Baen Books built its name by doing what the rest of traditional publishing refused to do: publish military science fiction, hard sci-fi, and unapologetically entertaining genre fiction without a political litmus test.
Give even more power to the Amazon almost-monopoly? No, thanks, I refuse to use KU or to buy from there. Especially now that they removed the possibility to download them from the website, and are about to discontinue Kindle for PC as well, if an ebook is not available somewhere else it doesn't exist for me.
Especially for non-mainstream authors, depending exclusively on Amazon is extremely dangerous. They are slowly getting worse when it comes to censorship too, The Camp of the Saints was recently banned and only restored after a huge backlash. Not everyone can be that lucky, and I'm sure that if Vauban Books hadn't had the possibility to sell through other websites (and immediately shared them on X) they would have kept it removed anyway.
For that reason having single authors and publishers like Baen selling their books directly from their platforms (and/or on as many others as they can) is extremely important, and I will keep supporting them as much as possible.
The problem is that without Amazon right now would anyone survive? I know castalia is starting to move over. Been needs to resurrect the free library and get people so hooked they will pay for ARC (advances reading copies) and then hardbacks. But they don’t have the next generation of talent
Write 8-9 books per year outside of KU and you have a chance. I stopped KU years ago - too little return and it seemed like Amazon loved to slice page-counts.
What's needed is a "small" house that can format digital books and price sensibly for market desires, provide multiple download formats for purchasers, and get royalties to the authors. Personal thoughts only, here.
Sidestep the kindle-only trap
Advertise new works
Keep your website current
Keep relational databases updated
Pair up purchased selections with "Readers may also like tales by these these authors ..."
I think these loose alliances of authors makes 100x more sense. Building your own solo audience is hard but I suspect if you have regular collaborations with good people, you can coordinate a bit and bootstrap a respectable audience.
On the operational side, a couple of solid, vetted editors and artists with a simplified process/back office addresses a bunch of the un-fun publishing needs at a fraction of the cost and effort.
Chris Kennedy of https://chriskennedypublishing.com/ looks like a good example. A bunch of the authors on that anthology - Cordova, Ikenberry, Steverson, others - publish there regularly. Their Four Horseman Universe is 90% great and every book has hooks to their partner-authors, series, etc.
Give even more power to the Amazon almost-monopoly? No, thanks, I refuse to use KU or to buy from there. Especially now that they removed the possibility to download them from the website, and are about to discontinue Kindle for PC as well, if an ebook is not available somewhere else it doesn't exist for me.
Especially for non-mainstream authors, depending exclusively on Amazon is extremely dangerous. They are slowly getting worse when it comes to censorship too, The Camp of the Saints was recently banned and only restored after a huge backlash. Not everyone can be that lucky, and I'm sure that if Vauban Books hadn't had the possibility to sell through other websites (and immediately shared them on X) they would have kept it removed anyway.
For that reason having single authors and publishers like Baen selling their books directly from their platforms (and/or on as many others as they can) is extremely important, and I will keep supporting them as much as possible.
The problem is that without Amazon right now would anyone survive? I know castalia is starting to move over. Been needs to resurrect the free library and get people so hooked they will pay for ARC (advances reading copies) and then hardbacks. But they don’t have the next generation of talent
So what’s the alternative? Kindle Unlimited? Getting a few cents per reader?
KU may work for the really big names who can turn a few hundred thousand readers into an income roughly on par with delivering Uber Eats.
But for everyone else it’s a scam. KU is the literary analogue to the 19th century sweatshop. Writers get a few cents while Amazon reaps the profits.
KU is it already. There's not an alternative to KU that is viable for authors.
I’m as much against government overreach as the next guy, but sounds like DOJ should take a look at Kindles monopoly.
It’s not like with music where there are multiple services that offer you a buffet.
There isn't one. That's the problem. Brandon Sanderson has shown the way, but it's not one that most authors can easily follow.
Devon Eriksen seems to have done ok as well?
The problem with KU is that it only rewards two kinds of authors.
The big names who can survive only getting 50 cents to a dollar per read book…
And people who can use AI or amphetamines (or both) to write 2-3-4 books a year.
(And no, I’m not saying that you’re owed a living or that every writer wants it to be a career.)
Ultimately not just authors but also readers lose out.
Because they get to dredge through a pile of slop to find the gold.
Write 8-9 books per year outside of KU and you have a chance. I stopped KU years ago - too little return and it seemed like Amazon loved to slice page-counts.
95 page book magically becomes only 50 pages.
I got tired of that sh--
What's needed is a "small" house that can format digital books and price sensibly for market desires, provide multiple download formats for purchasers, and get royalties to the authors. Personal thoughts only, here.
Sidestep the kindle-only trap
Advertise new works
Keep your website current
Keep relational databases updated
Pair up purchased selections with "Readers may also like tales by these these authors ..."
Baen passed on this, unfortunately.
I think these loose alliances of authors makes 100x more sense. Building your own solo audience is hard but I suspect if you have regular collaborations with good people, you can coordinate a bit and bootstrap a respectable audience.
On the operational side, a couple of solid, vetted editors and artists with a simplified process/back office addresses a bunch of the un-fun publishing needs at a fraction of the cost and effort.
Chris Kennedy of https://chriskennedypublishing.com/ looks like a good example. A bunch of the authors on that anthology - Cordova, Ikenberry, Steverson, others - publish there regularly. Their Four Horseman Universe is 90% great and every book has hooks to their partner-authors, series, etc.
Sorry to hear it. The last right-leaning tradpub company passes.