Sources of Sales, in particular "libraries" like Scribd

[Ria Stone]

My books only sell about 1-2 copies a year.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my sales for 2023 and saw over 25 "sales."

My "pleasant" surprise turned to grim reality when I realized that all, but one "sale", were from browsing or viewing by subscribers to Everand Subscription Service. Most subscribers viewed about 20% of each book.

I am grateful to the authors who sued Scribd and similar services who "loan" or allow their subscribers to browse / view authors' works or we would get nothing. As it is the subscription services makes a mint off of other peoples' work without permission, authors get pennies in royalties. But, authors had to sue just to get those pennies.

[Ria Stone]

It has been awhile since I visited my Dashboard on Smashwords.

At first glance, it seemed the same, then I began digging into each category. I discovered Everand is a Smashwords distributor like Apple etc. I was given the choice to opt-out of distributing my work to Everand. I will review my account in six months to see if the change took effect. It may make a difference in royalties but I guess I am old school, I would prefer readers to buy the whole book. On Smashwords, Amazon and B&N etc, you can preview a % pages, too. We'll see.

So much has changed since I self-published Gina's Dream in 2013.

I hope all my friends here on Smashwords Forum are doing well.

Happy New Year 2024!!!!