Rules for Readers

I’ve made the drive from Idaho to Seattle for the holiday weekend and am exhausted but happy to see the family and friends. Lots of catching up to do as I haven’t been here since October.

I love seeing the 'Welcome to Washington' sign at the top of Ryegrass Pass.

Catching up was the order of the day at camp on Friday as several friends I haven’t seen since last fall came in for their first weekend of the summer and we had a fantastic spread of smoked ribs, potato salad, Caesar salad, and grilled pineapple. Lots of stories of the winter and general rowdiness.

One of my favorite views near Worley, Idaho. It changes as the season progresses.

And that brings me to my rules for readers. Why? Two instances in the past two weeks struck me as teaching moments. In the first, I gave a woman who has been a great fan a copy of City Limits to read and review. She said, “I’m only going to be here for four days. I hope you don’t want this by then.” I explained that the advance review copy was hers to keep and as long as she got a review in by the 23rd of June we were good. Two days later, she came to me and said, “I finished it! I couldn’t put it down. I need to read it again.”

The second was a man who bought one of my Devon Layne titles and was very excited to have me sign it. Two days later he came to me and apologized for not having started the book yet because he was reading something else. That’s good. But it sparked something inside.

I write for your enjoyment and pleasure. Certainly, my ego gets stroked when I am complimented, like anyone. But my ego really only gets stroked if you enjoy what I’ve written. Different authors have different needs and goals. These apply to books I’ve written and I won’t force any other author to agree with them.

Hay is nearly ready to be cut in the Palouse. First cutting is already down in Central Washington. Spring wheat is casting a slight green glow from the raw field in the background.

Rule Number One: Read for your own enjoyment and pleasure, not out of obligation to the author. It does nothing for you or for me if you struggle through a book you hate and say, “At least that’s done.”

Rule Number Two: If a book is not contributing to your enjoyment and pleasure, stop reading it! My books are not here to cause you difficulty. A reader of another book spoke to me a couple of weeks ago and said, “I only read two chapters. I just can’t get into this.” We discussed some of the problems she had with the book and it was a good conversation. She ended by saying, “My husband loved it though.” If you have bought a book of mine that you don’t enjoy, tell me and I’ll buy it back. It is not a scourge to punish you.

Columbia River Gorge near Vantage, WA.

Rule Number Three: Buy direct. You can get the book cheaper online. You can get the book and support a local bookstore, but the author never earns as much as when you see him sitting at a table with a stack of books and shell out cash to have him sign one for you. When you buy a $15 paperback from an online retailer, the author receives $1.25-3.50 on average. The author has already paid for the printing ($4.50-6.00) and the bookseller will receive a 40-60% discount ($6.00-9.00) for selling the book. If you buy direct from the author, he receives $9.00-10.50 to contribute to his cost of sitting at that table smiling for eight hours.

Rule Number Four: Don’t expect an author to mail you a book for free! He’s already paid shipping once. It came out of the profit margin.

Non-Rule: Supporting your local brick and mortar bookstore. I, too, love to wander around stores with shelves and shelves of books, touching the spines, smelling the pages. They are a local business. But you are unlikely to find support for local independent authors at most stores unless the author writes strictly for ego and doesn’t need money. First, most local bookstores won’t deal with print-on-demand books. It is not a quality issue, but simply that the books are not returnable. So, the author must set up an individual account with the bookstore so his book can be carried on consignment.

My local bookstore gave me the paperwork and the rules. I have to fill out an application for consignment. If the store approves, I pay a $20 processing fee to get my title into their system. Then they want 3-5 books to put on the shelves for as much as six months to see if they sell. If not, I have two weeks to pick up the remaining copies. On every sale, the bookseller retains 40%. Now let’s look at the real numbers. If the store accepts five copies, I have paid $4.00 per copy to get it on the shelves. I pay $6.00 for printing and shipping. The store gets $6.00 for selling the book. My best-case scenario is that if the store sells all five copies, I only lose $1.00 per book. I believe the money is supposed to flow the opposite direction—toward the author.

Wild Horses Monument near Vantage, WA.

Rule Number Five: If you like a book, tell others. If you don’t, keep your mouth shut. Authors thrive on reviews of their work. Put it on your blog. Post it on Amazon. Review it in Goodreads. Tell about it on Facebook and Twitter. Post a picture of it on Instagram and rave about it on Snapchat. The only thing that sells a book you like is people knowing about it. The chance of an accidental discovery on Amazon are a million to one.

Rule Number Six: Get your book club to read it as a selection. Not only do you get to share a book you enjoyed, the discussions can be stimulating and it gives you something to talk about over coffee. I spoke with a reader of one of my mysteries who shared it in a book club. She said, “We discussed the last two chapters for over an hour. We finally agreed that she had to die.”

If you don’t have a book club, share a piece of the story that you find stimulating with friends and then talk about the issues raised. I received a message from a reader of one of my Devon Layne adult romances that said, “I had to share that last chapter with my friends. We read it, talked about it, and then went to the grocery store to buy food for the local food shelf. Thank you.”

Rule Number Seven: Join the community. Few authors earn a livable wage from selling their books. But many now have a community devoted to keeping the author writing. This might be through Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaigns or through Patreon where readers can become patrons and join engage directly with the author. Usually, patrons get additional benefits like free eBooks, unpublished stories, glimpses into the writing life and first looks, and even signed new releases in advance of the general public. Three people providing a dollar a month to the author are providing a nice chat over a cup of coffee once a month. And since this author is fueled by coffee, that keeps the words flowing. Join my Patreon community at http://www.patreon.com/nathaneverett and discover the rewards of patronage!

To see a sample of each of my books and a few short stories, hop over to my website, http://www.nathaneverett.com. See what the excitement is all about!