Amazon Pay Per Page

[James Marinero]

This article has an interesting take on Amazon's new policy.

I think that I will have to put the plot climax in Chapter 1...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...per-page-A-wake-up-call-for-lazy-writers.html

 

[David Steele]

I might actually cry.

 

[David Steele]

It's the end of challenging literature.
Dumb down, guys. Earn big.

I quit.

 

[Island Writer]

I find this rather troubling... Need to let this sit for a while, but my initial thoughts are that, as authors, we not only need to beg for reviews, but get purchasers to turn every page of a book in order to get paid a pittance for the thousands of hours it takes to write a frigging book.

Seriously, there will be people who are paid to sit and page turn every day, just as there are those who make money from posting reviews.... A sad state of affairs indeed. It will be interesting to see how the industry reacts to this.

 

[Diamond]

What the article failed to make clear is that the paid-by-the-page scheme only applies to ebooks borrowed through Amazon's KDP Select / KindleUnlimited program. Enrolling your ebook in the program is totally optional. If a customer buys your ebook at the listed price, as per usual you will be paid upfront for every single page, whether the customer reads any of them or not.

 

[Jason Byrne]

I might actually cry.

Shorter than a goldfish's. You remember what I mean.

I might just cry, too.

Naw, you know what? Eff 'em — Herman Melville. Ulysses. Stephen Hawking. None of that is relevant.

We need relevant. Think more... Entertainment Weekly. Or the National Enquirer.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Boy, that article was really hard to tell if it was thinly veiled sarcasm or actual outrage at lengthy authors.

You know why some of the older authors were lengthy? Because they were paid by the word. Shoot, if I were paid by the word, do you think I'd say "red"? No, I'd say "the color of the fire truck that passed by me when I was eight, screaming towards my house, which I had left only minutes ago." Ya darn straight my books would be lengthy.

I disagree with this notion by Amazon. We are living in an increasingly "instant gratification" society, and people are only making it worse by "what can this do for me in fifteen seconds". *Sigh* But then again, it could force some lazy writers to be more choice with their words.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Boy, that article was really hard to tell if it was thinly veiled sarcasm or actual outrage at lengthy authors.

You know why some of the older authors were lengthy? Because they were paid by the word. Shoot, if I were paid by the word, do you think I'd say "red"? No, I'd say "the color of the fire truck that passed by me when I was eight, screaming towards my house, which I had left only minutes ago." Ya darn straight my books would be lengthy.

I disagree with this notion by Amazon. We are living in an increasingly "instant gratification" society, and people are only making it worse by "what can this do for me in fifteen seconds". *Sigh* But then again, it could force some lazy writers to be more choice with their words.

8 seconds, Nicole. 15 seconds is to long — you lost most people halfway through.

I was thinking the same thing about this article! If this is sarcasm, it's really really good sarcasm. I couldn't tell whether it was arguing in favor of the policy, or spotlighting its flaws.

 

[David Steele]

Seriously? It's a blistering attack. Look at the Beethoven comment.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Seriously? It's a blistering attack. Look at the Beethoven comment.

Yeah... but then there's stuff like this:
"...has allowed writers to get away with these baggy books that are structured as a whole – you know, with the descriptive bits and the establishment of character and the like..."
"what we readers have been lacking all this time are books with the fun-filled, life-affirming qualities of the crack-pipe..."

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Seriously? It's a blistering attack. Look at the Beethoven comment.

I was definitely leaving towards thinking it was sarcasm, but I also know people who would only be interested in that section of Beethoven's symphony, so...

 

[David Steele]

Check out the batteries in your Irony Detector, matey

 

[Jason Byrne]

Lemme check.

Yup. You're right. It's dead.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Amazon, smazon, 5 cents for a book sale, ain't bothering with them

 

[Emurelda]

Yeah definite ironic sarcasm there. He even plugged that capitalist book, lucky sod!

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Relax - Harry de Quetteville's articles in the Telegraph are always written with the ironometer set on 'maximum'.
I think the only danger is that the author will need surgery to have his tongue released from inside his cheek.

 

[Island Writer]

What the article failed to make clear is that the paid-by-the-page scheme only applies to ebooks borrowed through Amazon's KDP Select / KindleUnlimited program. Enrolling your ebook in the program is totally optional. If a customer buys your ebook at the listed price, as per usual you will be paid upfront for every single page, whether the customer reads any of them or not.

Ah, thanks for clarifying that, Diamond

 

[James Marinero]

Alternatively, I might reduce my pages to maybe 1 sentence per page on average, with no complete sentence on any one page. I trust that this will not extend beyond lending.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Alternatively, I might reduce my pages to maybe 1 sentence per page on average, with no complete sentence on any one page. I trust that this will not extend beyond lending.

Hahaha, perfect.

 

[Marc Joan]

Here is another take on what Amazon is trying to do: http://themichaelandrews.blogspot.co.uk/

I am neither endorsing nor opposing his view, just posting for information.

 

[James Marinero]

Here is another take on what Amazon is trying to do: http://themichaelandrews.blogspot.co.uk/

I am neither endorsing nor opposing his view, just posting for information.

I hope that the fence is comfortable!

Thanks for the post, an interesting analysis.

Off topic, but I wonder whether Amzon will get locked up in an anti-trust suit if their market share contijues to grow.

 

[Marc Joan]

I hope that the fence is comfortable!
.

Not from where I'm sitting. But Katie-Ellen has put weird snails in the grass, I don't want to get off.
Re anti-trust -- you mean if they are deemed to have a monopoly position? I suppose they could argue they are benefiting consumers by keeping prices down. Writers perhaps would be equivalent to dairy farmers, forced to accept whatever price for their milk that the supermarkets dictate? I'm just gabbling really, I haven't quite figured out the economics of it all...

 

[James Marinero]

We could get through a bottle - beverge of choice - debating this one!

 

[Jason Byrne]

Here is another take on what Amazon is trying to do: http://themichaelandrews.blogspot.co.uk/

I am neither endorsing nor opposing his view, just posting for information.

The article makes sense, I'll grant you that. Valid arguments on both sides.