I spent countless hours drafting a story, falling in love with the characters, and becoming vested in their lives. The next and most logical step would be to share the experience with others. 

As I put the books on my Kindle Direct Publishing bookshelf, my finger hovered over the price button. What would I be willing to pay for a story as—dare I say it—epic as the one my characters created? What I didn’t know was that it didn’t matter what I put down. 

The minute word gets out that you’ve completed a novel, people come out of the woodwork to offer some positive feedback. Which would be great, but it’s clear that they haven’t actually read the book. They’ve only read the blurb. Which is still not a bad thing, at least not necessarily. 

What makes it frustrating is that they are only offering lip service. Why? What do they want? They want me to pay them to read my book, pay them to give me favorable reviews, pay them for their money-making plan, etc. Say what?!

I have been going about this all wrong. Using the knowledge I gained in elementary school from the numerous book fairs, I thought I was supposed to pay for the privilege to read a book. Apparently I was wrong. You mean I could have been getting paid to do my favorite pastime?