I’m sure many of you have been following Amazon’s attempt to convert indie authors to the KDP Select program. In a nutshell, Amazon is offering a “piece of the pie” (a fund set aside for authors) who take their books off the market with competing distributors i.e. Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, etc. and list them with KDP’s (Kindle Direct Publishing) lending library.

At first glance, it sounds intriguing but the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. The amount the author receives is based upon how many times their book is “borrowed” from the lending library. Of course, there’s a disclaimer with verbiage mentioning the number of “qualified borrows” but it doesn’t state in explicit detail what that incurs. The fund amount is a nebulous figure that can change but is explained with an example. An over inflated example.

If I were James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Nora Roberts or Iris Johansen, I might give those numbers a second glance. For the average indie author, however, the sales and marketing pitfalls resulting from exclusivity with Amazon far outweighs any benefit.

I have two books published through Amazon. They are also listed with Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. I will be the first to admit my total sales from Kindle owners blows everyone else out of the water. But do I really want to limit myself to just Kindle?

Even more importantly, I don’t think Amazon should monopolize the e-book market by using questionable tactics designed to take out the competition. It’s wrong. It’s bad for free enterprise. And in my humble opinion, the Feds should raise their eyebrows at this one.

Deb Sanders