Don't worry Jill I'll get to your noodles and comments in a moment.

The honor system is so lopsided but there are those who keep trying. Remember the coin jar beside the refrigerator full of soft drinks. The sign that read, IF YOU TAKE ONE PLEASE LEAVE A DIME. Or the one with the coin jar by the open boxes of candy bars on the counter with the sign If YOU TAKE ONE PLEASE LEAVE A NICKLE. Discounting inflation when was the last time you saw any "honor systems"? Besides places like BCTS?

Times are tough but times are always tough. Everyone has their own personal hell they are living through. Social Studies are no longer taught I have been told. History has been so Politically Corrected I probably wouldn't recognize a history book if it jumped on me. The ME Generation is moving toward socialism and communism as they are spoon fed the idea sharing means they will get to share in the wealth of the rich. It's dumbing down of the masses. I hope and pray I'm gone before then.

Remember the Dot Com Boom and bust? Free disks, free programs, free computer accessories all with the mistaken idea it would drive people to each company's doorstep to purchase. That worked didn't it? For those who weren't there, no I'm not giving you any of my freebies. A lot of companies went belly up.

Where am I going with all this? BCTS is handing out stories on the honor system. Or a Dot Com system. Read what you want, make a donation if you would. It's not working. The ladies who are keeping BCTS open are "donating their lives" to this site. They started it hoping it would become a viable paying business in time. Best I can tell since I'm a little late joining BCTS, they are having to dig in deeper each month to keep the doors open. Several of us have started our own business(s) and if they aren't paying for the operating costs after the first five years they probably never will without a different business approach. Adjustments. There are those who will never make a donation to the donation jar. Only when they buy it from the machine will the pay.

Forward to Jill's blog noodles and poodles and such. Welcome to the cutthroat business of publishing, Sweety. It has always been thus as what is inside the book covers doesn't really count as much as what is on the cover itself and what push one can get from the reviews. I'll try and explain publishing and every other business.

I'm going to give away ten thousand dollars. One hundred dollars to each customer who shows up. So good so far. I'm going to set up a table in the pasture on Saturday and Sunday to advertise my latest publication and give away free money. At the end of the second day I go home without selling a single novel nor giving away a hundred dollars. Why? I had a great business plan. Maybe because it never got out to the public and gained traction. In increments each story is like that. The cover has to get their attention in some way attract them to look at the title. Which is the secon increment to end sales and readership. Both have to appeal to the individual to get them to pick up, open the book. The hard part to swallow, there is no universal cover, or title that will appeal to everyone. One kind of bait does not appeal to every kind of fish. They read the story provided it interested them enough to even give it their attention. Why should they bother leaving a comment? That takes time and thought. Incentive? Almost zero. Return on their time? Usually zero except for positive critique or compliment the author's skills and the flow of the story.

There are some authors here who have received over three thousand hits on their stories and less than thirty comments. That's less than one percent even took the time to mention they enjoyed the story. BCTS is free, the stories are free. There are a heck of lot of authors now compared to fifteen years ago or earlier. Leaving a comment takes time, a payment if you will, on a site where everything is free.

Whether he said it or not, Remember the quote attributed to Einstein about doing the same thing expecting different results. Erin, Piper, ladies are you listening? There are stories here one will never find anyplace else. When BCTS shuts it's doors, a trove of comments, blogs, stories will be lost forever. That is another one of those things I pray I won't live long enough to see.
hugs Jill
Barb