Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
Self-published is a completely different issue. You are letting Amazon be your publisher basically and to do so you have to accept their terms.
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No. Amazon is not a publisher to indies. Publishers buy control of IP rights and Amazon does not control any indie IP. That is what makes them independent to start with.
Amazon is just a distributor. They don't pay royalties but rather charge distribution fees. That is why they have a bandwidth charge and separate contracts for Audible and Createspace.
The IP rights stay with the author (or small publishing house), not Amazon, and unless the publisher of record chooses to sign up with KDP select (on a 90 days basis) the publisher can unilaterally end the contract at a moment's notice. It is also why an indie can choose to distribute through other channels (Nook, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, XinXii, etc) in parallel to Kindle or choose to go exclusive with KDP Select.
Controlling the IP is what separates indies from tradpub authors.
(And price matching is not limited to indies.)