Amazon offers indie authors reward for going exclusive

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

If that were the case, certainly.
But Amazon seem to have made by far the biggest push into indie territory of the major bookstores.

If one goes exclusive, yes. I'm an indie Amazon author, but not an exclusive one, and that makes a difference.

However, of those writing in for free copies of my book, I have only received requests for ePUB, never for mobi, despite the fact that I openly offer both. I'm sure they're just sideloading to their Kindles.

(Were Kobo/B&N to start doing this exclusive nonsense, I would also be very upset, for the record.)

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

However, if, say, the bulk of Kindle buyers are casual readers who don't go out of their way to support indie authors and the bulk of B&N buyers are heavy users who do, that would make a difference. There's a lot of variables at stake.

B&N won't sell to me so I'm probably not up to speed on all the fantastic incentives and perks they offer indie authors, feel free to enlighten me. Amazon clearly is supporting indie authors, which is the topic of this thread, so I'd say your "what if" scenario above is totally backwards.

Originally Posted by anamardoll

And, again, I do not blame an author for trying to make a living. But I'm not going to buy exclusive indie books from Amazon because as a reader and a writer I'm not interested in helping Amazon build a monopoly on indie publishing.

Yet you are selling your own book on evil Amazon.

[ProfCrash]

To be honest, I think both sides are talking past each other.

I think that Indie authors get that they are losing some business because people do not want to shop at Amazon for a wide variety of reasons.

I think that the folks who are not buying Indie books that are exclusive to Amazon understand why Indie authors are selling only at Amazon.

The real problem is that there is no middle ground and that frustrates both parties.

The Indie authors wish more people with EPub readers had bought their books at those stores. That way they would not feel like they were losing money by not participating in Amazon's exclusive program. I would bet that the non-Amazon readers wish is that more people had bought the Indie authors work at the EPub stores so that those authors would not feel the need to embrace Amazon's program.

And I am left wondering why the EPub bookstores have yet to come up with something that would help counter Amazon's program which would hurt Amazon and benefit the EPub bookstores.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Yet you are selling your own book on evil Amazon.

So she lives by her principles. Make her books available to all readers. I have no problem with that.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Yet you are selling your own book on evil Amazon.

I really cannot tell if you're serious.

I'm against monopolies. I don't sell exclusively to Amazon or B&N or anywhere else. Being against monopolies means that I'm actively for selling all over the place. I'm listed on GoodReads, for crying out loud.

I guess you want to shove me into a B&N Fangurl / Amazon Hatur because that would be easier for you to dismiss me, but it's a little more complicated than that.

(Note to GoodReads folks: I love you guys and I'm totally being humorous with my italics up there.)

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

To be honest, I think both sides are talking past each other.

I think that Indie authors get that they are losing some business because people do not want to shop at Amazon for a wide variety of reasons.

I think that the folks who are not buying Indie books that are exclusive to Amazon understand why Indie authors are selling only at Amazon.

The real problem is that there is no middle ground and that frustrates both parties.

The Indie authors wish more people with EPub readers had bought their books at those stores. That way they would not feel like they were losing money by not participating in Amazon's exclusive program. I would bet that the non-Amazon readers wish is that more people had bought the Indie authors work at the EPub stores so that those authors would not feel the need to embrace Amazon's program.

And I am left wondering why the EPub bookstores have yet to come up with something that would help counter Amazon's program which would hurt Amazon and benefit the EPub bookstores.

This. Thank you. Karma. Yes.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

You can read B&N DRM in Aldiko and some other Android apps. That is more than one can say about Amazon DRM.

You can read Amazon's eBooks in the Kindle apps for Android & iOS.

I do have a problem with the Kindle app for iOS. I have an iPhone and thus a small screen. The margins Amazon forces upon us are way too big for a small phone sized screen. I don't know if the Android version has the same problem or not. But the iOS version's margins makes it a no-go for me. I won't even read any of the free eBooks (using my iPhone) I have in my Amazon account because of this.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I really cannot tell if you're serious.

I'm against monopolies. I don't sell exclusively to Amazon or B&N or anywhere else. Being against monopolies means that I'm actively for selling all over the place. I'm listed on GoodReads, for crying out loud.

I guess you want to shove me into a B&N Fangurl / Amazon Hatur because that would be easier for you to dismiss me, but it's a little more complicated than that.

(Note to GoodReads folks: I love you guys and I'm totally being humorous with my italics up there.)

Yeap. "exclusive" is bad, weather it's B&N exclusive , amazon exclusive... or whatever exclusive. You're letting some people out.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I don't think anyone is saying that it is a dead end, just that it is hurting the ePub retailers ability to compete with Amazon. It isn't ePub vs Amazon, it is B&N vs Kobo vs Sony vs Apple vs Amazon. The ePub retailers are fighting amongst themselves just as much as against Amazon.

You have to exclude Apple. If the DRM is removed, the code under the hood might not actually be ePub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

OTOH, there are many many more devices in the US (possible the world?) that can read Amazon DRM than any other form of DRM. From a sales point of view, that matters.

There are more ePub capable readers sold world wide then Kindles. I cannot speak for how many use what format on smartphones and tablets as I don't know.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

If you, Random Indie Author, are confident that you don't need my money: great! But I honestly don't owe you a purchase, I'm tired of being told "no, I'm Amazon-exclusive, but google Apprentice Alf!" when that misses my point entirely, and it's a little tiresome when I buy books from you (Random Indie Author) and then you yank your title off B&N and my download link goes wonky.

^This

It's crazy when I - as a potential customer - have to hunt down your book. Take The Troll Hunter for example. BlueTyson recommended the book and gave a link to Amazon. And that's when I find out the author has signed up for KDP Select.

But I don't have a kindle - and I don't buy ebooks from Amazon since I don't support their actions.

I don't have any interest in pirating, so I go to the author's site...and find this:



Now, isn't that special?? I can't even buy the book from the person who wrote it.

So...what's a girl to do?

In this instance, I sent an email to the author who hooked me up (very nice guy, BTW). But I am not a typical reader...and most people won't jump through those hoops. Most people will pick out a new book or go play Angry Birds or something.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You can read Amazon's eBooks in the Kindle apps for Android & iOS.

For me, there is a difference between a store app and a third-party app. I buy from nearly a dozen stores. I don't want to have to remember WHICH store app contains "Lies My Teacher Told Me" when I want to pull it up on my phone and see the differences between the enhanced e-book version and the original narrative on my MP3 player.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by John F

Do a Google on Apprentice Elf and Calibre.

I think googling Apprentice Alf might prove more enlightening.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given the time it takes to get a Mobi file to look good would be better spent working on the ePub version instead. Overall, ePub converts to Mobi pretty well. Sure you may have to tweak a few things here and there, but it can be done. So once you've put the effort into the ePub, you just convert to Mobipocket and done. Both versions are ready to go. The other way, you have to work on the Mobi and then work on the ePub. Sometimes converting from Mobi to ePub is not all that easy to do because the underlying code can be a real mess so then you have to work on cleaning it up and that ends up being a lot more work then just working on the ePub and converting down to Mobi.

We're dealing with three different formats here, there's no converting. Granted, the ebooks I've seen prove that there's a lot of converting going on that shouldn't be, but I would never (in this hypothetical scenario or in reality) convert mobi to ePub if I was planning to sell it. But it also doesn't make sense (to me, at least) to do the reverse if one wants to make the most of each format. Anything in the ePub not supported by Mobi would have to be fixed to display properly anyway, so it seems to me that starting from the text and building each format makes the most sense.

The third format, of course, is the Smashwords Word doc. That's its own monster to deal with. (If I ever do get around to writing that book, I really hope they have a better system in place at some point.)

So to me, the option would seem to wait until all formats are completed, or putting the first format up for sale while working on the others.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The other issue is that the author has gone exclusive with Amazon and that then causes the author to lose credibility as far as sticking it out with the ePub versions. How do we know the author won't pull the ePub and go back to Amazon? We (the readers) lose trust in the authors who go exclusive with Amazon. Once they go with Amazon, they may as well stay there since they've lost our trust.

You say "we" but I wonder how many people actually feel this way, or even think about it at all. (I'm serious, I do wonder about this, but there's no way to get any accurate data on that.) Yes, in the case where books have been pulled, I can see why some would be upset. And disappearing series would definitely cause consternation. But preemptive judgment based on a debut or new release seems odd if there's no precedent of yanking books back to KDPS later.

It also kind of comes across as a convenient self-fulfilling psuedo-prophecy.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I can think of one usage case in which KDP Select makes perfect sense, and I'd like the opinions of those who oppose it, especially JSWolf, who stated in another thread that not only would be never support the author post-KDPS but also discourage others from reading their work (if I read that right; if not, please correct me).

Say a new author has a debut novel. We already know that distribution through Smashwords can take more prep work to beat the meatgrinder. Why not release first at Amazon via KDPS, take advantage of those benefits, then go into wide release after 90 days?

If it were me, I'd be using those 90 days to get that awful Word document in perfect compliance for Smashwords, as well as prepping an ePub with precise formatting for sale on my web site. If I can have the mobi version for sale on Amazon while I'm doing that, why not?

I don't see this as all that different from doing a NY/LA movie release, honestly.

I can say that - for me - I wouldn't dismiss the author IF there isn't a problem with a book being pulled after I purchased and then getting my d/l link jacked OR I'm in the middle of a series.

I'd buy that author if once they finally got their book(s) released from jail.

But more than likely...I'd just forget about them and move on, to be honest. I'd probably give no more thought to them, let alone to be bothered enough to keep checking to see if their book was released in my format.

The Troll Hunter book was an aberration for me - BlueTyson sold that book, not the author (and [expletive removed by user] sure not the blurb).