No really, why?
A lot of authors seem to believe that “omg you HAVE to have your books on Amazon! How will anyone find them otherwise???”
This is completely unfounded, and untrue. Before I go on, I will tell you, my books are on Amazon. But I honestly don’t care if you never buy one there, because – take a look at the price there – for each paperback copy that sells there I will receive less than one US dollar, and it will take months for it to actually get to my bank account.
I’m going to cut to the chase. Amazon is not your friend. Amazon is not the friend of books, or publishers, especially indie publishers like my little company. I’ve spent way too much time recently explaining this to people who want to know why it’s so hard to find Propertius Press’s books on Amazon.
Hey, you can find them all day long at Barnes & Noble, the Apple Store, Kobo, and any bricks and mortar store can order them through Ingram, the world’s largest and best-known distributor. If I jumped through all the hoops that Amazon wants me to just to get my books a bit more visible on their site? I would have to say goodbye to selling anywhere else.
Don’t take my word for it. Here’s some happy reading.
Amazon, the greedy giant with small publishers in its grip
Amazon Reducing Orders to Publishers
Give a gift that supports small presses: Skip Amazon and buy direct
The Top 10 Things All Authors Should Know About Amazon
I worked in an Amazon warehouse. Bernie Sanders is right to target them
Amazon’s ruthless practices are crushing Main Street–and threatening the vitality of our communities
Like Walmart, only with supercomputers and drones: At Amazon.com “cheap” comes at a very hefty price
Primed: Are investors too optimistic about Amazon?
And my personal favorite:
Thanks to Bookshop, There Is No Reason to Buy Books on Amazon Anymore
I think, from now on, whenever people ask me about why it’s so hard to find our books on Amazon, I’ll point them here. I really, really appreciate our authors. But if you read all of these articles and still have questions, I’ll probably seriously rethink our relationship.
Susannah Eanes 