Nothing is Pure Anymore (was it ever?)

I'll keep it real.

Sometimes it's all a bit overwhelming. I've heard stories of people offering money for 5-star reviews. Offering pictures of certain body parts. Offering giveaways.

And here all I thought I had to do was bust my ass and write an okay book ...

I've also seen people give 1-star ratings to books that AREN'T EVEN OUT YET. Books that there is no possible way they could have read them, because they HAVEN'T BEEN WRITTEN YET.

What possesses a person to do that? I get it, we all have our favorite authors and we all have books we don't like - but I can't imagine it going to such a level that I would try to SABOTAGE that author or book. HOW INSANE! If I ever learned that a fan of Jameson was doing that to another book, I would be pissed!

I don't know why people think love for an author and/or book has to be singular. When it comes to reading, your love doesn't divide, it multiplies. You get to have LOTS of favorite books and LOTS of favorite authors! And it's not a money thing either - author A's book is gonna sell a certain way regardless of author B's book cause guess what? People can buy multiple books!

It's not like Walmart vs. Target, where if you're shopping at one it means the other is losing out. You can buy Pepper Winters AND buy CJ Roberts. There's no rule that says you can only get one at a time. It's like Oprah up on amazon!

YOU get a book, and YOU get a book, EVERYBODY GETS A BOOK!

So I encourage you to not "pick favorites" - have LOTS of favorites! I'm a writer, yes, but I looooove to read! I love Lucy Morgan and Mary Balogh and CJ Roberts and Christopher Pike and Leah Raeder. And you know what? I buy AND rate their books.

I also like to help other authors, and I like authors to help me. The literary world is a vain, elitist world - from readers to writers to librarians (ooohhh, the librarians, bane of my existence).

I have actually seen posts encouraging new authors NOT TO post on amazon's new author forum, because other author's will rip them a new one. This is very popular.

I have also seen other authors be rude and condescending, be unforthcoming and unhelpful on purpose. Snide blog posts and lofty statements. Why? What does someone who is bigger and better than the rest of us get out of trying to hold us down? I don't understand it, at all.

I knew virtually NOTHING going into this. All I knew was that I had a story I had written that I wanted to share, and I had a lot of awesome book blogs I followed. THAT'S IT. I had to google and look up everything else. No one offered help or information. A Smashwords book on formatting taught me how to do that, but that's it. Finding actually helpful books or articles on self-publishing are very difficult.

Finding authors talking about how awesome they are and how amazing their books are, very easy.

Some of the most helpful people I've found - brand-spanking new authors like myself. We trade information back and forth as we learn it, cause A) I like to think I'm a good person who would help anyone who needed it, and B) me helping them may mean they'll help me if I need it. And it's worked out that way so far.

The other helpful people, the ones who have made it possible for me to continue doing this - blogs. Blogs. Are. INVALUABLE. Yes, you can do this alone - but it will be a much, much harder road.

Bloggers have answered all sorts of questions for me, taught me how to do things, steered me right as best they can. Befriended me, beta-read for me, offered to read for author friends of mine. This doesn't necessarily benefit them - they have never once asked for anything in return, not even ARCs or anything like that. They simply, truly, love to read, and so they support authors. ALL authors. New, old, famous, not-famous.

Treat them right, and they will treat you right.

It's bizarre to me that a writer wouldn't want to be helpful to another writer. I mean, I would assume if you're a writer, you're also a reader, and as a reader, you would want to encourage someone to put more books out there. Silly me.

For a while, I actually stopped accepting friend requests from authors on my Facebook page because of attitude I had gotten and because of the selfishness I saw being displayed. I don't understand it. I don't like it. I won't encourage that.

I will help just about anyone. I know very little about very little. But anything I know, I am more than willing to share. And I would encourage all authors to do the same.

Any books that I've read that I've liked, I am a fan of the author. If I read something I didn't like, I simply choose not to pay attention to anything else the author puts out. Not hate, just not interested. I would encourage all readers to do the same.

Why so much hate? Why so much disdain? Why so much animosity and snarkiness and petty jealousy? I just don't get it. Maybe it's because I'm halfway to being a sociopath, but I don't experience jealousy very often, so I don't understand. And I certainly can't imagine driving me to damage someone's book and/or reputation.

People can be so strange. No wonder I like dogs and fictional character so much.

SIDENOTE: COVER REVEAL IN A WEEK! SQUEEE!!!!