The honey money trap?

I got thinking the other day.

Have we become prisoners of Amazon? 

Let's face it - 

is the biggest book retailer in the world. And the first to give independent authors a platform on which to publish their books. 

But - has Amazon taken away more from the Indie author than it has given?

In 2007 Amazon launch KDP - Kindle Direct Publishing - whoopee we all thought. Now we can publish our work and not have to go through the trawl of sending out manuscripts to snotty stuck up agents and 'closed shop' publishing houses. 

For a short while Amazon had the independent publishing market cornered - then in 2008 came Smashwords and then in 2010 Apple came on the scene with

Thanks to Apple, Amazon was forced into double it's eBook royalty from 35% to 70%.

This was down to something called Agency pricing - basically it allowed the author to set the retail price of their book. 

KDP Select - what's this? Literary handcuffs 

- that keep an author locked in for 3 months to giving Amazon exclusivity on the publishing rights.

Whilst on the face of it, this is not such a bad idea - in truth - is it a good idea? Doesn't this take control away from an independent author and put it back into the hands of the publisher?

So exactly what is kdp select? 

let's you earn a share of the KDP Select Global Fund - sound good? 

In theory - yes - it's a good idea. In theory. 

The sales of Indie published books since 2007 to 2018, has skyrocketed by approximately 3,300%.

And the platforms on which to launch your Indie book have increased along with the upward trend. So does it make sense to lock your book into a 3 month exclusive contract when in all probability you won't increase your earnings by that much? 

I write from experience. I decided to test my theory that locking myself into the 3 month kdp select option wouldn't make me anymore royalties than if I wasn't in the scheme.

Technically - I did earn slightly more than if I wasn't in the scheme - but that was only with Amazon, by being exclusive to KDP - I can't give an exact amount of how much more I would have earn in royalties had my novels been available to a wider audience - but I am left in no doubt that I did lose more than I gained. 

If you are thinking of going exclusive to Amazon - it does have the advantage in that you are part of a very big lending library  - only I'm not sure that this does actually have an advantage that outweighs the disadvantages. Personally, I think it is crazy to stay with only one outlet for your work - way too restrictive.

The whole point of being an independently published author is not to be chained to a single book seller. 

As an indie author - you get to choose where and how you publish and market your book. No restrictions to that is the whole point of becoming an indie author. It's not just about,  not wanting the heartache of trying to find a traditional publisher (I have a trad publisher) - being an independent author, is about artistic freedom. 

From Amazon's point of view, getting their authors hooked into only selling with them, is a smart business move. KDP select cuts out the competition. It's not so smart for the author who has become a literary prisoner. The concept is so neatly put forward it appears on first look to be benign - but the reality of being chained to one sales outlet when you are struggling for recognition in a very competitive industry - to me - just doesn't' make sense.  

If you prefer the ease of Amazon, and have a lot going on in your life - then hey - why not?

But if you chose to go it alone because you wanted total control of your product - then I'm guessing KDP select is not for you.

Good luck with your writing. I hope you have a superb weekend and an excellent week ahead.

www.josephinevanner.com