Amazon is excluding spicy romance & LGBTQ books from the affiliates program.

[firlefanz@writing.exchange]

@susankayequinn

I knew they would come for those books. I knew it. And that's only the beginning. (Although their greed may keep romance alive.)

I never used the affiliates program and never will. In fact, I stopped using Amazon ads this year (and yes, I see a loss of sales).

You can re-order links in Books2Read, and I have put my PayHip on top, followed by Bookshop org and Smashwords (which now pays 75% royalties), before I list Amazon.

Same on my website.

And I'm going "wide" with Print.

[thedutchchief@mstdn.social]

@susankayequinn A couplet of weeks ago I closed my Amazon account. It's Kobo or my local bookstore.

[sobex@social.sciences.re]

@susankayequinn It's not obeying in advance, Bezos himself is a fascist.

[grace34@bookstodon.com]

@susankayequinn Congratulations on publishing your book! That’s a big step. Are you planning to promote it or are you focusing mainly on organic readers?

[jens@social.finkhaeuser.de]

@Firlefanz @susankayequinn About ten years ago now (time flies), I did some research on costs, on how to set up an alternative to the POD system from Amazon, which leaves brutally little for authors or small publishers. In my opinion, this is holding back growth of small publishers more than so many other factors, because it's a complaint I heard over and over.

The TL;DR of it is, it doesn't seem impossible. The harder part is that the printers I spoke to were fearing an uberization of...

[jens@social.finkhaeuser.de]

@Firlefanz @susankayequinn ... their services, i.e. where I provide a platform on which they compete, which ultimately drives down their price. I guess the experience with Amazon had burned them badly.

At the same time, mid-sized printers have invested heavily into POD-style printing solutions (TL;DR), so they are ready for this kind of thing, by and large.

I dropped that whole line of thought for a number of reasons back then, but I still feel it is missing. And more precisely, I think...

[jens@social.finkhaeuser.de]

@Firlefanz @susankayequinn ... what is missing is a co-op style organization for this rather than a market-driven one.

Perhaps it is time to dig out my notes and have more serious conversations about this? 🤔

[firlefanz@writing.exchange]

@jens

I definitely lean towards a co-op rather than market-driven. I would even be willing to share in the cost.

Indie Authors Unite! or something along those lines. 🙂

@susankayequinn

[chantaryu2@pataterie.ca]

@susankayequinn I thought Amazon was 80% "Pregnant by the alien dinosaurs" and "Ravished by alpha vampire werewolf twins" by now.
I know Kobo Plus is. 😬

[crcollins@writing.exchange]

@sapphireangel

Does he not still own the company? 🤔

I mean, the Washington Post has someone else running it too but come on 🙄

@andrew @susankayequinn

[sapphireangel@mastodon.online]

@crcollins @andrew @susankayequinn Do you also avoid using microsoft, walmart, google and apple? They are all guilty of the same type of behaviors and support of the state of this country. If you are going to go after one why not all? All of these rich people have done awful things.

[sibylle@troet.cafe]

@susankayequinn someone THAT rich is not obeying the fashs. He is a fash...
He's a trailblazer.

[jens@social.finkhaeuser.de]

@Firlefanz Oh yeah, I mean, definitely a Co-Op. As it so happens, my day job has given me a bunch of insights there as well, so I feel way better prepared for this than I was when I first had the idea.

It's more that back then I was thinking of barriers to growth for indie publishing. Now I think about it more are "keep civilization running in the face of the threat the fascist-capitalist-complex poses". Both, really :)

@susankayequinn

[crcollins@writing.exchange]

@sapphireangel @andrew @susankayequinn

True. But the OP was discussing one specific thing. People have the right to boycott anyone they want. Or not 🤷

[sapphireangel@mastodon.online]

@crcollins @andrew @susankayequinn Yes that is also true. I just don't understand the hatred directly at amazon all the time, and just one person, when many are at fault. That is what I don't get.

[missgayle@urbanists.social]

@susankayequinn

Bezos is not "obeying in advance," Bezos is one of the architects of this fascist coup. Boycott Amazon.

[susankayequinn@wandering.shop]

@rubyjones do you mean spicy or erotica (I think both should be distributed but they are distinct)? I've only distributed my SF so I should distribute some of my spicy romance to test this.

(it has to be D2D not bookshop because I already distribute my spicy romance paperbacks to bookshop via Ingram)

[susankayequinn@wandering.shop]

@jens @Firlefanz
I will be interested to hear more of your thoughts on this, esp coops