Recent developments have reframed an old debate about pirated books. Authors have long asked readers to refrain from indulging in pirated books because it hurts our bottom line. All this time, our sights should have been set on Amazon itself. That’s where the resources and power lie, and that’s where the new battle to protect authors’ intellectual property and prosperity is taking place.
When books are pirated from Amazon and they happen to notice, authors get threatened with the possibility of losing their listings and even their entire accounts. Deplatformed, there goes our income, our motivation, and down goes the likelihood we’ll keep on putting out more books at a reasonable pace. Writing books takes time and money, and quite a few authors are questioning if it’s worth the effort under current conditions.
Recently, several prominent authors lost their book listings and their Amazon accounts were threatened. Amazon also held back the past couple of months of earnings as further punishment. Innocent authors got spanked, and to quote The Big Lebowsky, “This aggression will not stand, man!“
I didn’t really care about pirates before. I mean, it sucked that someone else was making money off my work, but I figured those readers were never going to buy my books, anyway. Despite my low prices, the availability of libraries and ARCs, etc.,… I thought that if they were willing to risk getting malware, I didn’t have the time to chase down my books on every pirate site out there. Recent developments have changed my thoughts on this, and I may decide to drop out of KU to protect my little business.
Pros of staying exclusive in KU: More money and advertising opportunities than non-exclusivity.
Cons: Risking losing everything.
Authors are finally fighting back. This time, we aren’t out to stop readers or the pirates. We’re trying to get Amazon to handle the problem.
By blaming and punishing authors, Amazon has put the onus on us to plead with thieves to take our books down from their sites. It’s like getting a fine (or getting your car taken away) when someone steals your license plate. So far, Amazon hasn’t cared that we were the victims with no power in these situations. With talk of boycotts of KU, that may change. They have moved on other issues. For instance, recently Amazon has changed its too-easy return policy. Serial returners won’t be able to take advantage of the returns program that hurt authors’ incomes.
When we drop out of KU, our promise of exclusivity disappears. It’ll hurt our income, but customers won’t like it, either. Historically, that’s the sort of salty pickle Amazon tends to respond to. They’re all about creating a positive customer experience. If enough authors drop KU, the customer experience will become an onion and ghost pepper sandwich.
Petition Amazon
If you’re an author who decides to drop out of KU to protect your account, don’t just delist from KU exclusivity. Tell them why you’re leaving.
As for me, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I haven’t had a lot of success going wide on more sales platforms and, frankly, it’s more than I can manage at the moment. I am frying other fish, and by that I mean prepping for a total hip replacement. (The left one is now largely decorative.) But revisiting going wide is a discussion for another time.
Here’s what you can do right now:
Sign the petition to change Amazon policies that punish authors for thieves pirating their books.
Here’s the link:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-author-policies-need-to-change-do-not-remove-books-because-they-were-pirated
Filed under: Amazon, book piracy, Amazon, Amazon petition, book piracy, indie authors, publishing, respect authors, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing
C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m 