Are free reads really free?

Looking through the freebies and  low cost  books on  Amazon, Apple, and other services, I have stumbled upon an interesting realization.   Nothing out there is free.

Yes, I know, Not really big news is it?  Most free things are designed to get your attention and lead you by the nose into  something expensive.  In the case of the  ebooks that is often the case as well.   You often find books whose complete story is only a partial story.   They come to a stopping point , but not to the end of the story.  The story is continued in the author's other books.  Sort of a baited hook for the readers.  I do not have anything against those books, as long as they are well written and contain at least a stopping point.

Aside from the hook books, there are sampler books.  Some of them may have a mini story  or a few scenes from a larger story.  I found one that had 500 ebook pages (About 100 regular)  with about 10 pages each from several different books.  That was annoying.  It seemed to be advertised as a short story book.  More like partial vignettes based on full novels you can buy.

Either way, the books leave you unsatisfied.  No closure.

Don't get me wrong, there are indeed free reads out there.  I got several Harlequin category romances.  Some were charity romances, that is they focus on a charity and have the hero or heroine involved in it  to help bring awareness of that charity to the world of readers.

There are also hundreds of writers who have never been published who decided to put out books, and are trying to get the books out there by offering them free. Some of these are great.  Many of them are book you can see why no one published them before.

But now you have to ask yourself.  If I only read free reads, what will happen to the authors and stores that depend on book purchases to survive.  The truth is, readers make up a huge economy.  when we stop reading books that pay  people to write, we start to lose writers and stores.  Economists say the fear of spending cuts spending, and reduced spending causes  the problems people fear would have happened.  Stop the downward spiral and buy some books.  The writer you help may be someone close to you.