#Mondaymusings On why things are they way they are…according to me.

My brain never shuts down.

Truly.

You would cringe at some of the dreams I have, but that’s for another blogpost.

Today, I want to share something that popped into my subconscious brain the other night that made a great deal of sense to me.

On Facebook the other day I saw a meme-post that said people will think nothing of plunking down $5-6 A DAY for a cup of overhyped coffee they could make at home for pennies on the dollar and that will be gone within minutes, but they complain about having to spend $2.99-4.99 for a book that will give them hours of enjoyment and even re-enjoyment if they read it again.

True? You betcha. I’ve even had people ( not nice ones) tell me to my face, “Why should I spend $1.99 on a book that I’m just gonna read and never use again.”

I have to admit I am struck dumb every time someone says this to me. Not because I can’t think of response. I mean, do you know me?? I’m never at a loss for a snarky retort. It’s because the stupidity of a statement like this one boggles the logical mind.

So, to the point about my subconscious…

While sleeping, this thought popped into my mind and I was lucky enough to remember it when I woke: the reason people will think nothing about spending oodles of cash on a designer coffee but balk at the cost of an ebook, is because the coffee is all about them. They want the caffeine high, they want the jolt, they want the flavor burst and ultimately, they will be the ones ingesting it, enjoying it, and benefiting from it ( in their minds).

It’s all about THEM, their needs and desires.

Kinda reflective of where we are as a society right now, isn’t it? The 1980’s may have been dubbed the ME GENERATION, but honey, it had nothing on the idiosyncratic narcissists walking the earth right now, drinking their frue-frue coffees and ranting at anyone and about anything that pops into their tiny little brains on social media.

In those tiny little minds THEY don’t reap any benefits from paying for and reading a book. They don’t care that the barrista making their coffee makes minimum wage, just that their coffee gets made and gives them that instant jolt of pleasure.They don’t care that an author toiled for months on a piece of fiction. What’s it to them? No, seriously, WHAT IS IT TO THEM? In their minds, nothing.

A while back I put up a bit of rant on facebook and had more shares and comments than anything else I’d put up recently. I wrote:

I needed to share this because I’ve heard too many people who think writing a book is easy and authors shouldn’t charge anything for doing so. Don’t you pay your doctor when he treats you? Don’t you pay to see a Broadway show? Don’t you pay your hairdresser? Barber? For your groceries?
Think about it…what if you made something, sweated over getting it perfect, spent sleepless nights finding the best way to share it, spent your own hard earned money in advertising…would YOU want to be told, “I want it for free?”
Just sayin’…

And again…just sayin’.

Any thoughts, peeps?

Until next time ~ Peg