That’s a MARKETING tool, not a retailing one.

Once people on your list decide to buy, the question then is where they’ll buy. The vast majority will refuse to buy from an author directly, even if that’s the only way to get the book they want.

It’s a sad fact, but it’s a consistent one, across many types of author, many types of books, many formats of books, and so on. It’s even more true for ebooks than it was for print.

BTW, very large publishers have a slightly better ability to garner those sales, but not much. It’s another way in which all publishers are in the same boat.

I have faith in the creativity of authors and small presses, too. It’s one of the reasons I left “big publishing” to consult with the micro-presses (successful self-publishers and the houses selling less than $10 million per year).

The best of them do a fair bit of tactical thinking. I have yet to see much discussion of strategic thinking.

On THIS issue, failing to get an approach that will support you and your books through 6 months or a year without access to Amazon looks to me to be likely to cause a problem. Not a possibility, but a probability.

In any case, having other avenues that provide substantial sales shouldn’t harm your Amazon sales in the slightest, so it can only help you. Why NOT follow my advice, and go find those avenues?

I don’t share your sentiments or your fears, not because I believe that Amazon can do no wrong, but because I have faith in self-publishers that if Amazon or other retailers do something, they would do what’s best for them. Whenever I hang out around other self-publishers, the two most common advices are (beside write new books, edit them and slap a guilty cover on it) have a new release mail list and don’t put all the eggs into one basket, so I don’t agree with the. “The difference here is that self-publishing authors tend to avoid thinking about strategy and tactics and contingency plans.” As I see it, self-publishers, the serious ones who want a career out of it, are all about strategy and tactics that would enable their career on a long term.
If I’m right or wrong, we will see what the next few years will bring.

I read your post through the filter of all the ones I’ve been reading lately, where the author forgot that fact. I gather that you’re very aware of the two different roles (author and publisher), and the fact that you need to switch between them, in order to maximize your readership and your profits.

Yes, I’m afraid of what Amazon (or any other business in its position) will do. The logic is inescapable.

And, yes, all of the different stores have done things that have harmed one or another segment of publishers (including self-publishers) at times.

The difference here is that self-publishing authors tend to avoid thinking about strategy and tactics and contingency plans.

Amazon recognizes that there’s less profit to be taken from the self-publishing community than from the Big Houses, so they start with the bigger ones. They always have. But then, they get around to squeezing the smaller houses, and last, but always coming, they get the self-publishing community.

But they’ve always gotten around to squeezing the self-publishing community before. Now that ebooks have come along, and this segment is bigger, if not perhaps, making more per author or per title, I suspect that the frequency with which the self-pubbers get squeezed, and the degree to which they get squeezed to go up, not down.

Yes, Amazon is a a store, and even though they do have a big chunk of the market, they are only one of many, and since they were the ones who heavily influenced the boom of e-book market, you are right, “self-publishers identify this STORE with the whole phenomenon of self-publishing.” So? I don’t get why this is “an error with dreadful potential for painful consequences.”

From your comments is evident that you are worried about what Amazon might do some day, which is in my opinion a waste of time. Amazon is a business and as such it would will do what all business do, what’s best for their bottom line. And I will do the same, that’s why I’m not in KDP Select.

I got the feeling that you are equating self-publishers with trade-published authors, who when they sign a contract lose the control over their IP and what happens to it, and the only way out is to buy their rights back or to sue their publishers. Self-publishers approach Amazon as a publishers, not as authors, and even though we don’t have clout as trade-publishers do, we are in much better position than trade-published authors, which was evident by reactions of Hachette’s authors, who have via their blogs displayed (even thought I doubt that was their aim) how depended their livelihood is on good will of their publishers and their publisher’s relationship with retailers.

If you are not aware of, Amazon as retailer had already hurt self-publishers via shoving their erotica book into the dungeon, but so did Kobo. And B&N, where I sold more than I did on Amazon, hurt my bottom line personally, when it changed algorithms in favour of trade-published titles, because of which my sales come to abrupt stop. But I, and I suspect many self-publishers, take such changes in stride, adapt and move on.

They’re JUST A STORE. The problem is that THIS store is so central to most authors’ strategy that self-publishers have come to identify this STORE with the whole phenomenon of self-publishing.

This is an error with dreadful potential for painful consequences.

Publishers are not a monolith. They’re in competition with each other far more than they are with you. The largest of them has only 25% of all book sales. Hachette has 10%.

Do not confuse Amazon with an ally. It’s not. It’s pursuing its own profits, without care for or interest in your profits. For the MOMENT, Amazon’s offering you a great deal.

Expect that to change as it has for small publishers and self-publishers who focus on print books. Drastically, and without warning. There’s no reason on Earth why they wouldn’t do that to you, as they have to every single other class of publisher, most of them more than once.

Look past the other issues you have with the publishing world. On THIS issue, you’re in the same boat as all the other 100,000 publishers who own their own ISBN blocks in the US.

This was a comment I posted on Hugh Howey’s site – and I’ll probably expand this into a longer post sometime soon…

“In my opinion, it’s great the Passive Guy is coming out fully on this. Similarly, I was on the fence about the Big 5/Legacy Publishers as they do fill a certain niche and do some good for a lot of authors (editing, covers, promotions, etc.).

However, I think Hachette and the mainstream media have crossed a moral event horizon here – and the fact that the monopolists are being straightforward about their intentions gives all a clear indication where we stand. Hachette is the enemy of all indie authors, publishers, and bookstores. Their arguments against Amazon pertain to all non-chain bookstores, all indie shops, all discounters, all publishing platforms – and their intentions are to stop it all to maintain their stranglehold.

They’re bringing out the big guns here – getting authors, TV personalities, and media to smear and defame Amazon. Patterson and Turow even talked about getting the government involved – the same government that hates the online market and believes that there are corporations “too big to fail.”

In other words, I think all us indie writers, etc., should be afraid and wary. The bad news is that the gov’t is likely to legislate on this, basically putting indies all over in a major bind.

The positive thing about this? The Big 5 (and Turow, Patterson, Colbert) aren’t even pretending to be on the side of authors and entrepreneurs. I hate to sound volatile, but they are now the enemy and we should not be passive about this.”

I agree with PG here – indies need to get ready. We all should’ve known that the Big 5 were not done after the collusion verdict. They’re basically at war with indies – we cannot forget that.

This is more true for self-publishers than it is for the giant conglomerates.

That’s why smart self-publishers are actively working on their new release email lists and on expanding their fan base. With enough true fans, who would follow them everywhere where their book are available, and buy it directly from author’s web site if need be, how large share of the market retailer holds, doesn’t matter that much.

I believe that trade-published authors would do well with having an release email list, that way when a similar situation as Amazon vs Hachette happens (which it will, since there are four other big publisher in line to butt their heads with Amazon), they would be able to steer their ‘core’ fans to other retailers. But the thing is, would big-publisher be even willing to add a link to their authors’ email link in the back of their books?

It’s not just this industry and Amazon with a push toward the smaller businesses. I’m seeing high end 3D computer programs, once only affordable by Hollywood production companies, dropping significantly in price in order to work with the indie gaming and graphic art devs. It is definitely interesting.

And as a disclaimer, let me throw out there that I was simply responding that one last ppps that Jeremy made, I didn’t mean to kick the thread off the rails.