Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
You do run the risk of losing trust and respect from readers. Do you really want that?
|
Some readers' trust and respect is not worth pandering to.
Lost in the whole Amazon-bashing fest going on, I have to wonder if the gripe is about formats or exclusivity. What about authors that sell exclusively off their web sites? What about (and we all know who) publishers that sell exclusively off *their* website?
Life is all about trade-offs and if accessing a particular audience most effectively requires telling others "sorry, no-go", then so be it. Just because a product is available to somebody doesn't mean they *will* buy it. Trying to reach out to *everybody* can just as easily mean reaching out to nobody. Which is why the best marketing campaigns aim for specific demographics instead of trying to carpetbomb the universe.
As some have pointed out above, depending on the writer and the material, going exclusive (whether for a short time or an extended period) may make perfect sense for *them*. They just need to know who they are writing for and where they can be found because no writer is ever going to have universal appeal.
