SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR FRIENDSThis *INSANE* email from Barnes & Noble WTF—no more than 100 books and they start deleting??—removing titles that don't meet minimum sales?
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@susankayequinn @MisWiredKE Might be tempting to go print-only, but now, a quarter of the way into the 21st century, that would limit sales very drastically.
The only time I buy print books now, for example, is whem they're ancient collectibles on my long-term want-list that I can't get as ebooks. (Or occasionally when the ebook versions of newer books are super-expensive and DRM-encumbered.)
@smashedratonpress
After Amazon dropped magazine subscriptions, I lost several years of issues.If I'd bought them in paper, *I would still have them*.
Now I buy only paper or EPUB, no more proprietary formats!
Also, paper books never seem to have their batteries run out, or simply break and stop working.
@susankayequinn @MisWiredKE -
@smashedratonpress
After Amazon dropped magazine subscriptions, I lost several years of issues.If I'd bought them in paper, *I would still have them*.
Now I buy only paper or EPUB, no more proprietary formats!
Also, paper books never seem to have their batteries run out, or simply break and stop working.
@susankayequinn @MisWiredKE@dancingtreefrog
Totally agree about proprietary formats! #EPUB is great... and so very portable these days. -
@dancingtreefrog
Totally agree about proprietary formats! #EPUB is great... and so very portable these days. -
I encourage everyone to email B&N and D2D right now... the more they sense the absolute panic this is causing in the indie world, the more likely they are to back off from draconian idiotic policies.
3/3
#writing #selfpublishing@susankayequinn
I unlisted all of my books and sent D2D a message through their system - which noted that they are very busy due to sudden onslaught of messages (I am not paraghracing exactly). I can't afford to pay a fee on books I already can't market properly due to making most of my measly income doing illustrations instead....so now I will be stuck with Amazon KDP. (÷_÷)* -
@susankayequinn
I unlisted all of my books and sent D2D a message through their system - which noted that they are very busy due to sudden onslaught of messages (I am not paraghracing exactly). I can't afford to pay a fee on books I already can't market properly due to making most of my measly income doing illustrations instead....so now I will be stuck with Amazon KDP. (÷_÷)*@hiisikoloart I understand, D2D really is betraying indie authors (who *made them as a business* mind you).
I still distribute through them but ONLY for Bookshop and ONLY because that's the only real way for me to get there.
I encourage you to publish widely and not rely just on KDP.
https://wandering.shop/@susankayequinn/115895107254032111 -
@hiisikoloart I understand, D2D really is betraying indie authors (who *made them as a business* mind you).
I still distribute through them but ONLY for Bookshop and ONLY because that's the only real way for me to get there.
I encourage you to publish widely and not rely just on KDP.
https://wandering.shop/@susankayequinn/115895107254032111@susankayequinn
I am disabled so I can only do what is the easiest path at the moment. The whole end part of publishing process is very punishing for my brain cells. (^_^)*I will try to get my books spread wide again, but since D2D is out....well, I don't have the fuel to go to each individual place one at the time to make sure they are available. )*: That would take far too many precious hours I don't have.
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@susankayequinn
I am disabled so I can only do what is the easiest path at the moment. The whole end part of publishing process is very punishing for my brain cells. (^_^)*I will try to get my books spread wide again, but since D2D is out....well, I don't have the fuel to go to each individual place one at the time to make sure they are available. )*: That would take far too many precious hours I don't have.
@hiisikoloart I understand (and I'm sorry -- I truly hate that D2D is doing this, small indie authors are what made their business, and it's not like "small" is a permanent state -- they're discouraging new authors too, because everyone starts "small" -- just saying that maybe they'll back off on this when they realize it's an incredibly stupid move)
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@hiisikoloart I understand (and I'm sorry -- I truly hate that D2D is doing this, small indie authors are what made their business, and it's not like "small" is a permanent state -- they're discouraging new authors too, because everyone starts "small" -- just saying that maybe they'll back off on this when they realize it's an incredibly stupid move)
@susankayequinn
I hope they back away from this desicion too and instead attack the AI slop - maybe have the books reviewed for slop covers and editing instead, and punish those who seem to publish books constantly (or have them reviewed by a human at least).If they wont...well, for many of us who have very little energy, this is a dream ender...and AI was already kicking our asses to the highest degree.
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@susankayequinn
I hope they back away from this desicion too and instead attack the AI slop - maybe have the books reviewed for slop covers and editing instead, and punish those who seem to publish books constantly (or have them reviewed by a human at least).If they wont...well, for many of us who have very little energy, this is a dream ender...and AI was already kicking our asses to the highest degree.
@hiisikoloart I would (gently) encourage you to consider that it doesn't have to be a dream ender. There can be other ways to share your stories, ways that can work within the limits of your energy &other constraints. If I know anything, after 15 years of publishing, it's that READERS will find a way... they want your stories and they'll construct whole networks to get what they want. Be patient, see what develops, but don't assume the SlopSlingers will succeed in killing art. They will not.
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the injury of indie authors being shoved off platforms because AI is sucking up all the storage space after the insult of those very works being stolen by AI corps to feed their slop machine
(D2D and B&N both)
@susankayequinn A single bog-standard 1tb drive can easily store a million books (assuming a generous 1mb/book).
Whatever other problems the fake intelligence industry is causing, a lack of storage space for ebooks is not one of them.
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@susankayequinn A single bog-standard 1tb drive can easily store a million books (assuming a generous 1mb/book).
Whatever other problems the fake intelligence industry is causing, a lack of storage space for ebooks is not one of them.
@aianhanma my covers alone are each several MB
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@hiisikoloart I understand, D2D really is betraying indie authors (who *made them as a business* mind you).
I still distribute through them but ONLY for Bookshop and ONLY because that's the only real way for me to get there.
I encourage you to publish widely and not rely just on KDP.
https://wandering.shop/@susankayequinn/115895107254032111I will just toss out that after I stopped paying for Amazon Ads, Google Play Store has become the biggest earning place for me.
And you can't reach them through D2D anyway, you have to go direct with them. They make it fairly easy, too.
It took about a year for my books to take off there, but now I'm glad I publish with them.
(Even if they are evil... *sigh*)
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@hiisikoloart I would (gently) encourage you to consider that it doesn't have to be a dream ender. There can be other ways to share your stories, ways that can work within the limits of your energy &other constraints. If I know anything, after 15 years of publishing, it's that READERS will find a way... they want your stories and they'll construct whole networks to get what they want. Be patient, see what develops, but don't assume the SlopSlingers will succeed in killing art. They will not.
Co-op? Find one, start one?
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@aianhanma my covers alone are each several MB
@susankayequinn Doesn't change the conclusion all that much: let's get a royal average of 100mb/book, that is still ten thousand books on that 1tb drive. Buying a needlessly high end one for $200 delivers the backbreaking burden of $.02 per book.
That is two cents over the lifetime of a modern storage device, easily more than five years.
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@hiisikoloart I would (gently) encourage you to consider that it doesn't have to be a dream ender. There can be other ways to share your stories, ways that can work within the limits of your energy &other constraints. If I know anything, after 15 years of publishing, it's that READERS will find a way... they want your stories and they'll construct whole networks to get what they want. Be patient, see what develops, but don't assume the SlopSlingers will succeed in killing art. They will not.
@susankayequinn
I will keep publishing, just through KDP for now and hope D2D will get their shit together. (^_^)* -
Co-op? Find one, start one?
@faduda @susankayequinn
I have my hands more than full with my small art business and can't afford any co-op fees. Nor do I have time for setting up a co-op. (You mean business sense, right?)I could maybe trade services with someone to help me manage the workload...but thus far haven't found anyone who would barter those skills for art. (^_^)*
My dreams aren't dead yet, but I know some who are so utterly dejected they might not write anymore at all.
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I will just toss out that after I stopped paying for Amazon Ads, Google Play Store has become the biggest earning place for me.
And you can't reach them through D2D anyway, you have to go direct with them. They make it fairly easy, too.
It took about a year for my books to take off there, but now I'm glad I publish with them.
(Even if they are evil... *sigh*)
@Firlefanz @susankayequinn
Maybe I could try that....despite then being evil too. I hate that we only have bad options available. -
@faduda @susankayequinn
I have my hands more than full with my small art business and can't afford any co-op fees. Nor do I have time for setting up a co-op. (You mean business sense, right?)I could maybe trade services with someone to help me manage the workload...but thus far haven't found anyone who would barter those skills for art. (^_^)*
My dreams aren't dead yet, but I know some who are so utterly dejected they might not write anymore at all.
@hiisikoloart @susankayequinn
Write first ..
Life will find a way. -
@faduda @susankayequinn
I have my hands more than full with my small art business and can't afford any co-op fees. Nor do I have time for setting up a co-op. (You mean business sense, right?)I could maybe trade services with someone to help me manage the workload...but thus far haven't found anyone who would barter those skills for art. (^_^)*
My dreams aren't dead yet, but I know some who are so utterly dejected they might not write anymore at all.
I want to offer to trade, bc I could really use art for book covers rather than trying to cobble something up myself, and I don't mind doing publishing stuff. But my health is such I'm not very reliable in terms of getting shit done in a timely fashion.
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I will just toss out that after I stopped paying for Amazon Ads, Google Play Store has become the biggest earning place for me.
And you can't reach them through D2D anyway, you have to go direct with them. They make it fairly easy, too.
It took about a year for my books to take off there, but now I'm glad I publish with them.
(Even if they are evil... *sigh*)
@Firlefanz @susankayequinn @hiisikoloart wait, you can publish on Google Play Store? That's news to me.
Honestly, I only really use KDP for physical copies of my book (in case someone wants one). But I really need to diversify my revenue streams (both as an author and as a content creator)
