Why I'm on Substack

My pathetic tale of indie author woe!

Here I am with the proof copy of my latest book! (Didn’t take much more than 3 or 4 or 5 years to get this done!)

BTW, that blue thing on my left hand. I wear it because I have a movement disorder called dystonia, which was caused by a stroke I had in 2004. It’s pretty useless, but it helps. Slightly. I’m typing this with my right hand and left pinkie. Seriously!

Okay, so I made the New York Times bestseller list with the first book in my mystery series. That was in 2011. Around the end of 2011, I believe it was, Amazon started its KDP Select program. My feelings about this could best be described this way …

The entire reason I self-published was with the goal of finding a publisher. But when my ebooks began selling like hotcakes, I decided to set up my own publishing imprint.

So I was leery of becoming exclusive to Amazon, when there were other ebook distributors and the readers that wouldn't have access to my books. In particular, I took note of the Kobo ereader, which ended up becoming the device of choice for indie bookstores.

A photo of me and my Kobo in 2012 or thereabouts. I’m wearing a Tardis necklace that a reader from England sent me. I will always treasure it. #DoctorWho

I also saw Amazon’s strategy in offering indie authors benefits in exchange for granting exclusive IP rights as a blatant power grab on the tech giant’s part.

And that was the scariest thing to me. That Amazon was becoming bigger than publishing itself. That it owned the various servers that everyone on the Internet used. That it was diversifying rapidly in all directions. In fact, one commentator compared Amazon’s behavior recently with that of a nation-state. What does this tell you?

I knew what would happen. I'd lose income with the decision to be non-exclusive. I just had no idea how much income I’d lose. And for the longest time, I assumed that the flood of new authors drawn by Amazon’s combination of easy publishing-distribution and bribery, oops, excuse me, make that financial incentives was to blame. But it was more than that.

Amazon went and changed their algorithms. And guess who benefits the most from Amazon's new algorithms. Authors who play what I like to call the "algorithm game". There are whole courses being taught on this shit, people. Whole courses being offered on how to create Amazon ads and BookBub ads and Facebook ads. Whole courses on what you can do to support the richest people in the world.

And, of course, they’ll pay you for your allegiance. Assuming that huge pool of money that goes to Amazon-exclusive authors lasts. And, of course, the pie has to be split among the many, many authors who hope to get ahead through exclusivity. And they’ll die trying to make bestseller status on those obscure little subcategories Amazon makes you ask them for. They don’t just provide them. You gotta ask! Weird, huh?

And when was the last time you bought a book based on an ad? I don't think I ever have.

Ads don't sell books. They may do other things like boost your visibility or … maybe Amazon ads help with the algorithms. I do not know. I do not care.

I also refuse to place myself on a nonstop riding treadmill. There are authors out there writing 3, 5, 10 (?) books a year. Well, more power to them and Godspeed.

I am in crap health, and I'm way too old to start taking orders from some self-appointed expert on how to make my life even more miserable. As Karen Karbo would say, “Yeah. No. Not Happening."

PS: Anyone scared yet???

PPS: Incidentally, my Kindle died a while ago. As you can imagine, I won’t be replacing it.

PPPS: There is a solution, if you’re willing to risk it! :) And there is at least one other lawyer who gives a damn.