Amazon Kindle—A Review

I have had two kindle account with Amazon as a ways to sell my books. So, this is from that point of view. I have to say, it was much worse the second time around.

First thing: Amazon isn’t very upfront or clear as to their guidelines or what they expect from us. Nor do they explain how to use their system. It’s not intuitive or easy to understand. There are classes on how to use this publishing option. I don’t have time for such classes. If Amazon can’t be clear and upfront instead of springing fees on me at the last minute, then I don’t see why I need to do business with them.

I have noticed there are ebooks from traditional publishers which are several hundred megabytes big. I keep all my ebooks under 20 megabytes per Smashwords. Amazon now charges a delivery fee which comes right out of my royalties. I don’t know why they think they can charge that fee. I’ve never dealt with such a fee in my life.

I once tried to see if I could get one book into print. It was one that I knew some readers would want in that format. What I needed to know from Amazon was what are the specifications so I could set up the print files myself and how much it would cost me to get the book into print.

I looked and found information on what not to do. It gave me the impression they thought as a writer I was too stupid to even know how to set up print files and that I should just go with one of their experts. I started out in publishing learning graphic design which includes print and digital. I do know what to do, but when I can’t find clear instructions on the specifications for those files, then I can’t do it. Learning was a way for me to save myself money. Clearly, Amazon doesn’t want me to save money on my books. Nor is it listed how much it costs to print books with them.

Now they have the option of getting readers to see your books easily if you pay for marketing. I have to pause here. Advertising in my experience doesn’t pay off for books or magazines. The whole trouble lies in trying to find the actual readers. They may not be paying attention. I have always tended towards the free options. They may not work as well for me as the supposed experts claim, but at least I didn’t lose money on books when I chose the free options.

To make it really bad, there haven’t been any royalties for at least a year from Amazon Kindle. I don’t know why that is. I have my own personal site which includes information on all the books I currently have available. I have a few social media accounts which list my personal site too. The profiles all state I’m a writer. So, it’s hard to say what the problem is. Perhaps people aren’t really paying any attention or they are no longer readers.

I’ve been in publishing for nearly two decades now and I find it’s better not to spend money on books. I’m much too prolific to afford many of the services others may offer. It’s the only way I can keep writing and not worry about money. I do have royalties. Perhaps not very much, but in today’s world it is nearly impossible to earn money from writing anymore.

I have learned that if I don’t do everything by myself, I wouldn’t have a career or even a job. The old writing jobs have dried up. It has nothing to do with the pandemic. There aren’t enough writing and editing jobs anymore for even those who may want them. They are hard to find. It’s mission impossible to go work for someone else as a writer or a editor. I have looked. I typically run into scams more than actual jobs. Or the writing jobs don’t pay and yet the publishers think they can still get full exclusive rights.

The best way to get a writing or editing job, whether working for someone else or freelance, is through networking. I’m still learning what networking is and how to do it without getting a social hangover. So, I have to work on my own and hope for the best. I have no other options anymore.

I do have an account with Goodreads, but that’s not useful either. Goodreads only recognizes one store—Amazon. No others. That is elitist and unhelpful. Amazon takes 24-48 hours to get any Kindle book released worldwide. Makes me wonder why it takes them so long. I prefer their competitor because I upload the books once and they are available worldwide within minutes. That retailer then ships out to other retailers without me having to do anything at all. As my Goodreads account and Facebook account were linked, this account might be closed out soon. I’m not sure it will make any difference in royalties.

I finally closed out my Amazon account. It took longer than I thought necessary. I had to ask them to close it. There’s no way for us to close our accounts on our own. Then I received email notifications from four different Amazon sites that I was going to be paid royalties. I received four payments of $6.27, $3.22, $4.71 and $22.77. Not sure which books sold or when. Suspect they were holding the royalties and would refuse to tell me. Grand total of $36.97.

I find it disturbing. I have no way of knowing which books they are for. I have one book so far which I donate the royalties to a charity. If I don’t know if it’s sold, then how can keep accurate records and pay the charity? This won’t get better as there will be more books like that one in the future.

I must draw the conclusion Amazon withheld my royalties without warning. They took advantage. When their warehouse employees have to be frisked off the clock once their shifts are over, I draw another conclusion — Jeff Bezos doesn’t trust anyone. He doesn’t care what happens to writers or to his employees. As long as he has his money, he doesn’t mind screwing the rest of us.

Amazon is not clear, upfront or transparent about how to work with it. They withheld my royalties and now expect me to pay for advertising to make my books more visible. Jeff Bezos created this nightmare and has proven he’s not worthy of my trust. Failure to change when you pay out royalties or even being inconsistent about that and demand I pay you is grounds for dismissal. I will not do business with Amazon. After this recent awful experience, I don’t care if my books ever end up on Kindle.

If I had to rate Amazon with the star method, I’d give them none. No stars is what Amazon deserves after what they’ve done to me. I doubt my story is that unique.

Dear readers, if the lack of Kindle format bothers you, then please complain to Amazon. They don’t have a bulk uploader and are trying to put all the other book retailers out of business. My books are still available on Smashwords and anyone they ship out to. This includes libraries. There are many options and none of us get screwed in the process. But when Amazon is involved, the creative people and other hard workers get screwed all the time.