Bernard
asked
Peter Cawdron:
I enjoyed what I read from you, and actually wrote a good review. Unfortunately, there seems to be very little that is available in the ePUB format used by my ereader. I found 2 or 3 from Kobo and Smashword, but most of your books are not included, and I wonder why. Several are available in audio format from Kobo, but not as text, and I much prefer reading myself. Where can I find more of your books in ePUB?
Peter Cawdron
Bernard, unfortunately, ebooks are split into two different format types—epub and mobi (Amazon's proprietary format). On several occasions over the past decade, I maintained two sets of books (in each format), but sales in epub format were dismal.
When Amazon introduced their Kindle Unlimited concept, I was faced with a quandary—what should I do with my novels? Amazon gave authors the option of contributing to a virtual library run similar to the music services Spotify, Apple Music, etc, where artists are paid on the basis of consumption (people listening to their songs or, in my case, reading my books). The catch was... the books had to be exclusive to Amazon (you can see where this is going). At first, I split the books evenly between platforms, but it pretty quickly became clear Kindle Unlimited was extremely popular.
As a writer, I want my books to be read. I'm not sure what your impression of me is, but I feel as though I'm a busker on a street corner throwing his heart and soul into a song as shoppers idle past. I survive on the coins thrown in the guitar case. Actually, that overstates things a little as I'm not a full-time author.
These days, I have far more books read through Kindle Unlimited than are purchased as ebooks on Amazon itself! And don't get me started on paperbacks (those sales are in single digits each month).
So I had a tough decision to make. Do I keep my books wide to make them as accessible as possible to readers such as you? Or do I go exclusively with Amazon and reach the greatest number of readers?
In the early days, I was quite torn by this as someone with a Kobo reader would be locked out of my stories, but over the past decade, with the rise of smart phones and tablets, readers can install apps for Kobo, Apple Books and Amazon with ease. I'm hoping that helps readers such as yourself and keeps my novels accessible.
You can find my traditionally published novels RETROGRADE and (the soon to be release sequel) REENTRY on all platforms, but most of my self-published writing is exclusive to Amazon.
From all of us street busking authors, thank you for supporting independent science fiction.
When Amazon introduced their Kindle Unlimited concept, I was faced with a quandary—what should I do with my novels? Amazon gave authors the option of contributing to a virtual library run similar to the music services Spotify, Apple Music, etc, where artists are paid on the basis of consumption (people listening to their songs or, in my case, reading my books). The catch was... the books had to be exclusive to Amazon (you can see where this is going). At first, I split the books evenly between platforms, but it pretty quickly became clear Kindle Unlimited was extremely popular.
As a writer, I want my books to be read. I'm not sure what your impression of me is, but I feel as though I'm a busker on a street corner throwing his heart and soul into a song as shoppers idle past. I survive on the coins thrown in the guitar case. Actually, that overstates things a little as I'm not a full-time author.
These days, I have far more books read through Kindle Unlimited than are purchased as ebooks on Amazon itself! And don't get me started on paperbacks (those sales are in single digits each month).
So I had a tough decision to make. Do I keep my books wide to make them as accessible as possible to readers such as you? Or do I go exclusively with Amazon and reach the greatest number of readers?
In the early days, I was quite torn by this as someone with a Kobo reader would be locked out of my stories, but over the past decade, with the rise of smart phones and tablets, readers can install apps for Kobo, Apple Books and Amazon with ease. I'm hoping that helps readers such as yourself and keeps my novels accessible.
You can find my traditionally published novels RETROGRADE and (the soon to be release sequel) REENTRY on all platforms, but most of my self-published writing is exclusive to Amazon.
From all of us street busking authors, thank you for supporting independent science fiction.
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