethnicity and ignore others because people might not buy my books. If someone chooses not to read a story because of the race of the character, that’s their issue. Not mine. And I know that regardless of what the Barnes and Noble shelves show, there IS a market for romance novels featuring every kind of race or ethnicity. But that was something that I had to learn and accept on my own. Going forward, I have two Mexican American heroes, Hector and Miguel, in my next book. And the majority of the books that I have planned after that feature at least one main character who is a person of color. My characters will be black, Latino, white, Pacific Islander and more. And they’ll be chosen based on the story that needs to be told, not on an out of date system set up by the Big Five Publishers. Publishing needs to change. It’s starting now, with authors and readers alike pushing for more diversity. And in m/m there are some great books featuring POC characters that readers are happily devouring. It’s wonderful that it’s begun, but the change won’t happen overnight. We all – and yes, I include myself in this – need to realize why it’s important to have a multitude of races and ethnicities in our books. Think of pre-teen me, a scrawny little dark-skin girl loving to read romance, but assuming that she could never be the girl who got the HEA because she never saw herself represented. So maybe next time you’re scrolling through Amazon looking for a new read, type multicultural romance or African American romance into the search bar and try out whatever catches your eye. Your sale just might be the one that helps an author get her multicultural book pushed into a slot where more readers can see it. Need help finding multicultural romance? Try these great resources! Women of Color In Romance Romance Novels in Color Multicultural M/M Romance List Want to read more on this topic? Check out this beautifully written post and excellent discussion thread from 2013: An Open Letter to Harlequin. You can also read my post on Writing POC Characters without using stereotypes. Thanks for reading! Love, Christa Visit my website: www.ChristaTomlinson.com Follow me around the internet! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub View my titles on Amazon Sign up for my Newsletter Book IV of the Cuffs, Collars and Love series is now available. Amazon - Amazon UK It’s time for another Sneak Peek! I’m close to finishing Book five in the Cuffs, Collars and Love series. If you read An Officer’s Submission, there was a flashing sign hint on who the next story would feature. And if you guessed Hector and Miguel, you’re correct! I have a title, but I’m not one hundred percent sold on it yet. The manuscript will be sent to my editor next week and I’ll have a tentative release date and firm title after that. In the meantime, here’s your (unedited) Sunday Sneak Peek:
***** The next morning, Miguel got up as usual to make Hector breakfast before he left for work. He was tired, he'd laid on the couch all night, but he hadn't gotten much sleep. He'd still been wide awake when Hector had returned from his drive. But he figured the other man needed his space after what happened between them, so he'd pretended to be asleep. He was hoping that this morning maybe they could talk before Hector went to work. The bedroom door opened. Miguel nervously tightened his grip on the spatula as he listened to Hector's footsteps approach the kitchen. He took a deep breath and turned around with a bright smile on his face. "Good morning! I made pancakes. And uh, I wanted to apologize for last night." "Don't worry about it." Hector didn't even look at Miguel as he went over to the cabinet and took down his stainless steel travel mug. Miguel watched as he filled his cup from the pot of hot coffee. After a moment he tried again. "Do you think we should talk about what happened last night?" A muscle jumped in Hector's jaw. "Just leave it for right now, okay?" Miguel immediately nodded and backed off. "Okay. I made bacon too," he said unnecessarily. The bacon was there on the table, plain as day. "No time for breakfast today. I'm running late. Call me if you need anything." Hector left without once looking at Miguel. When he was gone, Miguel slumped against the counter. What in the hell had possessed him to give Hector a blow job? That was about the dumbest thing he could have done. Yeah, Hector had obviously been turned on and gotten off, but as far as Miguel knew, he'd lived his entire life as a straight man. Having his dick in the mouth of another dude was going to fuck with his head. By putting him in that situation, Miguel had probably ruined the friendship they'd been rebuilding. More than likely, Hector was going to come home and tell him to get his shit and get out of there. ***** Yikes! What went on there? You can find out later this summer! In the meantime, catch up with the first four books in the Cuffs, Collars and Love series available in Amazon KU. Thanks for reading! Love, Christa Visit my website: www.ChristaTomlinson.com Follow me around the internet! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub View my titles on Amazon Sign up for my Newsletter Book IV of the Cuffs, Collars and Love series is now available. Amazon - Amazon UK |
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