AiIP: The Further Adverntures of an Indie Publisher

This is a post I have been sitting on for a while- or, at least, the idea of it. But here's the thing:

I really, really dislike Amazon.

Aimed directly at your wallet.

There, I said it. I'm not even one of those big bad corporation is big and bad type of people. I get it- they want to make money, and they are good at it. Hell, I want to make money (feel free to help that cause along). Really what I dislike (besides the fact that Amazon feels like the digital equivalent of Wal-Mart) is that Amazon's way allows for no middle ground. It is take-no-prisoners market domination.

Again, I get it. If somehow I had to choose between dominating the sci-fi market and not, I'd take the former, and so would anyone else. But despite the waxing of self-published poster boy Hugh Howey, Amazon is not really that cool, nor good for literature. Amazon is good for selling books. Amazon is the new face of publishing (which, incidentally, is not dying- just changing).

And that's as it may be. I don't like it, but I sure can't change it. The Amazon's and Wal-Mart's will always exist (heck, that's a central theme to my own writing), but how beholden to them are we? To few authors explore other options, such as Kobo, or even print, and every time someone uses the term 'Kindle Best Seller', I cringe.

The fact is that Amazon is industry standard, and as long as bored housewives keep reading 50 Shades of Grey on Kindle, they'll keep getting away with tax evasions, employee abuses and late payments (cough cough).

So the million dollar question is, can one succeed separate from Amazon? Can an indie author live in the shadow of the giant, and garner the support of the alternate e-readers and indie bookstores?

I'm going to find out.

As of as soon as Amazon updates (one day to a month or so-ish), I'm not selling there anymore. If you want to read my book digitally, head over to Kobo. Over the next couple weeks, I'll be doing a lot of legwork to establish partnerships with brick-and-mortar bookstores. If you have one in your area, please send me their info (deanfortythree at gmail), and hopefully I can get physical copies in your area.


So here's to the new chapter in this adventure.

-D.E.S. Richard