Displaced wrote:Hey. I'm married to the author of Rainbird. I found this post through google, and talked about it with my wife yesterday.
Frankly, we've got mixed feelings about this--on the one hand, it's flattering, because you obviously felt it was good enough to share with others, but on the other hand...well, it's sales and reviews that we're not getting. And since my wife is just starting out in self-publishing, she needs those. I mean, if she were an established author with tens of thousands of sales, even a hundred people reading her work for free wouldn't mean much--but since her sales are still in the double digits, every one counts. And, incidentally, if she can't make enough selling her books to even make back the cost of having a cover made, she's likely to stop publishing entirely. Since you clearly enjoyed her work, I hope you agree that that would not be a good thing.
Now, we could file a DMCA takedown notice, but really, I don't think that would accomplish anything other than annoying you (and even that, probably not). Instead, we'd appreciate it if anyone who reads Rainbird would review it--on Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and/or Goodreads--and at least consider buying their own copy (or one of her short story collections, which are only $0.99 each). The more reviews her works get, the more attention they will get from other customers--and thus (hopefully) more sales, enabling her to keep publishing.
Thanks.
I commit to do the Mobilism review, it should follow shortly after the other one (Replay) that I've committed to.