Let's talk about KDP Select

Keep the word monopoly in mind.


This is a big concern to me, so I left a message on Amazon that they should make correction of mistakes possible, as in put that action button live instead of dead.

Now on to KDP Select. This morning, I go on to my bookshelf page and find the Action button (which lets you edit) replaced by Enroll. I see a banner about a new program for loaning your books to readers. I check the KDP Select legal crap and discover that Amazon wants you to remove all your books from all venues but theirs in exchange for a possibility you may get a percentage of a huge figure of money if your book is loaned to readers during 90 days. Remember that word monopoly.

So let's take a better look at this deal. Apparently, if you enroll, you enroll in a lending library. If your book is lent to someone, this adds to your percentage which will be taken out of this massively inspiring figure of $500 000, I assume U.S dollars. Yes, let your mind boggle.

And now think about it. Who does this offer really help?

Best case scenario, you agree to enroll, you get lots of loans, you get a bundle from your percentage. Meanwhile, your ePUB market no longer exists, because you can't legally sell anywhere but Kindle. Not even on your web page. Nowhere, no other formats. Monopoly anyone?

Again, who does the offer really help? The already popular authors of course. They'll make a killing off KDP Select. Provided Amazon lives up to it's claims... Yeah, forgot to mention a little clause there that says Amazon has the sole discretion to decide what constitutes a loan. Wow, what could they mean by that?

So let's say the popular authors get 75% of the loaning action for these 90 days. Let's say that's about a few hundred authors sharing that 75% of $500 000. Now the remaining 25% of loans are the unknown authors, like me. Yes, I don't consider myself a known author. These unknowns number in the thousands. They must share that 25% between them. How much do you see them getting compared to the authors already possessing reputation?

So what has Amazon really done here? Amazon has made a vague promise to give you a percentage if you manage to get your book loaned. You must scratch and claw through all the other free promotions those 90 days to get attention. In exchange for the vague promise of gaining your big dream to become a big name author, you agree to help Amazon establish a monopoly and cut out ePUB competitors. Let's overlook the fact that if you sell just one copy of your novel, your rank jumps from the lowly bottom of the pile, somewhere in the 700 thousands, up to 125 thousand. Think about that. The majority of books on Amazon don't sell much. This is true of even Lulu, btw. And now, for a vague promise, you cut out Lulu, iTunes, Nook, everyone else and give all the power to Amazon. There's no guarantee your book will be loaned. There's no guarantee you'll get any of that money. The only person guaranteeing anything is you when you agree to remove all your books from competitive dealers.

Oh, yeah. What if one of the competitors is an affiliate that placed your book on Amazon? What happens then? If you unpublish at your original Indie pub, doesn't your book disappear from Amazon too?

Granted Amazon provides for free the service of publishing your book on Kindle. This is very nice of Amazon. But did the company just cross the line of decency and start preying on your hopes and dreams?

Here's a forum thread you may want to follow.