The Burden of Proof is Mine.

Went by a local bookstore to see if any of my books that I'd left on consignment had sold.  They had placed the books in the farthest corner, in Siberia, about as far from a good selling spot as they could be.  I just took them back.

So, obviously, no respect there.

I have a theory.  When the average reader buys a published book, the presumption is that it will be good (if not good, then competent.)  So the book has to prove that it isn't.  If the book is any good, it will get the benefit of the doubt.

When a person picks up a book by someone they know, they are dubious, the presumption actually is that the book probably won't be any good (but hopefully competent.)  So the book has to prove that it is good.  Which is one hell of a higher burden of proof.

At least two degrees away from how the book would be treated if they bought it off the shelf without knowing anything about it.  So the irony is that the further away and the less the person knows you, the more likely it is that they'll give you the presumption of good.

It's just the way things are.  I try not to take offense.  I'm the same way.  It's just human nature.

Led to the Slaughter has done well enough with people I know and don't know that I feel like it has passed some kind of test.

But the burden of proof is still mine.

Oh, and if the book is "self-published" you can double the burden of proof.  Which is why I went with a publisher, even though it is the same book.