Rainbow Awards: Next season... a feedback

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I ask to Dusk permission to share the feedback he gave me, since I think it's important and something that really, I have difficult to have perception of in other way.

Dusk Peterson is an independent author, and last year he won the Rainbow Awards for Best Gay Fantasy with The Eternal Dungeon.

this is what he wrote to me:

"Some of us spend $0 publishing our books, because we're low-income. Twenty-five dollars is about 25% of my monthly income at the moment, which is why I don't submit my books to any other fee-requiring contest. (Also, when I was growing up, lots of the articles aimed at new writers warned them not to submit to literary contests that required fees. Back in those days, at least, most fee-requiring contests were scams.)

BUT I'd be willing to pay that much for *your* contest, and I'm especially pleased to hear that most of the money is going to charity. Heck, I've earned much more than $25 from "The Eternal Dungeon," which rose in sales right after it was honored in your contest."

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I really appreciated this feedback, other than for the kind words that Dusk used for the Rainbow Awards (and for me by connection), also since, being an independent author he has the chance to check the up and downs of his sellings, and I trust him when he said one of those up is connected to the Rainbow Awards.

Moreover I hope I was not insensitive when I told that 25$ was a small amount in comparison to what an author has to face when publishing a book, that is what was referred to me (I'm not an author nor a publisher), but probably it's not the same for all authors, and what seems few money to one could be an huge amount to another one. Forgive me if I was too direct, it was not my intention to hurt anyone.