Thanks to readers, in the wake of All Romance Ebooks closing
I want to say a thank you to my readers. I've had several reach out to me, in the week since All Romance Ebooks closed, to tell me that they bought one of my books during October-Dec, when we authors are likely to see between 6% and 0% royalties from those sales. They're sad that I don't get their money, and want to help make it up to me somehow. <3 <3 <3THANK YOU for buying the books. Please do not feel worried or responsible for the loss someone else caused. And for everyone who bought "Rejoice, Dammit" there - it was in the top 5 M/M when things crashed - that's great. It helped people see my cover; it helped put my name up there. I left my books live on ARe on purpose - in those last 3 days with no royalties - so readers with ebucks could find some active purchases and get value for their already-spent money. I MEANT for you to buy them, in that time and place, if you had credits to spend.
Some people have said they're going to review more. And I love that - yes - you can reward authors who won't see the money by reviewing or discussing the books you enjoyed. "Rejoice, Dammit" has more Amazon reviews than some of my previous full novels, showing how people are chipping in that way. <3
But also don't feel obligated. And don't hesitate to post honest bad reviews, just because the money you paid in good faith won't reach the author. We are all in this for the long haul, readers and writers. This loss hurts (some more than me) but the integrity of the community, the love of books, the mechanisms by which it all works, will go on, and adapt.
I am advising J. Scott Coatsworth on his for-profit project to set up a site for readers to find LGBTQ books with buy-links posted by the authors. To steer readers to the sites that pay more or safer royalties (like an author's own Payhip) or to epub and pfd versions. I hope we will create a site useful to readers in their searches (because I used ARe for things like checking flame level on possible YA books, or checking word counts; Scott hopes to add features like that). And other sites are out there for finding free books, etc. Don't forget that all the freebies from the Goodreads M/M Romance group that were for sale on ARe are on the M/M group's own free download site in multiple formats, for instance.
(I would of course urge caution with new sites, particularly any taking money or offering to publish or sell-through to readers directly - I'm seeing a lot of opportunistic offers coming in to shell-shocked authors, with no security behind them. Don't give money or the handling of money to anyone you don't know well, without due research.)
Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks also to the readers supporting authors who are going to Patreon, or readers still buying when authors have to take books off a sale price, or readers not complaining about us making any other move to get livable income from the job we love. You guys are the best, and the great stories will continue to come out, and we'll write and read all the books.
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Amazonaute wrote: "Hi Kaje, Could you please put up a link or something to guide us to good places to buy books to help authors? Or maybe authors should put them in their goodreads postings?
I've often thought aut..."
Thanks for all the good thoughts.
The site - Queeromance - that Scott is working on will be designed to do just that - link readers to authors' books on their own websites or other good-royalty sites. It's coming along, but not up and running yet.
In the short term, you can look for Indy books on Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/ - all my self pubs are there including freebies, and authors get 85% of royalties through SW, which is better than other sites.
Many authors are trying out selling on their own sites - the tax situation is complex, but some new systems like Payhip let authors sell and keep the taxes calculated. Those are the kinds of links we hope to have collected together on Queeromance, but for now it's a matter of checking author websites. I don't do direct selling myself, right now.
Buying directly from publishers also gets authors about 30% more royalties than from a secondary seller like AZ or B&N or Kobo.
It would be great if author contracts made it easier to get rights back. There usually is an escape clause for if the pub goes under, but it's not fast and automatic, and often going under is a slow process of not paying, rather than an abrupt end. When an author doesn't get the contracted payments, rights revert, but it's not instant and the pub can make it difficult. (At the same time they do also need some protection from an unhappy author just pulling the plug on a book with them over any dispute, so the definition has to be careful enough to protect both.)
It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a rights reversion clause that protects both. One option might be for the rights to revert when certain issues arise with the publisher/seller, as an interlocutory reversion which is then made final or goes back to the publisher depending on how issues are resolved. This would only be practical with ebooks of course. It would change the dynamic between publishers/sellers and authors. Publishers won't want this as it takes some of their power away.
For those interested, the link for the GR M/M Romance Group is http://www.mmromancegroup.com/ETA: I meant the site where their stories are published outside of Goodreads. To see the group site on GR, you need to be a member.
Amazonaute wrote: "It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a rights reversion clause that protects both. One option might be for the rights to revert when certain issues arise with the publisher/seller, as an i..."Yes, and for now publishers are still in the power position although as self-pub increases, so does the ability of authors to turn down deals they don't like and still release the book.
Kathleen wrote: "For those interested, the link for the GR M/M Romance Group is http://www.mmromancegroup.com/"Thanks - Lots of good stuff on that group including a lot of lists for searches, and a thread to link some author blog-Payhip sites.
I buy mostly from Amazon, but like Fictionwise before it, I found books on ARe to try out new authors and everyone is losing in this situation - authors, readers, publishers. I am sad to see ARe go, but it seems like like there were bad things happening behind the scenes, and it's one less option to find books/authors and as a marketplace.
Yes. Fictionwise at least gave readers more warning to download their books (at least as I remember it.) But whenever we lose choices it's a sad thing. Many will miss it as the site to find free stories too - AZ is harder to get free and more inclined to give authors a hard time if their books are too heavily weighted to freebies. :(
Could you please put up a link or something to guide us to good places to buy books to help authors? Or maybe authors should put them in their goodreads postings?
I've often thought authors should have a PayPal link on their sites so people can pay them for books they have obtained without paying for them. There are legal issues around that, I know.
I was also thinking this morning about amending publishing contracts (I'm a lawyer) so that if a publisher ceases operating for any reason, (with a broad definition thereof) the rights rebound instantly to the writer, independent of resultant untangling of the relationship, including royalties owed etc. So the author could immediately proceed with selling/publishing/doing whatever they like with their work.