I shall be taking long service leave from my fight photography work, effective immediately.

All fight albums shall remain on the website (http://gumbootsphotography.smugmug.com) until the end of the month. (originally was going to be the end of the year)

Galleries are going to be disabled at the end of the month. It costs me to keep them there with purchasing enabled and I’ve decided I don’t want to pay another 3 months worth. My other clients pay up front so it is not needed outside the fight photography. So you have until the end of September. Any requests after that will incur an extra fee…

I also wrote a story.

I was in the book store the other day. I really like books, books are great. Generally I’m not one for fictional stories. I like a book that will teach me something, usually something about plants or the natural sciences.

Anyway, I found this great book which sounded like something I would really enjoy. I flipped it over to the back and saw it had a price tag of $17.95. Meh, whatever, I thought to myself. I took the book to the counter, said to the guy behind the counter “I’ll take this one thanks” and started to walk out of the store.

Next thing I know, the security guard is there! He was trying to tell me that I couldn’t just walk out of the store with the book, that I needed to pay it for it first.

“No” I said. “After I read it I will make sure I let people know where I got the book, and I’ll let the author know I enjoyed it”. However they still would not let me leave with my book.

“I’m sure the author wrote this book for people to read though, why else would you write a book unless you enjoyed writing and wanted people to read what you wrote, and no doubt the publisher would have paid them some money for it already”

Again, I tried to leave the store with my book.

The shop assistant then went on this rant about the process of writing a book. Trying to tell me that it took years to write and that the author had spent countless hours refining her writing, editing drafts, re writing, checking for errors, spending money on writing workshops etc…

The arrogance of some people I tell you! Clearly that author doesn’t want me to read her book. I argued my point as much as I could. I mean come on, I just wanted to help the author by getting her name out there, I can’t believe that she would write a book but didn’t want anyone to read it unless they paid for it!

After some debate, trying to explain this to the shop assistant, I gave up. I placed the book back on the shelf and left the store.

It got the better of me. So later that day I emailed the author to tell them what had occurred and request a copy of the book. The reply I got was just astounding.

“Dear Fiona,

Thankyou for writing to me to express your frustration with the book store and requesting a copy of my book.

Unfortunately at this time I cannot give you a book in exchange for you reading my book and giving me some exposure. You are right, I do enjoy writing, and I also would like people to read my book. If you do not wish to purchase my book, that is perfectly okay, however it is not okay to expect it for free.

I have received some lovely emails lately from people who have purchased my book. In fact I have just been having an email conversation with one of them now. My latest book reminded them of a time in their childhood and it bought back some lovely memories for them. I have the deepest thanks to these people for their appreciation of my work and the respect they show to spend their $17.95

However in order for me to write these books I need somewhere to live. I need to be able to buy food (which we all know keeps us alive!). I need to pay my electricity, water, internet and phone bills. I need to also buy clothing for myself and my family so we don’t just walk around naked all day and get cold. I have rent to pay in order to have somewhere to sleep and cook and most of all to write these books which people like to read.

It is sad that you feel as though the artistic and creative elements of our society should be free for you to take. It is sad you feel that my services and time are not worth anything. However I do not apologise for this, just as my mechanic does not apologise for charging me when I need my car fixed.

I can hear your reaction as you read this email. You probably think I am being arrogant and you are no doubt rolling your eyes and saying all kinds of curse words in your head. I shall end with a little quote I got sent this morning.

– My boundaries weren’t created to offend you, they were created to honour me

Regards
The Author”