Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
So, it has been 1 year. And in that time, the 11 books I have had in the Kindle store have netted me... (drumroll, please) ...$50 and change.
In fact, I didn't know I had made even that. That's because Amazon's 3 payments showed up unobtrusively in April, July, and October, and were so small as to be practically unnoticeable.
Since I hadn't noticed the payments, I tried calling Amazon to speak to someone about it. I was told there was no phone number to call to the DTP department. I was given 2 e-mail addresses. I got no responses from either. So I went to the forum, where I left a message, and another author gave me a third e-mail address. Again, I received no answer. Finally, I submitted a second e-mail to the forum, wherein I used the following title:
"I have been advised to sue Amazon."
Then I got a reply.
All told, it took me about a month to find out that I had made a grand total of $50.00 over the past year through the Kindle store. And in combining the pittance I made with the pretty lousy customer service response, it was easy for me to come to the following decision:
I have removed my e-books from the Kindle store.
Obviously, this won't present much of a loss, to Amazon, to my customers, or to me. My customers can still buy MobiPocket versions of my e-books, and load them onto their Kindles manually. And if they have a problem, they can e-mail me (not "SJB," not tech support, not the accounting department in Reno, but me) and get a response. From me.
I will not go so far as to advise others not to use the Kindle DTP system. I will state that it clearly did not work for small publisher me and my 11 science fiction books. I will also state that the general consensus among DTP users is that the support from the DTP staff has never been timely or positive... they've all but actively chased customers away. Check out the DTP forums, and you'll see what I mean.
And so, we come to the end of the chapter. No more DTP, no more Kindle store, no more bad customer service to deal with. That's the way it goes, sometimes. Moving on.
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Wow Steve, that is truly disappointing to read. Given the high premium readers pay for the Kindle device I would as a Kindle owner expect them to pay better attention to their author's needs. No matter how small the sales volume. Once upon a time Amazon was in a similar position...small fish in a large pond. How quickly these companies forget...
Still working my way through the 11-books (or was it 10 for $10) you offered a while back...enjoying every minute of it...thanks for taking good care of us readers.
Remember too, that any reader does not need to even manually put your books on their Kindle...there is that email addy each Kindle user has for their Kindle and it can be Whispernet'd in for just fitty-cent.
BTW, I dislike my Kindle a great deal...gave it to my better half and she can't get enough of it...I know because I get the bill every purchase...oh, joy...hehehehehe...
Anyway, obviously Amazon is not at all serious about indie authors...screw 'em.
