I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book as much as you hoped! I also hope this response doesn't come off as negative or defensive, because I truly do agree with your overall issue with A.I.!
I just want to give you a background on what new authors are up against and why I made the decisions you didn't agree with. I had no idea how expensive it was to get a book published until I attempted to do it myself.
1) There are no sponsors for giveaways. These are done by the author alone and at their expense. Many review websites even charge the author for permission to post giveaways on their sites. In order to give away 25 books on Goodreads, it cost $750 in shipping and book costs.
2) New authors receive an extremely small percentage of the sale price, roughly 5%. The rest goes to the publisher and distributors, and it takes selling a substantial number of copies to break even.
3) New authors are responsible for paying editors, designers, artists, marketing, giveaways, etc. It is a quite substantial investment, and I'd venture to say the vast majority of Indie books lose money. I'm certainly sweating out my financial investment as I type this.
4) All that being said, I sourced out artists to do the artwork, and the lowest bid I received was an additional $5,000. With the amount of money I had already invested in getting it to print, I felt that the risk was too substantial to take. Like most people in the world, I can't afford to spend that amount of money without weighing the costs and risks involved. It came down to using A.I. for the drawings or leaving them out altogether, and I felt they were important enough to the story to go the route I did.
5. I'd like to think some of the themes in the book reveal my true opinion on big corporations, A.I., etc. I'm the guy that shops local and tries to support independent whenever possible.
6. I'm sorry you felt creeped out by the age difference in the characters. I thought the story needed a noticeable juxtaposition between the antagonist (rich, successful, in his prime) and the protagonist (blue collar, normal, past his prime). The 'relationship' with Emma was intended to be much more about finding the people that belong to the same theoretical tribe than romantic, and her looks were meant to mirror Ethan, the man who had everything, including good looks.
In summary, I'm very bummed to hear that the drawings had such a negative impact on your enjoyment of the book. While I understand (and agree!) with your disdain for A.I., it's disheartening to put so many hours and so much effort into a book only to have people think it was written by a computer. I don't know how to prove authenticity other than to send dubious people the dozens and dozens of revised copies before I reached the final product, but I guess that's just the age we live in right now.
I do appreciate you reading and leaving a review, and I truly wish I had the means to hire an artist as well. Unfortunately, I believed the pictures were an important visual to accompany the story, and I had to sacrifice a piece of my soul in order to make the best product I thought possible. I honestly didn't foresee the images causing consternation, and it was tough to hear how negatively it impacted your experience.
Anyway, feel free to send me a message if you'd like to discuss anything in more detail, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book as much as you hoped! I also hope this response doesn't come off as negative or defensive, because I truly do agree with your overall issue with A.I.!
I just want to give you a background on what new authors are up against and why I made the decisions you didn't agree with. I had no idea how expensive it was to get a book published until I attempted to do it myself.
1) There are no sponsors for giveaways. These are done by the author alone and at their expense. Many review websites even charge the author for permission to post giveaways on their sites. In order to give away 25 books on Goodreads, it cost $750 in shipping and book costs.
2) New authors receive an extremely small percentage of the sale price, roughly 5%. The rest goes to the publisher and distributors, and it takes selling a substantial number of copies to break even.
3) New authors are responsible for paying editors, designers, artists, marketing, giveaways, etc. It is a quite substantial investment, and I'd venture to say the vast majority of Indie books lose money. I'm certainly sweating out my financial investment as I type this.
4) All that being said, I sourced out artists to do the artwork, and the lowest bid I received was an additional $5,000. With the amount of money I had already invested in getting it to print, I felt that the risk was too substantial to take. Like most people in the world, I can't afford to spend that amount of money without weighing the costs and risks involved. It came down to using A.I. for the drawings or leaving them out altogether, and I felt they were important enough to the story to go the route I did.
5. I'd like to think some of the themes in the book reveal my true opinion on big corporations, A.I., etc. I'm the guy that shops local and tries to support independent whenever possible.
6. I'm sorry you felt creeped out by the age difference in the characters. I thought the story needed a noticeable juxtaposition between the antagonist (rich, successful, in his prime) and the protagonist (blue collar, normal, past his prime). The 'relationship' with Emma was intended to be much more about finding the people that belong to the same theoretical tribe than romantic, and her looks were meant to mirror Ethan, the man who had everything, including good looks.
In summary, I'm very bummed to hear that the drawings had such a negative impact on your enjoyment of the book. While I understand (and agree!) with your disdain for A.I., it's disheartening to put so many hours and so much effort into a book only to have people think it was written by a computer. I don't know how to prove authenticity other than to send dubious people the dozens and dozens of revised copies before I reached the final product, but I guess that's just the age we live in right now.
I do appreciate you reading and leaving a review, and I truly wish I had the means to hire an artist as well. Unfortunately, I believed the pictures were an important visual to accompany the story, and I had to sacrifice a piece of my soul in order to make the best product I thought possible. I honestly didn't foresee the images causing consternation, and it was tough to hear how negatively it impacted your experience.
Anyway, feel free to send me a message if you'd like to discuss anything in more detail, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Ken