How KDP Select Can Affect Authors Who Opt Out
Hi, everyone. Some of you may remember this blog post, in which I talked about why I was not going to enroll in Amazon's draconian KDP Select program.
Well, this morning we got some very interesting news over on the Bestseller Bound writing group. You see, we put out some sample anthologies containing first chapters of our then-current works (mine was You Had to Be There: Three Years of Mayhem and Bad Decisions in the Portland Music Scene). Some of those books have now been enrolled in KDP Select. Thanks to the KDP Select exclusivity clause, we now have to take down not only the anthology on its host sites, but any link on any of our websites in order to protect the folks who opted in.
I'll be removing the links from my site later this morning, but I'm not happy about it. I brought this up in our group when people were raving about how wonderful the program would be, but no one wanted to listen. Those of us who got to the exclusivity clause in the paperwork and said "no way" are now being punished, for lack of a better term, by those who didn't see the potential problems.
Bitter? A little bit. I agree with the man who edited the anthologies, though; it's easier to do it this way than to do major surgery on interiors, cover art and trailers to satisfy Amazon's hold over the $1.70 (the anticipated average per month if every single title in the program is "borrowed" once) that they owe authors who sold their souls to this program.
Maybe you enrolled in KDP Select and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hooray! Everyone's business is different. As for me, I opted out ... and am feeling the weight of it anyway.
Well, this morning we got some very interesting news over on the Bestseller Bound writing group. You see, we put out some sample anthologies containing first chapters of our then-current works (mine was You Had to Be There: Three Years of Mayhem and Bad Decisions in the Portland Music Scene). Some of those books have now been enrolled in KDP Select. Thanks to the KDP Select exclusivity clause, we now have to take down not only the anthology on its host sites, but any link on any of our websites in order to protect the folks who opted in.
I'll be removing the links from my site later this morning, but I'm not happy about it. I brought this up in our group when people were raving about how wonderful the program would be, but no one wanted to listen. Those of us who got to the exclusivity clause in the paperwork and said "no way" are now being punished, for lack of a better term, by those who didn't see the potential problems.
Bitter? A little bit. I agree with the man who edited the anthologies, though; it's easier to do it this way than to do major surgery on interiors, cover art and trailers to satisfy Amazon's hold over the $1.70 (the anticipated average per month if every single title in the program is "borrowed" once) that they owe authors who sold their souls to this program.
Maybe you enrolled in KDP Select and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hooray! Everyone's business is different. As for me, I opted out ... and am feeling the weight of it anyway.
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