I give away a lot of books every month. Each giveaway is motivated by a strong purpose.

Some stories are reader magnets for my newsletters. The Death Mask of Adlivun Cavus (C.D. Watson) and Death Omen (Celia Roman), while also available for sale (here and here), were both written to entice readers to subscribe to my newsletters.

Others are a way to hook readers into a series, especially series that are difficult to advertise, which most of my books are. Maybe if I weren't such a quirky writer!

The point being that many authors understand how useful free books can be, even as ebook prices for indie books are slowly rising. Free can serve many purposes, from the two I've already named to helping readers who can't afford to pay full price still feed their book love.

The Inadvertent Consequences of Free

There are, however, some unfortunate drawbacks to freebies. The biggest one in my mind is this: when stories are free or cheap, readers devalue the time and effort needed to create them.

It's not just that people feel free to download pirated copies online, although that's a huge problem. Piracy is not a victimless crime; it robs hardworking authors of thousands of dollars a year.

No, the real problem here is that when books are cheap and easy to obtain, readers feel entitled to them.

Of course, the entitlement problem is widespread throughout western cultures. But as it specifically relates to books, that attitude can be very damaging to an author in a number of ways, especially to their bottom line. For some reason, many readers fail to understand that if they want to continue getting great stories from their favorite authors, those authors must be able to earn a living from their work.

And again, I could discuss here how that's a serious and growing problem in general. The idea that you're entitled to someone else's work (e.g. free healthcare, which forces doctors and nurses to become slaves to the system for your enrichment; the same with a free college education) is so untrue as to be laughable; yet it's a constant refrain from certain sectors of society. I'm going to step off that soap box now...

Anyway, in order to earn a living from the (very) hard work authors do, they need to get paid for their efforts. If you can't afford to buy books at full price (the optimal way to pay an author), the good news is that there are many ways you can signal your love of an author's work that don't cost you anything but a little time.

Buy or Download from Legitimate Retailers

Not to be repetitive, but piracy is not a victimless crime. Piracy deprives creators of money they need in order to live and continue creating.

Yes, even big-time enterprises like movie studios. The studios themselves may rake in millions of dollars off sales of a movie, but they also paid millions to make it. Where did that money go? To hire ordinary people like you and me for running cameras, editing the film, creating special effects, catering, and so on. Actors and studios get a lot of exposure, sure, but they're small fry compared to the number of people it takes to create a movie.

But the real victim of piracy isn't the creators. It's the people who indulge in piracy in the first place. Many piracy sites are created for another, more sinister purpose: to infect the downloader's device with malware. This malware hijacks the user's device and steals money from their credit cards and banks. Or worse, it steals their identity.

The best way to protect yourself is to not download pirated material. Doing so also allows you to pay the creator through legitimate, ethical downloads and sales.

Many authors link to the places where their books are sold from their websites. I don't list every retailer on mine (there are a lot), but I do provide a link to "other retailers" wherever possible. If you don't like dealing with giant corporations (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo), then hit that "other retailers" link to find smaller legitimate retailers. When in doubt, ask.

Request through Libraries

If you're a heavy library user, an excellent way to support authors is by requesting their books through your local library system. Many indie ebooks are now available through services like OverDrive (I think the user side of that is called Libby). Mine are! I get paid every time someone checks out an ebook through their library.

You can also borrow physical books through your local library system. If your library doesn't carry your favorite author's books, request that they purchase some. And if your library can't afford a lot of new books, especially from lesser known authors, pool together with some of your friends to raise funds for new books, then specify which books the library should purchase with those funds.

Leave a Review

The absolute hands-down favorite reader for authors is a reader that leaves reviews.

Reviews help other readers determine whether a book is right for them.

But they also help authors obtain advertising slots (many advertisers have a minimum-reviews requirement), which in turn helps them find new readers. And that, of course, helps sustain an author's career so that they can write more books. It's a win-win no matter how you look at it.

Share with Other Readers

The best advertising, though, is word of mouth. Readers trust a recommendation received from a friend far more than reviews they see online.

If you're part of a book club (offline or on Facebook, reddit, or Goodreads), why not suggest a freebie you enjoyed as a group read? Make sure the freebie is appropriate, of course. A book club focused on Romance will probably not enjoy that Memoir you picked up. But if there's an alignment between genre and the book club's focus, you could help those readers find a new author and that author find new fans.

If book clubs aren't your thing, tell your book-loving friends and family about those books. Several of my readers have told me that they've recommended my books with the people in their lives, to the delight of their fellow readers.

Subscribe to Newsletters...

One of the best ways you can support an author is to subscribe to her newsletter. This is one of the places where you can interact with that author on a personal level, to really understand who they are, and to help them understand who you are.

It's also a great way to learn about new releases, sales, and giveaways, and to get snippets of first-looks before other readers. A lot of authors do cover reveals in their newsletters, share free short stories and outtakes, and generally use their newsletters as a way to reward their biggest fans.

When you're finished reading it (mine take a while!), forward the newsletter to book-loving friends, which is just another way to share your favorite authors with other readers.

But before you close out that newsletter, there's one more thing you can do to help that author.

...and Interact with Them

Many authors do newsletter swaps with other authors or include group promos in their newsletters. If your favorite authors do "audience shares," please take the time to click on those books and promos and check them out. This helps the authors gain new readers (when other authors share their books), but it also helps readers discover new authors.

Alternatively, reply to the newsletter and let the author know how much you enjoyed it. Authors really love fan mail. Honest!

Participate and Volunteer

If you're not a fan of newsletters, consider following your favorite authors on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and elsewhere, and joining their online readers group. Facebook's group function has allowed a lot of creators to create awesome fan clubs around their books. I did this for fans of my Celia Roman books, and absolutely love being able to interact with readers on such a personal level.

Alternatively, consider volunteering. Many authors have street teams to help them spread the word about new releases and to organize in-person events. They also have ARC teams, to whom they distribute advanced copies in exchange for reviews. Many authors have a team of beta readers to help them find glaring errors during their post-first draft editing process. Volunteer to spread the word about new releases, sales, and Kickstarters online to friends and in groups, as permitted. And so on.

Honestly, the ways in which authors connect with readers is an ever-evolving process. Different opportunities may present themselves, so if you love volunteering and have the time, raise your hand when an author asks for help.

Thank you!

To me, stories are a symbiotic process involving both the writer and the reader. Without one, you can't have the other. I appreciate every single one of my readers and try to accomodate their variety of needs by publishing in various formats and offering a variety of price levels.

I also appreciate when readers go out of their way to signal their appreciation through some of the ways mentioned above (and others). Most of those ways are win-win scenarios; everyone benefits, and that's the ideal, isn't it?

So thank you to all of my readers who download and purchase my books, and who participate in the author ecosystem in one way or another. Be sure to spread the book love for other authors, too. They'll thank you just the same, I promise, and so will other readers.