May 11

Do you link your blog to Amazon? There is much talk among multi-published authors of selling their out-of-print books as e-books on Amazon and Smashwords. It seems they can set the price and soon their royalty percentage will be 70 percent of that price. Amazon has all kinds of programs for authors, an author page, blog spots, chat boards, connect and you can self pub the works you have rights to. I haven't done any of this. I've been watching this marketing giant for a long time and don't agree with or support some of their marketing methods. Most people would say it's cutting my nose off to spite my face. Perhaps it is. Perhaps I will eventually give in and set up shop there--I'm closer to doing that then I want to think about. But it is an ethical question. What is more important to me? Getting my work out at any cost and making money? Or my own personal opinions and morals. We all face these questions no matter what we do. Do we buy the cheaper milk even though we don't like the way the dairy treats it's employees? Do we do something at work for a promotion even though we know it crosses an ethical line? People who have no strong ethical ideas get ahead, but if I followed their example would I be happy with myself?
I watch the Amazing Race on TV. This time the two guys who won cheated. But they won a million dollars. The two guys who came in second could have cheated but didn't. They said that they were happy to reach the end with their integrity intact. It was worth more to them than money. We face these kinds of questions every day. It's a gray line that, truth be told, I waffle over. As a writer, these are the kinds of internal conflicts that create great stories.
So, would your characters cheat to win a million dollars?