A paper cut to that flap of skin between thumb and forefinger. An
errant hair plucked from your nostril. A blunt stake driven through your heart.
None is as painful as checking your KDP reports and finding someone who bought
your book has asked for a refund.
The first time it happened to me was for a book that was free. Yes,
someone had downloaded a non-fiction book. by me, for free, and disliked it so
much, they demanded a refund of all the money they hadn’t spent on it. That is
dislike, writ large.
The second refund happened just last week, hours after the purchase, it
seems.
Why, why, why? are the thoughts that run through your mind. They hated
it and hate me. They think I can’t write or my plotting’s crap, my characters
cardboard and they’re going to tell everyone they know not to touch my stuff.
After this vicious paranoia came a spell where I tried to reassure
myself. They only had the book a few hours, maybe they downloaded it by
mistake, they were looking for a similar title and got it all wrong. Fair
enough, no problem.
Then the paranoia returned. They read the first chapter and laughingly
threw the book aside. (Bit difficult, when it’s digital, but that sort of
thing) They disliked it so much, they couldn’t get their money back quickly
enough.
That attack eventually died down, and now I’ve come to accept that I’ll
never know who downloaded it and why they asked for a refund. It’s just part of
the process. But I’ll be waiting for that paranoia to return when the next
refund gets processed…
How do you handle your book getting refunded?
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