Glut Glut Glut GLUUUUUUUUUUT!

Here’s the shocking news: Even for self-published ebooks, it’s the better writers who are finding the audience and getting the money.

Shocking, I know. But the way some people are reacting to the marketplace and the glut of both good and bad writing out there is puzzling.

Take this reaction against Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited, a book-rental free-for-all that lets folks gobble up as many books as they want for $9.99 a month. You know the authors are going to get the shaft on this kind of deal, but it’s kind of funny to see how many people were surprised at the fact.

Here’s the thing, from this article: “Kindle Unlimited is not mandatory, but writers fear that if they do not participate, their books will not be promoted.”

Guess what? Maybe they don’t get promoted. Maybe they get lost in the wash. But outside the program, every book sold earns money for the author. Here we see Amazon, champion of the downtrodden, simply turning into a traditional publisher of ebooks, taking on the marketing side and then cutting the amount paid to authors for the work. What never authors have to act surprised.

From the article:

“Does Amazon want to become a legacy publisher like we all are fleeing from and they seem to disapprove of?” the horror writer Kathryn Meyer Griffith asked in an online forum, adding, “They’re doing a good job of recreating that whole unfair bogus system where they make the money and we authors survive on the pennies that are left.”

Well duh.

I’m hoping to self-publish a book this year. I know I keep saying that. But I’m getting closer. This is going to be my year, I can feel it. And I’m already cognizant of the fact I’m going to have to do much of the marketing on my own if I want the book to fly. It probably won’t go anywhere, but at least I’ll have done it. And to me, that’s what counts.

I’m reminded what Robert Newton Peck wrote in his book “Secrets of Successful Fiction,” wherein he says even in the print era, he was the best promoter and marketer of his books. Relying on the publishers to do so wouldn’t work at all. So he worked hard at it. He wanted his books to sell so he did the work for it. That’s going to be my model.