Comments on: Tracy Falbe: Why I haven’t added my e-books to the Kindle store

By: Tracy Falbe

Tracy Falbe — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:52:42 +0000

With Amazon’s raising of its royalty to 70 percent, I can gladly reverse my decision to withhold my titles from the Kindle store. Except for the first book in my fantasy series, I’ll be earning the 70 percent on my sales. Book I has always been a loss leader to introduce the series to readers, so I won’t earn much on that one, but that’s OK.

http://www.amazon.com/Union-Renegades-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B003UES7U8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1278424098&sr=1-1

By: pond

pond — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:55:28 +0000

“Also selling through Amazon denies me the important, some would say crucial, capacity to know my customer. When I have a sale at Amazon, I do not know who bought from me and I can never market myself to that person again.”

I wonder if the Kindle edition might not include a final ‘About the Author’ page with a hyperlink to your site. Would the Kindle-user be able to click on the link and hop to your site?

By: Richard Herley

Richard Herley — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:58:12 +0000

Agreed, also. I took one look at Amazon’s terms: that was enough for me — and uploading to their store just isn’t worth the hassle.

By: Moriah Jovan

Moriah Jovan — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:48:13 +0000

Agreed. Amazon’s a vampire.

I did put mine in the Kindle store, but I see Amazon as marketing and thus, a cost, not a revenue stream.

By: Rich Adin

Rich Adin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:34:34 +0000

First, Tracy’s fantasy novels are excellent — I’ve read them all as ebooks — and highly recommended.

But to the point of Tracy’s post, the terms of the Amazon contract. Amazon’s contract for ebooks are significantly more one-sided than Tracy’s post would lead one to believe. I doubt any sane small publisher would agree to its terms in the absence of Amazon’s market dominance. The problem is that each time a contract is signed, Amazon’s dominance is enhanced a bit, which makes me wonder what contracts down the road will look like.