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Is Amazon Ripping-Off Independent Authors?

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The advent of indie publishing has had the same effect on writing as streaming has had on music. As a reader, you have a bewildering array of books to choose from, by established as well as back-room authors, from all over the world, in all genres, at all prices, and many for FREE. There's an awful load of rubbish in this global digital slush-pile, but there are also many excellent independent authors writing some top-notch books.

That word, used above, - FREE -, is a matter of contention for me. Amazon run an author program called 'Select' which allows authors to discount their books (or make them available for FREE) for up to five days during a 90-day sign-up period. The philosophy is that the spike in downloads increases the book's Amazon ranking (and hence visibility) resulting in more sales once the book returns to its nominal price.
Cynical ploy?

 The disadvantage of the 'Select' program is that you, the author, give Amazon the exclusive right to sell your book. You are not even allowed to give it away FREE anywhere other than on the Amazon  sites. The other disadvantage is that, if you don't sign up for 'Select', Amazon punish you for not giving them the exclusive rights to sell your work, by reducing your visibility and hence sales.

 Being chronically cynical, I decided to investigate whether the 'Select' program (the very name of which implies you're being done a favor by Amazon), is actually beneficial to authors. I read a lot about the program, inspected other people's experience, and tried it myself. There's a lot of information out there, but click here for a good Blog post which describes one analysis of the 'Select' program. If you have any doubt of the cynical nature of Amazon's business style read this.

 The truth is you don't need Amazon to give away FREE books. Selling a book everywhere else more than makes up for the drop in Amazon sales due to low visibility. Unless you are high in the rankings that lower visibility won't effect your sales anyway. You can then give away FREE books to your real fans, or those that sign up with you somehow, who might write you a review, will return to buy other books, rather than anyone who just wants to fill their Kindle up but have no loyalty to you. Sales aren't driven by your Amazon visibility, they're driven by how effective your promotion is. The Select program is a cynical ploy by Amazon to corner the market and give them exclusive right to author's money-making potential. You don't need Amazon to make a success of your work, especially as they are restrictive, coercive and self-serving! Like all major corporations, they insist on market control, and you shouldn't let them get away with it. 

Here's another thought. The whole concept of giving away FREE stuff, driven mainly by Amazon, is simply creating a generation that expects to get their literature for FREE. This is a dangerous precedent. The same thing happened in the music industry so that now, no musician except major-label-endorsed acts, can make a serious living from their craft. There may be benefits for FREE promotions, but you are not 'promoting' your work by giving it away for FREE. You are merely strengthening the culture of disposable and worthless art. I for one refuse to give away my work for FREE (except to carefully selected reviewers), even if it means I don't make as much in royalties, simply on principle. And I think more authors should stand by the convictions of their craft.

 You will note I capitalized the word FREE in this post. Gets your attention doesn't it? But is it the best thing to do?

 

Comments

  1. Unknown9 October 2014 at 22:45

    Thanks for this insightful post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown13 October 2014 at 16:16

    Thanks for this knowledgeable post. I never knew about the Amazon's 'Select program". Thanks to your post, I know about it now :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown14 October 2014 at 16:09

    Pretty douche baggery of Amazon to treat writers like that. You would hope they would try to promote writers and reading in any way possible just to get more people to pick up a book or e-reader. But like all corporations they have to see a dollar sign in it instead of just the right thing to do. Great informative post thanks for sharing. Matt @ JC's Book Haven.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown23 November 2014 at 01:07

    I respectfully disagree. The exposure I have received as a KDP Select author (and 7,000 downloads during my 5 day free promo that ended 2 days ago) has garnered so many more reviews for my book. Free advertising. Gotta love it.

    ReplyDelete
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  7. M. Taha13 November 2021 at 04:11

    You there, this is really good post here. Thanks for taking the time to post such valuable information. Quality content is what always gets the visitors coming. Login

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