BrahmTheImpaler

A decade ago I was a CSU student and Doug generously partnered with our beer brewing class. He bought us a small brew setup, let us come in to brew a CSU beer on a Saturday morning (my god that was fun!!) and lectured a few times. Taught us tasting and was amazing to talk with.

Do you still partner with CSU?

I worked at Borders back in the day, and its business plan was basically to carry a single copy of as many books as possible, and multiples of the new and most popular titles. Needless to say, Borders went out of business and I think this has a lot to do with why. His strategy is likely based on lots of research, and I'm sure he knows quite a lot from being an author himself. I think it's a solid idea that's sure to do well, based on the fact that (as he stated above) he wants the store to be a place where folks can browse. He's totally right, too, in that people will buy books online if they're looking for something specific.

I can see what they're suggesting, but my thoughts, rather than going straight to the astroturfing theory, were that a) this AMA was likely posted on Twitter/IG/FB, which brought people in that follow you but have a Reddit account that's gone untouched for a while; or b) you have fans that learned about this and made an account to chat with you. I'm a fan of a lot of authors that I would do this for! Maybe people can't fathom the idea that one could be a "fanboy" of an author.

I think you're handling it well. It didn't even occur to me that anyone would create fake accounts to ask questions in a small forum. Seems like a lot of energy to put into advertising for an indy bookstore in Texas 🤷🏼‍♀️

I am very much the same way, and had the same gripe for as long as I can remember! I've gotten over it in the last year or so and wish I had done so a long time ago. Agree with OP's response to you - just let that worry go and keep doing what you're doing to completely enjoy it.

I recommend downloading the Chirp app & and sign up for their email. You select the genre and in their daily/weekly digest, you get lists of audiobooks that are $4.99 and less. I've amassed quite a collection of audiobooks for super cheap.