Actually if authors could sell directly I’ll gladly buy from them each and every time and cut off the middle man.
the decision is on you: if you like it, you send some cash. if you just send five bucks that'll be like what author gets from about a hundred "legitimate sales".
What is making it complex for authors to sell directly?
Edit: hah, only 15 minutes late with my attempt at Socratic spiel: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48810056