You complain that people are pirating your books, but when a paperback is $70 and an eBook is $23, you’re DRIVING people to piracy. It it LITERALLY your own fault. And yes, that is a pun as in “A strict and exact sense, without exaggeration or metaphor” and you also write literature. 3/4 of the links on your website don’t work and the ones that do go to shops that charge outlandish prices for your books. I have spent years praising your works to others and working my way through your entire library, buying each and every one, but now I have to give it up because I simply cannot justify spending that much money on something that should be $5 at most.
It’s been several years since I complained about piracy, but what you’re saying is that theft is justified if you think the price is too high.
While I understand you don’t like paying what seems like an excessive price for my books, I have to wonder where you’re buying my books. Right now, in the U.S., a new hardcover of mine costs roughly $31.00, the eBook $16.00, and the trade paperback will be $22.00 when it comes out next June. As for the links, at least the current ones work off my five year old computer. I’ll admit I haven’t checked the links for books published thirty years ago.
As for books being $5 at most, that’s what hardcovers cost more than forty years ago, and the prices of everything have increased since then. If the prices of books don’t keep up with inflation then the amount authors make goes down, and even today the vast majority of authors can’t live on what they make from writing. It took me over twenty years to get to where I could support my family by writing.
I just received my copy of Sub-Majer’s Challenge. So excited to read this. I hope the Saga of Recluse will continue, although I am currently enjoying The Corean Chronicles. I have spent more time with you on patrols than I ever have in real life, although I am a military veteran. May you live long and continue to prosper.