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Originally Posted by rhadin
How can Amazon provide "better distribution" when so many people -- worldwide -- do not have devices that are compatible with Amazon's DRM and Amazon is not making its DRM freely available to competitors?
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Perhaps 'better distribution' is a poor choice of terms. But Amazon is defiitely creating high sales volume for its indie authors. I have met very few authors who sell better on Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or Smashwords than they do on Amazon. On the other hand, I know several authors -- including one who hit the NYT Bestsellers list with a 0.99 cent indie novel -- who have seen wildly spectacular sales on Amazon.
Whether you like or dislike Amazon's business practices, one must admit that they are very, very good at matching up books with customers who are predisposed to like them. The Amazon algorithms place indie books in front of dozens -- sometimes hundreds or thousands -- of potential customers every day. So even though Amazon's distribution is technically limited (because it is restricted to a single e-reader) it is functionally far larger than any other online retailer (because a vastly higher percentage of readers see and purchase the books).
As far as indie books go, Amazon outsells every other outlet I know of. That is why authors are willing to make their work exclusive to Amazon.