Only people can care about books.

CreateSpace wants you to believe that they can make you a best-selling author – or at least one that might make some money. That’s their business.

But you can take their bottom dollar, do all the work of writing and setting everything up on your own and then upload it to their computers, and they will print you something that looks like a book, feels like a book and you can take into a coffeeshop and spill something on the pages just like a book - for less money than you paid for that beverage you just spilled. Plus shipping and handling of course.

Many people like to read. And many of those don’t particularly care how they get their words. Amazon doesn’t care. I mean they don’t give a flip one way or another about books or anything else, for that matter. They care about one thing, just like any corporation. They are not persons. Let’s be clear about that. Only people can care. And only some of them do.

So if, for whatever reason, you want your coffee beans roasted fresh, or just this dark and no darker, that probably indicates that you are someone who cares about your coffee. And you can probably find people who care about making it the way you like it so that when you sip your coffee and smile and say ‘that’s good,’ you can hope that the baristas feel a little satisfied with something more than just taking some of your money.

But Starbucks doesn’t know squat about the land of the free and good enterprise. They’re empty phrases to a corporations. It’s not about satisfaction and ‘good work.’  It’s about controlling the market by hook or by crook. Some of the real people who can only find work at Starbucks might care. But they would really rather be working for themselves and for their customers if only the giants and pirates didn’t control the land and the high seas.

And the book lovers - you know who you are. For better or worse, Long Jeff Bezos  on the pirate ship Amazon doesn’t even notice that you exist. So scurry up the side of that behemoth and then quickly drop back down onto your canoe and paddle away with your self-published book.

You will never get your book onto a rack in every airport around the country. But you could afford to leave it behind, next to your empty cup of coffee. A book lover might see it, pick it up and page through it, not with a click, but with a coffee stained thumb. And they might smile and say, ‘that’s pretty good. Maybe I’ll read a little of this, instead of opening my laptop right away.’

Amazon will get a little of your money, of course, but they know nothing of the love of books. Write one. Read one. It’s never been easier to get into print. Certainly it makes a huge difference if your voice is clear - and distinctly yours. It takes some work and an eye to make your book look like the kind of book human beings want to read.

Forget about Amazon. They are only trying to publish money-makers.

To love books you don’t need to care about money or fame or power. You only need to care about well-crafted books. The next book you pick up and hold in your hands might be the one you’ve been looking for all your life.

Or have a small affair with the book I wrote not so long ago. Books are about love, not fidelity.

I once had this thing with a book in the Public Library in Frisco, Colorado. I had no idea it would mean anything to me when I pulled “The Dispossessed” by Ursula LeGuin off the shelf. She was just this science fiction novel with some interesting ideas. I was passing through and didn’t have a library card, so we could only meet near the stacks when the library was open. After a few days, she stayed on the shelf. I left. But we’ll always have Frisco.

Amazon is a whore. Love the words that speak to your soul from the printed page.

Love books.