Just when you thought the world of publishing couldn't get any weirder, it does. Why don't we just call publishing an entity of permanent change. Amazon is getting into the world of the librarians with brown brogans and reading glasses. Except the authors have to go along. I was contacted as I am sure many of you were who have books with Amazon in their kindle collection. KDPSELECT is the name of the program and basically you let people read your books for free...well its free to them. Let me explain
So Amazon has a big fund that you as the author get a part of when people read your books. The PRIME members get access to this vast library for free. They get to read your work and you get exposure and some remuneration. It is the wild west of ebooks and everyone is trying all sorts of new marketing gimmicks. Since libraries will now be heavily into Ebooks with lending going on in cyberland like never before, Amazon is hearing some footsteps and figured they would create their own library.
And what does the author get out of it. For the bestselling authors it is not such a great deal. They probably lose on this deal with a smaller cut, but for the mid list authors who are still developing market presence it might not be such a bad thing. You can take the Kid Rock approach and not offer your stuff on Itunes because you believe people should pay for a quality product, but writers want to be read and this might get you a few more.
The cynical view is authors are just getting ripped off again, maybe, but then again you have to take the long view. I have tried it for ninety days with my books and I am not sure if it will make a difference or not. Maybe there are some who will not take a flyer on my books for the price of an ebook but with the enticement of a free download, a Hazelgrove novel might be just the ticket. Or maybe I'm just another writer getting screwed over again. Who knows.
http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Rocket Man...one mans war with suburbia
So Amazon has a big fund that you as the author get a part of when people read your books. The PRIME members get access to this vast library for free. They get to read your work and you get exposure and some remuneration. It is the wild west of ebooks and everyone is trying all sorts of new marketing gimmicks. Since libraries will now be heavily into Ebooks with lending going on in cyberland like never before, Amazon is hearing some footsteps and figured they would create their own library.
And what does the author get out of it. For the bestselling authors it is not such a great deal. They probably lose on this deal with a smaller cut, but for the mid list authors who are still developing market presence it might not be such a bad thing. You can take the Kid Rock approach and not offer your stuff on Itunes because you believe people should pay for a quality product, but writers want to be read and this might get you a few more.
The cynical view is authors are just getting ripped off again, maybe, but then again you have to take the long view. I have tried it for ninety days with my books and I am not sure if it will make a difference or not. Maybe there are some who will not take a flyer on my books for the price of an ebook but with the enticement of a free download, a Hazelgrove novel might be just the ticket. Or maybe I'm just another writer getting screwed over again. Who knows.
http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Rocket Man...one mans war with suburbia
