Clickie poo here!

Hope y’all are groovy!

And no, space opera is not for everyone. I get that. I understand it. But it’s something that’s near and dear to my little pea-pickin’ heart, and maybe you’ll get a feel for why I dig it after you read that blog.

Let’s see…currently I’m waiting on the cover art to the second installment of my space opera series. The first, if you weren’t aware, is Friends in High Places, available at myriad online book venues as well as Kindle.

I’m also trying to get some excerpts up here, on this site, to make us all feel special. Works In Progress! WOOOO! Stay tooned!

And have a lovely weekend.

Dykes of Hazard

Cheerios!

On June 28, 2010, a copy of one of my books was uploaded to a website that doesn’t do much by way of policing its users. That upload may have cost my publisher and me quite a few sales, because other users most likely downloaded it. My book wasn’t the only one there. I saw several titles by colleagues and I spent a lot of time alerting them and the publishers about what was going on in this dark corner of the web.

Here’s the thing. If you make unauthorized copies of something and then distribute it online, you are stealing. If you do not have written permission from the rights-holder(s) of that work to make reproductions and distribute it, you are engaging in theft and copyright infringement. If you are downloading pirated copies of stolen work, you are a thief, too.

This particular part of this particular site is geared toward lesfic readers. It’s also home to several users that I and a bunch of my colleagues are watching. A few of them are busy little pirates, and have over a hundred illegally reproduced and uploaded titles that they distribute to whomever wants them. A few are so out of bounds that they actually request a donation from downloaders. That’s right. They are making money off a book they did not write, they did not edit, they did not produce, they did not publish, they did not market, and whose copyright they are violating. That’s like coming into my house, picking up my wallet, taking part of my paycheck, and leaving.

Now, I don’t mind if people buy one of my books and share it with a few real friends. And I have been known to send free copies of my books to people I know who are having a harder financial time than I am, and who I know would buy that book if they could. So yes, pass it around among 3 or 4 of your friends. Talk about it. Recommend it. Enjoy it.

But don’t steal it. If you take that book, scan it, and post it online so dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of people can read it, you have taken a lot of money away from my publisher and from me, and by extension, you’ve impacted your fellow readers who are supporting us by buying our work. Because if that publisher isn’t getting paid, she can’t stay in business.

This is lesfic we’re talking about. It ain’t a big community. Many readers meet their fave authors in person, as well as their fave publishers. For every hundred books that are downloaded for free, that’s a bill I’m going to have a hard time paying. Some of you may know my dog, Taylor. If not, you can find her on Facebook and find out some of the medical issues she has. Some of you probably have pets yourselves. My royalties–which aren’t much, because this is a small, select audience–help pay for her medicine. I don’t have kids. Taylor’s the closest thing I’ve got to that.

Every book you steal from me affects her, as well.

My royalties also help pay my rent. I’m extremely grateful that I get those royalties, because if I have any left over, they go into an emergency account.

Every book you steal from me diminishes my emergency account. And in this day and age, every bit you save is important.

My royalties also help pay for transportation to get me to work. I have to work. But I’m not making anything even close to a six-figure salary. I’m barely scraping by, like most of you.

Every book you steal from me means I scrape harder. I count on those royalties to help me with certain bills. But every book you steal leaves me tightening my belt a little more. And certain things, like Taylor, come first in my world. So do family emergencies. And sometimes there are car situations. Or plumbing problems. Like any of the many things that can crop up.

Every book you steal from me hits me where it hurts.

I, like 99 percent of my fellow authors, work a full-time day job. I try to make a lot of stuff available for free online for readers. There are also many, many sites that offer even novels that authors post–with permission–for people to see, read, enjoy, and share. But published works are a direct result of many people working to produce something. Producers work hard. And I, personally, think that paying producers for their hard work is a reasonable thing to do. It shows you support our missions, you support the publishers who are making lesfic available to you, and you would like to keep that author writing.

Every book you steal from me ensures that my publisher doesn’t get paid, I don’t get paid, and other readers suffer because without money to keep the publishers going, they can’t pay the producers, either, and thus another resource may tank.

Every book you steal from me screws us all.

Blog post on working on writing craft and style.

Blog post on stereotypes.

And there you have it. Hope you’re all having a great weekend.

Thanks, Rainbow!

Hope you’re well. I’ve donated copies of my books to an auction to benefit Christynn Holt, who is battling ovarian cancer. The auction runs through July 10th. My fellow author Kim Baldwin is spearheading the effort. If you’d like more info on the auction, you can find it on Kim’s site at this page. Thanks, Kim!

Cheers!

Many thanks to my publisher and accompanying helper(s) for getting my first novel (and first mystery) up and running on Kindle. That would be Land of Entrapment. If you want it for your Kindle, click away.

SWEET! And don’t forget, the GCLS is coming up right quick. So much to do…

peace!

For those of you who have been following the excerpts from one of my WIPs (works-in-progress), I posted Chapter 3 today on Women and Words. Don’t worry, I included links to Chapters 1 and 2, should the mood strike you to have a look at those, too.

Hope all is well with everyone and happy weekend!

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