How it works:
Amazon offered a special program for readers. It’s been in effect for several years and I have tried in vain to circumvent their system; a system that is great for readers but HORRIBLE for authors. That’s right — horrible with a capital ‘H’.
A reader can sign up for the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program and read hundreds of thousands books for free. That’s right, for about ten bucks a month a reader has a library at their fingertips and can read most of today’s authors for free. If you are a READER, what’s not to like? Good for the reader — good for Amazon but horrible for the authors.
If you are an author, FREE BOOKS eliminate any royalties. Yup, no sales = no royalty. Here is how they compensate the author of the free book — authors get paid by the page read. How in the hell do we audit that? The answer of course — we can’t. As an author, I am at the mercy of Amazon. Are they honest? What do you think? I feel violated each time I get the pittance from Amazon. To me it’s a stacked deck. I bowed out often and got slapped back into reality. They control the marketplace and I have to play by their rules. Sooooooo, here’s what I intend to do:
1. All of my books except the multiple book volumes are available to be read for free. I enrolled them in KDP select which allows those who joined Kindle Unlimited to read them for free. I’ll keep promoting the free books on an individual basis plus their Kindle Unlimited.
2. Currently I have seventeen(17) unpublished manuscripts sitting in the bowels of my hard drive. They are unpublished because I don’t have the funds to pay the professionals to get them released (about 2000 USD each= 34k). I’m going to publish them in some form — maybe two a month with whatever covers I can create. Each new release is promoted by Amazon. I want the sky black with new releases for the next ten months or longer.
3. The RISK? It’s violating the cardinal sin of authors. Publishing work that hasn't been professionally edited or formatted. I may get marked down in my reviews. The REWARD? Maybe more folks turning pages so I can be paid for my writing. The major advantage is it gets the stories out where they belong — in the hands of the readers.
So, that’s my new plan. Amazon sucks but they make the rules. I’ll play with their rules — my way. Be prepared for many new releases in several genres. THE TWO COVERS SHOWN IN THIS POST ARE THE APRIL, 2019 RELEASES.
RWH
