Terri L Main

Terri Main is a woman on a mission.

"I want to bring the joy back to reading, and you can't have joy when you have to take out a loan to buy a book." She says.

This is the reason that she sells all of her self-published books for $.99 to 3.99.

"I've gotten a lot of grief from other authors about that price point," she notes. "They say that I am somehow demeaning the product. Since when has giving people a quality product for a reasonable price demeaning? I tell them that I don't sell my books inexpensively because I value my writing less. I sell my books inexpensively because I value my readers more. Sometimes we forget that's who our writing is for - The Readers!"

Terri points to her own childhood as the daughter of a sawmill worker in the 50s and 60s.

"We sometimes had to pull the cushions out of the car to find spare change just to buy a loaf of bread or a quart of milk. Forget half gallons we certainly couldn't afford that," she recalls.

Her only escape from the persistent worry about money was in her books.

"I got 50 cents every two weeks allowance. I could buy a book for a quarter and still have enough to get one school lunch on Thursday. That was the day they had turkey."

She notes that since it costs very little to publish through Kindle, that she can give her readers deals the Big companies can't afford.

"Back in the 80s and 90s, these big companies saddled themselves with huge printing plants, office buildings, trucks and distribution infrastructure built around selling print books in brick and mortar bookstores. And since a handful of companies were the only show in town, they slowly raised the prices. When the digital revolution came, they were unprepared and slow to respond. That's when small presses and indie writer/publishers had the advantage. We can produce a quality product without all that overhead."

So, she passes those savings on to the reader.

"Why not? I make a healthy profit. They get a bargain. And I sell more books than if I raised my prices." She says with a wink.

Terri also makes her books available in the Kindle Online Lending Library through Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Prime.

"Hey, this is great. People get to read the books for free. And I get paid. Talk about a win-win."

So, what is Terri up to now? At Age 62, retired from 30 years as a college professor, she is writing one to two short books a month and novels every three months or so. Living happily with her five cats in Central California.