Kindle Unlimited and the Death of the Indie Author

Good morning! 

Normally, I don't use my blog for industry type posts, but this is a special instance. I wanted to let readers know how damaging KU and other subscriptions services are to you as a reader.

I write novels. Long ones. They take months of hard work and quite a bit of money to produce up front. A few hundred for a cover, $400 or so for editing, formatting costs more if you can't do it yourself. 
That's the easy part.

Getting noticed, getting found in the glut of wanna-be authors out there who only make a living due to KU, is getting near impossible. KU is filled with new indies who CAN'T make a living without KU because their works aren't good enough for a reader to spend money on their book. But if it's included in a free service? Why not? They are also usually lesser quality, these authors don't pay for editing, don't pay for a cover, don't understand the investment required before publishing a book.

Amazon, for their part, is burying our books. Look in any category, such as contemporary romance. The first dozen pages of books to show up will all be KU, effectively cutting off any chance non-KU authors (aka authors who actually make a living writing) have of being discovered by readers. 

Then there's the rankings. Amazon is skewing rankings by weighing KU titles heavier on their best seller lists. So a book that is KU can be #1 on Amazon even though a non-KU title by a well known author will be #2000. And the KU author is not only selling way fewer titles, but the non-KU author now doesn't receive the distinction of being a best seller, even though he/she sells more copies.

This system is essentially creating a vacuum, where the only titles that KU will make visible will be newbie, non-experienced, possibly not so great authors. (This is a generalization and I do realize that especially in niche genres such as LGBT, there are exceptions in KU) More experienced, quality authors, now losing revenue and market share, will start to leave Amazon to market their books on iBooks and B&N, leaving Amazon to sell the leftovers.

Do you love reading? Do you love quality authors and good stories? Do you own an Apple device? Do yourself a favor and try out iBooks. It's very user friendly, the lists aren't skewed or falsified to promote Apple or favor them in any way. Top sellers are top sellers. Period. 

If we allow Amazon to continue the way they're going, quality authors will leave the market and you'll be stuck with Netflix syndrome. Tons of movies and shows to watch, none of them are any good or interesting. 

Thanks.