Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
Here’s another, different, take on the KDP offer. If you get most of your sales through Kindle, it probably makes sense for you. If you don’t care for it, the contract is renewed every three months. On the other hand, it might have dire long term consequences for the industry. Going back and forth from Jeff Bennington’s reasoning (The Writing Bomb below) and this from Mark Coker, I’m torn. I’ll keep an eye on this and see how things go for Jeff.
Via blog.smashwords.com
Filed under: publishing
C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m 
I can’t see the $500,000 turning a huge profit for most indie authors. With most titles priced at $2.99 and below, there’s no reason to spend their monthly allowance on something so inexpensive. However, I really like the idea of being able to offer my work for free for 5 days. I had a lot of success back in March or May (I know it was an M month) when Amazon discounted one of my works to free. Since then, I haven’t been able to get Amazon to repeat the discount with any of my other works. I’m convinced they hate me.
On the other hand, maybe I’m putting too much focus on Amazon. Most of my promotions focus on Amazon ranking, but if the company isn’t working with me, why am I trying so hard? I swear it’s an uphill battle with Amazon and their Kindle ranking.
I’m in the process of publishing my latest release, Unprotected… just waiting for the processing to finish. Originally, I was going to only publish it with Amazon, so I could leave my Kindle Select options open. We all knows how difficult it is to take books out of circulation once they get on the market. In the end, I decided to go ahead and publish with Smashwords and B&N. My sales have been rather low with those two in the past, but really… what marketing have I done with them?
It’s taken me two days to come to a decision, but I’ve made it.
Why should I give up the share of the B&N and Smashwords (including the extended distribution channels) pie for 5 days of free promotions?
I guess I’m just tired of Amazon not playing nice. They create a system which discounts works for free by price matching. In order to get your book matched for free, you have to jump through hoops… then it doesn’t even happen. And if it does happen, it’s not on your terms. You have to BEG them to put a price back even after you raise the price elsewhere. I’m still smarting that they took away the affiliation program in my state a few years ago. The system has become more frustrating than fun, and I don’t want to play right now.