Amazon offers indie authors reward for going exclusive

[John Carroll]

I'm simply not willing to set aside all my fans who do not use Amazon. I wrote a note to all of my readers in my blog today and this is basically what I said:

My promise to you

I promise that I will do everything I reasonably can to make my eBooks available to every reader in the world. If I find it necessary to become exclusive with a company for the survival and comfort of my family, then I will break that promise. However, I will try to avoid that if at all possible, even if it means taking the offer to a different publisher to see if they'll give better distribution.

I want people to read my books. I want them to do it on the reader they prefer. I know many of my fans like to read on their iPad, Nook, Kobo or Sony readers. Some even like reading on a smartphone or computer. Not everyone likes Amazon. Not everyone in the world can order through them either.

Right now, my books are available internationally through Smashwords. They are available in 32 countries through Apple. Kobo has made deals in England and France. Amazon distributes through many countries, but charges a $2 surcharge for every book. B&N is only available in the US (they really need to work on that) I'm honestly not sure about Sony and Diesel's distribution

[Lazybones]

I have a Kindle, and tend to favor the mobi format when preparing my e-books (I let Smashwords handle ePub and other formats, but I do my mobis for the Kindle store myself). I like the Kindle store, and get things up on there much faster than it takes with Smashwords's Premium Catalog distribution. But while I was tempted briefly by the new offer, I'm not going to pull any my current books and most likely won't give Amazon exclusivity with my upcoming releases. I like having my stuff up all over the place and while I strongly support the idea of e-book loans I am not willing to sacrifice what Amazon is asking in this case.

[Frida Fantastic]

KDP Select is a bad idea. As a book blogger and reader, I want to see a future with CHOICE. Why are authors even contemplating this? Just walk away.

[garygibsonsf]

Choice is fine, assuming people are making use of those other choices. But Fergus Bannon's Judgement (which I publish) hasn't had a sale or download on Smashwords in over a year, whereas there's been a tiny but more or less constant tick-over of sales on Amazon ever since it appeared there.

Kindle's the big giant tentacled monster in this box, and that's where people are going to get their ebooks in their droves. And I mean droves. I put Judgement up for free for a very short while, using KDP's new program, and in just a day or two it's had very nearly ten thousand downloads. I don't disagree about being able to have choice, but at the same time Amazon might be taking advantage of you, it might be an opportunity to take advantage of them back.

[rhadin]

Here are three of questions I have, although I am not an author or publisher, just a reader who doesn't ever buy at Amazon :

1. Does exclusivity extend worldwide, that is, an author can't sign up with, say, Dymocks in Australia even though KDP isn't worldwide?
   
2. Are all participants, or those that Amazon want to participate like the Agency 6, being offered the exact same deal? If not, why not if this is such a sweetheart deal?
   
3. Because an author's income is a percentage of the pot determined by what percentage the author's books represent of all books "borrowed", does an author have the right to audit the whole program to ascertain that the numbers are correct?

Seems to me that the answers to these (and there are other) questions are important to know before signing on, especially as the exclusivity is automatically renewed.

[vaughnmr]

Here's my comments as a reader. I use Amazon exclusively now, although I have tried in the past to use other retailers (and found most of them to be a pain to use, or had horrible customer service). I can use their books on my ereader, phone, and computer, and sync between all, thanks Amazon.

I will not buy from the Agency 6, or any other publisher that restricts library lending, person lending, or text-speach, period. These companies will not get my business.

I will not pay over $10 for any book, I've got a budget and I like to read.

I scan the free Kindle bestsellers every day (downloaded 6 yesterday!) and have found over 20 authors in the last year that I like, and now buy from. That's how I wade through the slush pile, and it works for me, I've found some really good authors in the process. I also scan the reviews, if people like your work I will definitely take a chance on your book.

I do read comments by authors in this forum, it's great to hear from someone like J. Strnad that offer common sense opinions. Found a few that I wouldn't ... well I'm not going to go there.

[John Carroll]

I received an email from one of my favorite fans this morning in response to my blog post. *name left off as requested*

Hey there John,
>
> I've been following your blog and this morning's email made me cheer. I understand that you've gotta do what's right for your family, but BRAVO to you for continuing to support all ereader formats as long as you can. This type of thing makes me glad that I didn't buy a Kindle and determined NEVER to buy one of Amazon's ereaders or tablets. FOO on them!
>
> Sent from my iPad

When I received that I was extrememly happy about my decision.

My belief is that once a book is published, it's the readers that truly matter, not the companies that distribute the book or even the writer.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by garygibsonsf

Choice is fine, assuming people are making use of those other choices. But Fergus Bannon's Judgement (which I publish) hasn't had a sale or download on Smashwords in over a year, whereas there's been a tiny but more or less constant tick-over of sales on Amazon ever since it appeared there.

Kindle's the big giant tentacled monster in this box, and that's where people are going to get their ebooks in their droves. And I mean droves. I put Judgement up for free for a very short while, using KDP's new program, and in just a day or two it's had very nearly ten thousand downloads. I don't disagree about being able to have choice, but at the same time Amazon might be taking advantage of you, it might be an opportunity to take advantage of them back.

I make use of other choices whenever possible. When I buy Angry Robot Books, I use their store. When there's an author who I'm familiar with and I trust (both indies and non-indies) I'm happy with purchasing books from a not-Amazon/Smashwords/B&N site like Book View Cafe or their small publisher site or whatever, especially since they get a bigger cut of my dollar.

While a book may not have been selling well at one retailer, making it exclusive shuts out readers who want to read .epub, or doesn't want to deal with Amazon, or would prefer to have purchased it in a different way knowing that the author gets a bigger cut.

I'm not anti-Amazon. I love my Kindle, but I want to continue being able to use other options, and this huge company needs to know their fracking limits. My two cents. My other two cents is here http://adarnasf.com/2011/12/09/ebook-hell-kdp-select/

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Writer Beware offered some cautions about it: http://accrispin.blogspot.com/.

I'll be interested to see how other writers react to it.

That's a good article.

The exclusivity is bad, the non-compete clause is VERY BAD. It's so vague that it seems like it could include selling any other ebook anywhere, regardless of content or genre. Not good.

[John F]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

...

Opinions, from both the reader and author viewpoints?

As long as the exclusive period isn't too long, I don't really care (I have a Non-Kindle reader). If it's only 90 days, and it helps an author out, I say go for it. If I really, really, really want the book, I'll buy it through my PC.

But the most likely scenario is, it will go on my TBR list. The longer it is on my TBR list, the less likely I am to buy it.

I don't read many "Indie" authors, and if I do, I hear about them here on Mobile Read. I have read Risen.

As far as the advantages of marketing by Amazon, I don't have an opinion, as I don't think I pay attention to whatever they do.

Edit: I'm a reader.

[TechnoCat]

Originally Posted by John Carroll

My belief is that once a book is published, it's the readers that truly matter, not the companies that distribute the book or even the writer.

That may depend on if you're in it as a business or a vanity hobby. I have had several high-on-Google projects, including an informative website and a technical blog; obviously those aren't money-making, and therefore I wouldn't be likely to give Amazon an exclusive.

But I have written quite a few paid published articles as a regular featured contributor and a few other forms. All were "exclusive" to the magazines or other distribution channel. I don't have any problem with that.

If I ever get around to publishing the "book" I've been working on (which is looking decreasingly likely over the years), I'd like to maximize exposure and likelihood of revenue. Amazon-featured is probably a better way to do that than everywhere-but-shuffled-in. Consider that Amazon outsells Borders plus Barnes & Noble, and those are the three big dawgs. And B&N stated in their 2006 call that most of their sales were backlist, not new items.

Really, you may ask? Emma Donoghue's Room was subject to some interesting analysis. They estimated 40% of the sales were Kindle and that Amazon sales were over 50% of sales in all formats of it. And that was before the Fire increased Kindle marketshare.

My guess is that most buying readers will be on Amazon and possibly a few other channels... but mostly Amazon because that's where critical convenient mass is. So putting an exclusive there won't harm. Putting an exclusive at B&N, or at my favorite bookstore (Powells, 200 miles from me), would cost me more than it could possibly bring in. But also getting Featured by Amazon will benefit me more than all sales through Powells ever could.

There have been several (music) albums I've wanted but never bought simply because the annoyance of surfing, registering on a new site and ordering was there. I have One-Click on Amazon. I like it.

[Fbone]

Now they have 46,375 titles prime eligible.

[stonetools]

50,000 up

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by stonetools

50,000 up

That's a lot of authors and books that will not build a very large audience worldwide. I wonder how many authors really carefully analyzed what the program could mean to them. I asked these questions in my blog article on the exclusivity deal, but no one has come forward with answers:

1. Are the terms offered to the million sellers like the JA Konraths and Stephen Kings the same terms that author Sally Unknown is given or were the Konraths and Kings able to negotiate? (And if they were able to negotiate different terms, why would they do so if this was such a sweetheart deal?)
2. Why (according to the rumors) are the Agency 6 being dangled a set payment on every borrowed book? If the deal offered to Sally Unknown is such a sweetheart deal, why are the Agency 6 being offered something "less sweet"?
3. What exactly is the indie author getting by participating — not what does the indie author hope to get by participating?
4. As what the indie author's book earns is based on a percentage of all borrowings, does the indie author have the right to audit the entire program to ensure that the calculation is correct? In other words, other than blindly accepting Amazon's pronouncement that there were x number of total borrowings, how does the indie author verify it?

There are lots of questions that need asking and answering. This may, in fact, be a great opportunity for indie authors, but how does an indie author make such a determination based on the information currently available?

I'm not an author, but, at least here on MR, there are constant grumblings about geographical restrictions and one often reads an author's statement in opposition to such restrictions, yet Amazon's program is an even more severe geographical restriction than the standard. Exclusivity is worldwide and covers every conceivable possibility yet the program is U.S. centric.

As a business matter, I've never understood the willingness of an author to simply accept as gospel "Amazon is my friend and will do me no harm."

(For those interested, my blog article is eBook Exclusivity — A Good or Bad Idea?)

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by rhadin

As what the indie author's book earns is based on a percentage of all borrowings, does the indie author have the right to audit the entire program to ensure that the calculation is correct? In other words, other than blindly accepting Amazon's pronouncement that there were x number of total borrowings, how does the indie author verify it?

Yeah, that made me twitch a little, too. The payout is based on how many times Amazon says your book was checked out as a function of how many times all books were checked out, and modified by an arbitrary "monthly investment" number that Amazon can set to be ANYTHING.

So basically your payout is whatever the heck Amazon says it is with no way to verify any of those three numbers.

A flat rate I could see signing on for. (Except I abhor exclusivity and non-compete clauses. But let's pretend that's not the case here.) A free rate from a non-profit library I would sign on for. A variable, undeterminable rate from a company making profit off my back? Nah, no thanks.

That's just me though.