When retailers just change your book prices; an indie author POV

As promised, I'm dropping my prices for the second Zeta Cartel novel, Songbird, this month from 3.99 to 2.99. But when I went in and double-checked everything, I got a surprise: google Play books have discounted all my books. No notice, no information. It's just out there. Every single one of my books is being sold for RM10, that's

2.40.

That has two impacts on me.

First, money. For a 99 cent book, I make about 24 cents after taxes and platform fees (Amazon and Draft to Digital) but that's before the processing and bank fee. I think I get about 19 cents.

At 3.99, I make about 90 cents before bank and processing fees, probably around 85 cents

At 2.99, I make about 80 cents before bank and processing fees, probably around 75 cents

At RM10 per book, that's 2.40 I make about, well, less than 75 cents, that's for sure. Maybe 65 cents?

The second impact is emotional. Google is doing exactly the same as Amazon and all the other companies. They reserve the right to change my book prices without notice.

Shocking, right? But that's how it is for indie authors. We can budget all we like, but we have no control over how our books sell for.

Basically, the retailers have all the power and we have none. If they want to change our prices, they can. And if we don't like it, we have one option: leave.

And leaving means quitting writing. Technically, we can all sell our own stuff but in practice, the overheads are huge and it just doesn't work.

The message from the retailers is this: you write on our terms or you don't work. At all. Ever.

And now you know why so many of your favourite indie authors no longer publish. It's not the hard work, it's the uncertainty and degradation.

Back in the naughties, I really hoped that international platforms would give small artists like indie authors and music bands new platforms and opportunities. But it hasn't worked out like that. They grind us up and spit us out.

What can you do? I'm not sure. I mean, when I see carrots at a discount, I have no idea if the supermarket decided to stiff the farmer or if the farmer suggested it. So it's not like you can contact an author and ask, right?

You might try and force companies to play fair, but I don't think that's going to pan out, either.

All I can say is this: please buy AJ Adams books. Go to Google Play, get the good deal, and I hope you enjoy my work.

<3 AJ Adams, author of Songbird, the second novel in the Zeta Cartel series

Alternatively, click here to find Songbird in your favourite shop, Amazon, Kobo etc

Comments

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