“Traditionally published” books and even many “self published” books are sold in all major storefronts and often on the author’s website (if they have one).
The issue is that Amazon has REALLY REALLY good tools for self publishing and, at least until recently, Kindle Unlimited (?) was a great way for authors to make money without the power of a traditional publisher or the grindset for true self publishing. And Kindle Unlimited requires amazon exclusivity.
The “good” news is that Amazon is dicking everyone over with changes to Audible and the like (it is allegedly a big reason why Sanderson basically made his own publishing house) and a lot of the big names in SFF are increasingly considering their options. That is a drop in the bucket compared to Romantasy and the like, but it is not nothing.
So best recommendation is to politely nudge your favorite authors and to signal boost booktube/booktok/bookgram/whatever to keep pushing on this. One of my guilty pleasure “litrpg” authors has been open about this in the past that they use Kindle Unlimited but, at least on their discord, are increasingly looking into alternatives because so many of the diehard fans actively don’t want to give Amazon money but still want to give them cash.
Just to keep adding on: Funny enough, Christopher Ruocchio’s “whatever happened between him and DAW” is actually increasingly being used as an argument for why it is okay to change publishing formats. For those unaware, Ruocchio’s Sun Eater series is spectacular in that it starts as Space Rome and Barbarians At The Gates before… going places. But he had scope creep and wanted to do an extra book but his publisher (DAW) had given him a specific deal and did not want to renegotiate and it was a huge clusterfuck that more or less led to him changing publishers midstream.
Which is generally acknowledged as a death sentence for a series because it makes any form of promotion nigh impossible because the old publisher actively does not want to encourage sales of new books (that is “their” money) and the new publisher can’t sell the books that are generally required reading for the new ones. But between a lot of fans who had fallen in love with the series and prominent booktube influencers going REAL hard on it, he managed to successfully switch publishers and should be finishing up early next year?
But considering how many authors are in essentially the same mess where the first ten books are on Kindle but the next twenty might be on Kindle+Kobo+whatever? It is a very scary prospect that could literally end their literary career but… it is also increasingly doable.
To clarify:
“Traditionally published” books and even many “self published” books are sold in all major storefronts and often on the author’s website (if they have one).
The issue is that Amazon has REALLY REALLY good tools for self publishing and, at least until recently, Kindle Unlimited (?) was a great way for authors to make money without the power of a traditional publisher or the grindset for true self publishing. And Kindle Unlimited requires amazon exclusivity.
The “good” news is that Amazon is dicking everyone over with changes to Audible and the like (it is allegedly a big reason why Sanderson basically made his own publishing house) and a lot of the big names in SFF are increasingly considering their options. That is a drop in the bucket compared to Romantasy and the like, but it is not nothing.
So best recommendation is to politely nudge your favorite authors and to signal boost booktube/booktok/bookgram/whatever to keep pushing on this. One of my guilty pleasure “litrpg” authors has been open about this in the past that they use Kindle Unlimited but, at least on their discord, are increasingly looking into alternatives because so many of the diehard fans actively don’t want to give Amazon money but still want to give them cash.
Just to keep adding on: Funny enough, Christopher Ruocchio’s “whatever happened between him and DAW” is actually increasingly being used as an argument for why it is okay to change publishing formats. For those unaware, Ruocchio’s Sun Eater series is spectacular in that it starts as Space Rome and Barbarians At The Gates before… going places. But he had scope creep and wanted to do an extra book but his publisher (DAW) had given him a specific deal and did not want to renegotiate and it was a huge clusterfuck that more or less led to him changing publishers midstream.
Which is generally acknowledged as a death sentence for a series because it makes any form of promotion nigh impossible because the old publisher actively does not want to encourage sales of new books (that is “their” money) and the new publisher can’t sell the books that are generally required reading for the new ones. But between a lot of fans who had fallen in love with the series and prominent booktube influencers going REAL hard on it, he managed to successfully switch publishers and should be finishing up early next year?
But considering how many authors are in essentially the same mess where the first ten books are on Kindle but the next twenty might be on Kindle+Kobo+whatever? It is a very scary prospect that could literally end their literary career but… it is also increasingly doable.
Nice read. I’m no longer at keyboard. Good points.