As countless many other users of Amazon’s Kindle Digital Publishing platform received recently from the company soliciting the help of indie authors in their ongoing battle against Hachette, with whom they’ve been embroiled in a long, messy right.
Amazon’s big gripe with Hachette is that they believe the publisher charges too much for its e-books, which, as Amazon sees it, is a deterrent for readers to buy its products. Hachette, for its part, isn’t backing down
Here’s the thing about that, really. For anyone using KDP, do we really want to step in the middle of this one? After all, if you’re using this platform, you can only use this platform if you want access to Amazon’s promotional tools, as well as the Kindle Select program.
This also isn’t the first time Amazon has duked it out with publishing, having had a skirmish with Smashwords, who has offered indie authors with a variety of outlets, including Nook, iBooks and, most recently, Overdrive, which partners with many librarys, and Oyster, which is a direct competitor of Amazon’s new Kindle Unlimited offering.
While Amazon remains the undisputed king of e-books with its Kindle empire, what incentive do authors have to limit themselves to just the one avenue. Kindle-compatible file formats can be purchased just as easily purchased directly from Smashwords, among other places.
So, Amazon, tell us again what the incentive is to align ourselves more closely to you?
Feel free to take your time in answering that one.
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