It’s time to pivot – 2 big announcements & a heads up

The title of this post reminds me of that quintessential scene in the TV show Friends – if you know it, you know it!

Change is a part of life

If you're not changing, you're not growing, right? It's cliche but true, especially in the field of publishing. Ask any author and they'll tell you the speed in which things have changed in the last ten years is enough to give you whiplash. Several times over!

Sometimes a catalyst for change is when something new and better has been developed and it just makes sense to hop on board. For instance many cottage industries sprung up over the years that make an author/publisher's work a lot easier. Vellum for formatting instead of the dreaded html coding or even the difficulties working with microsoft word; Scrivener for organizing plot and character and so much more; bookfunnel for making it safe and easy to get early copies to reviewers.

Sometimes a change comes and it's just bad for authors. The most recent debate is over AI. Though it can be a good research tool, many bogus AI written books are being published to Amazon, clogging the lists for legitimate authors.

And sometimes it's hard to know if a new thing is good or not or if things just even out in the wash. In these types of cases authors usually fall on either side of the line and do what they think is best for their business, wishing the other guys success on their side. Kindle Unlimited falls in this camp. Some authors build their whole business on this role model and others prefer to go “wide” meaning, they sell their books at many retailers, not just Amazon. If you're unaware, authors have to sell their ebooks exclusively through Amazon to participate in Kindle Unlimited.

Kindle Unlimited seems like a win/win for readers and authors. Readers can read as many books they want for a low monthly subscription, and Amazon gives the author a bit more algorhythm love and pays a little bit per pages read that can really add up.

The problem for authors here is that they are not the rule makers and Amazon can and does change the rules often. One example is Amazon is paying authors less for these pages read as time goes on. This month the payout is the lowest it's been in the US since the program started.

Another problem with being completely reliant on one retailer is they can, and do, without warning shut down an author's publishing dashboard. That is an extreme case but I'm hearing about it a lot more than I'd like. Or they might refuse to publish a single title or a series. I've had this experience in a small way with one of my audio books. You might wonder why book 16, Murder in Belgravia, a Ginger Gold Mystery, isn't for sale on audible? It's not my decision, I can tell you that. All they'll report to me is that someone made a copyright claim and nothing I have said or done will change their mind (whoever they are) that this is a false claim. This is the sixteenth book in the series with established characters, etc.

It's not my intention to pick on Amazon, it's just that it's the retailer I'm most familiar with (and I'm very grateful for the opportunities Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing has given me as an independent author.) Some authors have issues with the other retailers as well, and I hear the Apple dashboard can be difficult.

This is a long winded lead up to the first of my two announcements.

I'M GOING TO SELL DIRECT.
Sorry for shouting, but I'm actually really excited about this. Many, many authors are starting to sell directly to their readers and this is a win/win! I'll be launching my store next month, so stay tuned for more information on that. In my next blog, I'll provide links to other authors I think you'll enjoy so you can see how they've set up their store. You can sign up HERE to make sure you're first to hear when my store goes live.

This leads me to the Heads Up.

I'm one of those authors who have been all-in with Amazon for a very long time. For those of you who read my books in KU, take a deep breath. I'm not pulling all of my books out. I'm not pulling any Ginger Gold books out.
I am pulling some books out. Except for the first book, the Rosa Reed series has completed its three month enrollment. My backlist books are out. My backlist books contain my young adult books, the romances and the suspense series. You can still get the Rosa Reed Mystery bundles box 2 and 3 on KU for a short time. If you like young adult you can get the Clockwise Collection (the first book is available on KU through the box set, Seaweed and Love, Tink until September.

For now, the Higgins & Hawke books will stay in KU along with Ginger Gold (as I've already said, but feel it needs repeating. The exception is the intro novella, Murder on the SS Rosa, but since it's priced on Amazon for .99, I'm hoping that won't be an issue for readers).

The Rosa Reed books and the backlist books will remain in KU for a short time, so if you want to read them there, you should do it soon.

Whew. Okay, onto announcement two.

I'm going to be launching a Kickstarter campaign next month as well. But since this blog has gotten so long, I'm going to save that for a separate post. Just know it's going to be really, really cool.

The post It’s time to pivot – 2 big announcements & a heads up appeared first on Lee Strauss.