First tremendous thanks to all our wonderful authors who shared so much amazing stuff with us today. I wish you all many sales and many more fabulous books in the future. You are the folks who make all of this possible and who give such incredible pleasure to us readers. And yes, most of the people who write were readers first and continue to be!

Also thanks to the readers who come, read, comment and hopefully buy! The giveaway books are to say thanks but also to expose you to new authors you may not have encountered before so we hope you will support them.

I am going to preach just a little bit here. As an author myself I know how frustrating and hurtful it can be to encounter some of your work on these torrent, pirate and other similar sites where books are literally stolen and either sold illegally or given away to “members” in blatant and arrogant disregard for copyright laws. I do not know for sure but suspect that some people do lurk on these party and other events for a chance to grab books they can use this way! I can just say shame on you!

Every book you swipe this way and pass on is a sale lost to  a hard-working writer who has put her or his heart into creating the work and then won’t benefit from. I know most writers write for the love of it and because it is almost a compulsion but they do need the compensation that they get from sales–which amounts to far below the minimum wage in the case of all but a few NYT Best Selling and famous authors!  They are giving a great deal to you, the reader, and I think it is only fair that you honor their effort by BUYING instead of stealing books and not passing those you do buy or win on in many copies to others! Yes, some think that anything you can get on the internet should be free but put yourself in an author’s shoes. How long would you keep writing and working if your earnings dwindled away to zero? You simply could not afford to continue.  So if you want new books to continue to appear, please be honest and if you do pass on an ebook, delete the copy you have downloaded and treat it like a regular print book which you cannot keep and share both.

Okay, off the soapbox!!

G’nite everyone and again thanks for coming. Be sure to join us again on April 7 and visit some unique and exotic locations where creative writers have set their tales! Go in peace and harmony.

AZGaye