For authors, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP can be a very useful tool. There are many features that make publishing and getting your book out to your targeted audience more manageable than if you were to do it completely on your own. For this reason, many authors take the KDP route, but for many other reasons such as royalties, exclusivity, and not being able to make the New York Times or any other bestseller lists, many authors are choosing not to use Amazon KDP. As readers, I am sure that many of you love Amazon and Kindle Unlimited for its convenience and (mostly) affordable price. While I am not saying don't use Amazon or KU, I just want to shed a little light on the struggles that authors face with Amazon.
Some of you may know, that I have been having issues with Amazon and briefly had to make the transition to PayHip. As I am slowly but surely getting the rights back to my books, I have been moving them to my Amazon profile. Amazon was under the assumption that I was trying to impersonate myself. It took months of going back and forth, sending them documents to prove that I was in fact elle kayson and the author of my books. This process halted some of my sales as I had readers looking for those particular books, and they were not able to find them. Aside from this, it was just very annoying having so many different cases open with Amazon telling me different things. Thankfully, Amazon finally came to terms with the fact that I am who I say I am and not plagiarizing the work of another author. I did have to remove my books from Payhip because of Amazon’s exclusivity. By giving Amazon exclusivity to my e-books I am not able to sell them anywhere else. This means that I only have one stream of income for these particular products, income that I also have to share with Amazon.
Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the pay authors receive from Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. I know we have always been taught it is taboo or uncouth to talk about money. Guess what? We are going to talk about it anyway because not talking about it allows people to take advantage of us. Authors who have their books on KU are getting paid around $0.0049 per page read. While KU is very convenient for readers, it's not so much for authors. Now don't get me wrong, there are benefits to having your book on KU such as exclusive marketing through sales and free books which boost the visibility of your book. While this is great, visibility does not always equal dollars, and for those authors who have decided to become full-time authors, dollars are pretty important.
Lastly, I am going to discuss something that not many people know and is very difficult to find, if not searched correctly. This is the fact that if Amazon has exclusive rights to your book preventing you from selling it on other platforms or in stores, this disqualifies you from meeting the criteria for your book to be on other bestseller lists. The reason for this is that most of these lists require that a particular number of books are sold from various platforms and pages read does not count for those authors who have their books on Kindle Unlimited. With Amazon restricting where you can sell your book, they are also holding you back from making The New York Times Bestseller List, USA Today Bestseller List, and The Wall Street Bestseller List. Now while this is not a HUGE deal, it can be very limiting for authors who want to really grow and expand.
As a whole, Amazon KDP is an amazing tool, especially if you are just starting off as an author. Amazon makes a lot of the processes very seamless; it really just becomes a matter of filling information in when you are ready to publish your book. Now at times, it can be frustrating as anything can be when it comes to formatting and cover designs, but nothing in life that is worth it is easy. Ingram Spark is a great alternative to KDP, or it can be used in addition to Amazon KDP granted KDP does not have exclusive rights to your book. Ingram Spark has many of the same features as Amazon KDP, and in addition to this, it allows your book to be distributed to major retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, and independently owned bookstores. Now that all the features are free, this is becoming a very popular platform for self-published authors.
I hope that this blog post has been informative because that really was the purpose. Now, if this post left you wondering how you can support your favorite authors in the best way possible, fear not because I have some tips. Tip #1: If you enjoyed a book, leave a review whether it is on Amazon, Goodreads, or even both. This is a great way to let other readers know it's worth the read. Tip #2: Tell your friends about it directly when they ask for book recommendations or completely unsolicited because you just loved the book so much. Tip #3: Buy directly either from their websites or in person during book events. Tip #4: Interact with them on social media. As authors, we love hearing how our books and characters made you feel and you know I always want to know your thoughts so leave them below and as always
Blissful Reading!
Commentaires