Konflict Unlimited

I had a whole other blog prepared for today, but it’ll keep for next week. I changed topics because I saw post this morning about our old friend, Kindle Unlimited, about which nobody it seems can ever agree. I can’t find the post now, irritatingly, but it was from friend Bev Cox, I recall, so apologies to her if I misremember anything she said—if you’d care to add the gist of your post in the comments, Bev, you’re welcome.

One point of the post which gave me pause for thought said—if I recall correctly—that the poster’s publisher insisted that she put her book into KU, as Amazon wouldn’t sell them otherwise. This puzzled me, as I’ve certainly seen plenty of books for sale on Amazon which aren’t in KU. If the claim is true though, it sounds like a symptom of the downside of having a traditional publisher—you’ve effectively sold them your book, meaning that they’re calling the shots and you’re obliged to go with their wishes, even if they conflict with your own. They want a new title/cover/blurb or whatever, and you’re obliged to agree—even if you hate said title/cover/blurb. They insist you put your books into KU—you do it. At least those of us without traditional publishers have the right to do what we want with our work—excepting the wishes of the mighty Zon which, let’s face it, is ripping off authors right, left and centre. This contention of the post in question I can agree with, but it’s the subject of another blog, another day.

Let’s get back to KU though. On the plus side, as an author, I chose to put my books in it, and I’m glad I did. I get far more KU page reads than I get sales, and I’m glad to have them. My books get read through KU, and frequently get reviewed, and reviews we’re told help make our books visible to other potential readers—which can only be a good thing. On the minus side, I don’t make much money from them—but if I thought I could live on the royalties from my writing I’d have starved long ago, which I suspect is the case of many other authors both known to me and unknown. The positives balance out the negatives for me, no question.

As a reader, I have a subscription to KU, which much of the time is the decider as to whether I read a certain book or not. I read and review a great deal, supporting indies and reading their books for most of the time—although classic texts and the works of financially-successful authors find their way to my Kindle library too. Some of the books I read are great, some okay, others not worth the time spent on them—and that goes for both indies and trad-published books. I’ve read truly breath-taking stories from indies that deserve a huge readership, and dross that traditional publishers will take on because they’re mass-market dross and will make a mint of money for them. Unfair, but life’s not fair and that’s the way it is.

If I’d bought the books I disliked for list price I’d be pretty fed up at the waste. As it is, with KU I can return those books—when I’ve given them a fair chance—and take out something else, with no financial loss. If your book’s in KU then it has a better chance of being read by me—an avid reader who always reviews—and by others like me. Otherwise there’s little chance, unless the price is right. This morning I was tempted by an indie book which an acquaintance reviewed on Instagram. It wasn’t written on a subject which is a particular favourite of mine, but I was willing to give it a go—so looked it up on Amazon to find it not in KU and for sale at the price of £7.35 for the eBook. Sorry, but there’s no way I’m paying that for less than 300 pages of a debut novel—even the ‘Look Inside’ sample couldn’t tempt me—and I suspect I’m not the only one.

Why such a high price? I learned something new to me, as in the term ‘indie author’ applies not just to self-publishing authors like me, but also to those who use ‘independent publishers’—which, I’ve found, tend to be hybrid publishers, a form of vanity publisher, who charge the author part of the cost of publishing. Which means said authors are keen to recoup the money they’ve paid out to get published.

I’m not criticising the author of that book for his choice of how to publish—those of us who can’t or don’t want to go the traditional publishing route have few other options—just that if his book had been in KU he’d now have a guaranteed read and review from me.

What’s your view? As author or reader?