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Craft Chat Kindle Direct Publishing UK wants you

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I am contemplating selling my soul to the devil that is Jeff Bezos—it may be a fruitful endeavour—or I could end up as just another crispy critter!
 
But is it selling your soul or simply investigating ways to get your books to readers?[/QUOT

Having previously published 44 titles on Smashwords and Amazon, I have mixed feelings about ebooks. I like the freedom of uploading a book, publishing it instantly, but this ignores the need to publicise the thing as a commercially available product. Without some razzmatazz, one's book disappears like a bucket of water emptied into an ocean.

Remembering Marshall McLuhan's phrase The medium is the message, I appreciate that, theoretically at least, Amazon is an ideal place to flog ebooks. The site's customers are tuned into doing things online, and may well prefer ebooks to traditional hard copies.

The problem comes when this symbiosis breaks down, owing to Amazon's stringent contracts, along with the secrecy and doubletalk I mentioned in another thread. I value my idependence, even if it is hard to attract attention to my market stall. Amazon certainly has the oomph, but their authors are virtual slaves.
 
This is a marketing technique to get people to sign on with Kindle Direct Publishing. Amazon profits from the fees they charge for this service so the more signed up, the more they like it. Years ago I looked into self-publishing through Amazon and the contract appeared to give far too many rights to the company while offering very little to the author.

However, if you enjoy contests, don't mind signing up with Amazon, and have a lot of relatives to buy your book and post nice comments about it to help you win, it could be for you.
 
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