No to Amazon Exclusivity

Experienced indies have long found out what’s best for them, but the newbie authors still ask this same question: KDP Select or No KDP Select? 

KDP means Kindle Direct Publishing. If you want to self-publish your book with Amazon, you register at KDP.com and upload your book. Fast and simple. But there’s also KDP Select. KDP Select gives you a few advantages, such as making your book free for 5 days, which is considered a smart marketing move. And if you think giving a book away for free is wrong, then think of the libraries. Yes, that’s right. There’s also the Countdown that comes with Select, when you put your book on a sale and the price slowly goes up during a 5 day period. Again, not a bad marketing trick. And the third advantage is the Borrows. When the book is in Select, readers can borrow it for free, while you still get paid. 

These are the Pros. And now the Cons. KDP Select means you cannot publish your book anywhere else at least for 90 days. After 90 days you decide to stay with Select or no, and if you do, you will have to wait for another 90 days to publish with other retailers.

I don’t use Select. I don’t like the idea of giving Amazon exclusive rights to publish my books. Some of my most devoted readers use Barnes and Noble. Some use iTunes and Kobo. There are other retailers too: Oyster, Smashwords, Inktera, PageFoundry. While they are not as powerful as Amazon, B&N, and iTunes, I want to have my books there as well. Because the more the better. Some authors swear by Select. I’m not one of them. I have made money with other retailers too. I haven’t been able to get that money yet (I’m working on it), but it’s not their fault, but of the payment methods and my country. I will tell about it sometime in the future.

So, here’s my opinion: I want my books to be on every retailer. I don’t like going exclusive with Amazon, no matter how mighty it is. Monopoly has never done good to any market, and I’m surely not supporting Amazon’s monopoly attempts. I love Amazon, I am grateful to Amazon, but I’ll use as many book retailers as I can. I advise you to do the same.

Why Do Authors Ask for Reviews?

If you’re an avid kindle reader and don’t shun away from indie books, then you might have seen the same request at the end of almost every book by an indie author: please leave a review. 

Many readers find this off-putting, but trust me, we don’t have much choice. Indie authors have to make that request, because indie authors need reviews. A lot. It’s not that we are review maniacs, or that we are star addicts. I couldn’t care less for reviews, and if I am going to read a book, instead of reading the reviews I’ll download the free sample and decide for myself if the book is interesting and needs to be purchased and read. I haven’t checked my reviews for a while, because, as wise people say, reviews are for other readers, not writers. That’s true. The book is out already, and the writers shouldn’t waste time trudging through the reviews. But indie writers need reviews like air. And here’s why: 

1. A writer writes a book. Now a writer needs to sell that book.
2. The book has to be promoted to have more or less good sales.
3. The best way to promote the book is with popular sites like Bookbub and Ereader News Today.
4. Popular sites do not accept books without reviews. 
5. The writer needs to ask their readers for reviews to be able to promote the book and make a living and write more.

 

 Seriously, the only way to help an author today is leaving reviews. If you don’t like long reviews, just make it a sentence or two about what you liked/disliked about the story, whether you’d recommend it to other readers, and if you’d like to read more from the author. Also, if you are a very supportive reader and want to read more by that author, you can always share the book on your social media. We are grateful folks and promise to write more for your enjoyment ;) 

Authors Writing in a Second Language

Have you seen my website already?

It's called AWISL: Authors Writing in a Second Language. Go visit it if you're an AWISL, too. Ask me anything about writing/publishing or send me your book for a review. And don't worry, I'm not giving less than three stars :)))

It's been a while I haven't read a good mystery. And I won't mind fantasy, too. And sci-fi. And of course horror. But please, No Romance. Can't stand Romance.

http://authorswritinginasecondlanguage.com