I have never been a person to return items for a refund.  I think it’s because as a kid, my mom used to drag us down to the Philips Store and we’d wait in line which sometimes seemed like hours.  With 4 kids and being lower middle class, I understand why she did.  But it built a hatred in me for that practice.  Even today, if I order something online and it doesn’t fit or ended up being not what I expected, I never return it.  Some of that reason is it’s such a hassle when you’re a non-driver.

But lately, and it’s not a new trend, just new on Tik Tok, readers are encouraging each other to ask for refunds on ebooks they’ve bought and read. 

Out of the hundreds of hardbacks, paperbacks, or eBooks I’ve bought, I would never ask for a refund. Even ones I couldn’t finish.  The problem is Amazon has made it too easy to just push a button, and Vola, refund initiated. 

Asking for a refund on an eBook, especially from indie authors, is like buying cookies at your kid’s school bake sale and then asking for a refund after you’ve eaten them all.  Do you like working for nothing?  ‘Cuz that’s exactly what you expect from authors.  Even if the book hasn’t seen a proper editor, you don’t know how much time and money was spent just to get it published.  And then you read it and demand a refund? 

Nope, not kosher.

You know there are TONS, I mean THOUSANDS of free ebooks out there.  And not all on Amazon.  Yes, I know most of them are a first in series.  So what?  If you like the story and characters enough to want to read the next one, then save your money and buy it.  Add it to your collection. 

And then there are author’s newsletters, like MINE or NORNS where we offer you a FREE eBook just for joining.  Yeah, I know, you don’t want all those stupid emails.  Well, some of the newsletters, like ours, have features and one of them are links to Free eBooks.  You don’t even have to do the searching yourself. 

Boom, right there in your inbox and only twice a month. 

And then there are places like AuthorsXP, NetGalley, or Readers’ Favorite that offer you free books to read.  The catch is, you have to read and review the books you’ve been given.  Oh No!  That’s too much work!  

Honey, ain’t nothin in life is FREE.  If you think that, you done gone to the wrong school.  🤣😂 Until next time.