In a perfect world artists and teachers and librarians and social workers would get paid equivalent to professional baseball players, but in this world, it’s just not going to happen. If you expect it to, you will be bitter when you get your royalty checks and start calculating how much those ARC’s cost you and just how much you lost on every used bookstore sale.

This was an eye-opening thread for me. My expectations of having financial success along with enjoying my craft are dashed. I had hoped if I made the crossover from e-publishing to paper publishing all would be well. Now I see that it doesn’t ensure a steady, reasonable paycheck at all.

I’m a student, I can’t afford to buy every single book brand new–unless she/he is an autobuy. And yes, I go to the library, but my library stocks a more ‘mainstream’ collection. I use it very often (I usually have 8 books out), but I still buy, used and new.

I think that at some point, you have to bite your tongue and appreciate the fact that there are people buying and reading your books. That’s what writing, at the heart of it, should be about.

As for the sale of ARCs… Well, I see it as promotion. Yeah, it sucks, because it was sent out free for review. But I figure that ARCs are usually bought by collectors. ARCs are things readers adore.

I’ve written something like 270 online romance reviews and not been paid for any of them. The ARC is my “paycheck” and I can do with it what I like.

I think the antagonism comes down to – surprise, surprise – money. I think authors want to make a living writing, which is understandable. It’s hard work writing a book and time consuming as well. But it’s a form of ART and art has never been well paid. You have to do it because you love it, because it fulfills a need for you. If you get paid for it, that’s great, but I don’t think the average writer can reasonably expect to quit her day job early on, if ever. There are big name authors who rake in the dough and authors who can pay the bills because they’ve found a niche (such as category romance) and they produce. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the end result is seldom artistic. In a perfect world artists and teachers and librarians and social workers would get paid equivalent to professional baseball players, but in this world, it’s just not going to happen. If you expect it to, you will be bitter when you get your royalty checks and start calculating how much those ARC’s cost you and just how much you lost on every used bookstore sale.

At the same time I agree with Cece who said that anyone paying a crazy amount for an arc is probably a rabid fan/collector. While I’m always happy to get an arc, and don’t at all mind having to “pay” for it with a review, I would never buy an arc just to have it before anyone else. And I certainly wouldn’t pay more for an arc than the actual book would cost new. Just call me Cheapy McGee.

I remember a while back Pbackwriter posting a great perspective of UBS’s–it’s a great way to try authors you might not otherwise, and if you like their work, there’s a good chance you’ll be on the lookout for newer works when they go on sale, which means the reader has just earned a new fan (IMO worth the loss of that 7-8 cents on the dollar–sort of a pay it forward type of thing).

The sale of a few ARCs, IMO isn’t gonna break an author. Even if it is irksome to the (did I just use irksome?) writer. Chances are it’s going to a fan/collector though paying 30.00 for a book is rather heinous IMO. I wouldn’t even pay that for a new book!

FWIW I bought every Kay Hooper book I could find, including some of her old Loveswepts, off ebay, and I STILL buy her new books in hardcover. *shrug*