Hi there! :) Since I’m terribly gimpy busy, I’ll get down to brass tacks. I only wanted to say write that authors can make a living off their writing. And you don’t have to be terribly wealthy or famous to do this. That isn’t even the point.

One of my favorite hardboiled mystery authors of all, Lawrence Block, believes this to be so. He’s blogged about it or words to that effect.

Thank you, Lawrence, for doing all that typing. Really! :) #dystonia

Now, if authors are business people and creators, then readers will seek the best value for their buck, so to speak. This is why doing promotional giveaways is good to an extent, but you can’t rely upon giveaways forever. This is so, unless you intend to take over the market like the crack dealer in the hood, who gives away product just so the customer gets hooked and has nowhere else to go when everyone else is run out of business.

So readers should beware of the crack dealers of publishing, the ones who are simply giving product away willy nilly. And authors, think. Why would a publisher pay an author to give away product that earns money on a loss leader like a fancy ereader? Ahem! :) The post I wrote about ROI or return on investment still holds true as ever. For publishers and authors. Hello!

So, short promotions = good business. Giving everything you make away = unsustainable business. If a business/publisher/author/whatever gives everything away all the time, red flags should go up for the consumer, i.e., the reader.

PS: Here’s something about a sustainable business program from the Columbia Business School, no less. It’s all about new entrepreneurship through sharing and collaboration. Imagine!

PPS: I just had the most interesting Easter weekend in recent memory. :)

PPPS: Books are awesome, but they don’t have all the answers, do they? :-/ #dystonia

PPPPS: Sadly, it looks like this author may become addicted to an unsustainable business model. :(

And on that note, let’s end things with one of my favorite Billie Holiday tunes. Because the theme of the song actually relates to my latest novel, when you think about it.

Video courtesy of Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar.