Tales From The SFR Brigade

Several of you have asked when TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE will be available from Amazon. The answer is, "Soon."



Our main problem with Amazon is that the anthology was free, and Amazon does not like free books. They have to start at 99cents and price match. So, before we could do anything, all the authors and editors had to agree what would happen if copies of the anthology sold in the week or two between being free, and being on sale for 99cents.


Decisions have been made. The anthology is going to go on Amazon soon, but it's going to be snuck on there very quietly, and then promoted after the price drop. The important thing for you to know is that, yes, TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE is coming to Amazon soon.

Amazon Gobbles The Market

On one hand you have to admire Amazon's long term planning abilities. They went from being an online retailer who provide used video games and second hand geegaws to being a major market force. They sell everything from fondue to diapers, and now they own most of the publishing world.

It was a beautifully executed take over worthy of any black-hearted villain. It's a scam of monumental scope. Amazon is making money hand over fist and being paid for the privilege of destroying the publishing industry as it was.

Amazon first entered publishing with the used book and online retail stuff. Pretty normal. Nothing to fuss about. Sure, they made it easier to find used books but so does half.com, Ebay, and half a dozen other online retailers.

And then came the ebooks.

Oh, the ebook. The devilishly wonderful wicked witch of publishing. A book with almost no overhead. Publisher only need to pay an advance for an author, the editor, the cover artist, and the marketing team. There's no shipping charges, no store rooms full of books, no cost for paper, printers, or ink. It was beautiful!

And Amazon looked at that little ebook and money signs glowed in their greedy eyes. Why waste all that money on overhead? Why not make the down-on-their-luck authors do it themselves? Weren't those silly creative types always whining about the Gatekeepers? Yes, they were.

Amazon stepped in with the perfect solution for anyone shut out of Big 6 publishing: Self-publishing. For a modest fee Amazon would allow an author to publish their work on Amazon, say 30-70%? That's still more than you'll make with a Big 6 publishing deal.

The authors dove in happy as pigs in muck. We all did, never once questioning why we were paying Amazon a percentage at all. What service did Amazon offer? That's right, a well known web domain. Never mind that nearly every author publishing with Amazon has their own web domain. Never mind that any author could set it up so their books sell directly from an author-run website. No, we believed we needed Amazon.

Amazon ranks became more important than hitting the New York Time's list. After all, the NYT was for fuddy duddy lit authors and those who "sold out" or "violated their artist integrity" by working with a New York publishing house. It was the Amazon ranks that meant dollars in the self-published authors pocket.

Which kicked off phase two of Amazon's bid for world publishing domination: the cheap e-book.

Traditional publishing can't win a price war with Amazon because Amazon is spending $0 on publishing. There is no advance, editor, cover artist, or quality control of any kind. Big 6 needs to pay their editors, they don't pay much, but enough that the editors don't starve. Big 6 pays an author advance, usually it isn't huge but it's not nothing. Big 6 pays people to create unique art for their covers, print books, ship things... Amazon lets the authors do that.

And you know what? People like cheap books. People who shop at Amazon and have a free Kindle app on their phone don't mind paying 99cents for a random book from an unknown author. Sure, there's no guarantee that the book's been edited but who cares?

For a year Amazon was awash with Kindle Millionaires. Young authors ready to buy the dream flocked to self-publishing and happily offered their hard work for pennies. Big name authors ditched traditional publishing for the greener pastures of 70% royalties. Brick and mortar stores started closing. Champions of New Publishing sang dirges to the Gatekeepers.

And the market shifted.

Amazon used the greed of the authors to kill their competition.

All this time people wondered how Amazon could possibly make money with the affiliate programs, referrals, and free ebooks. What they didn't realize is that every penny paid to Amazon in royalties was pure profit. With no overhead Amazon could afford to undercut their competition until they bled and died. And once the competition was dead Amazon turned.

Suddenly self-published books weren't getting the same weight in the algorithms that picked bestsellers and recommended books to buyers. It's no coincidence that this move came as Big 6 publishers lost the right to set the price over their own books. Amazon owns that right. Amazon can price John Grisham novels at $1.99.

Then Amazon cut the affiliate program. Free ebooks no longer climbed in ranks. Authors were heart-broken and confused. Their champion had turned and was laughing at their stupidity. Why would Amazon continue to support the pitiful, unedited, unwanted authors rejected by the Big 6 when Amazon could now use the Big 6 names as it's free meal?

Now Amazon has bought GoodReads, the major review site for books and one of the few places where authors can review each other. Amazon doesn't allow authors to write reviews - a reaction to the scandal that revealed Kindle Millionaires were buying reviews  - and there's no promise that authors will be allowed to continue writing reviews on GoodReads.

Why buy GoodReads? Because now Amazon controls not only the price a book is sold out but who is allowed to sell, who is allowed to write, who is allowed to review, and which books are allowed to be seen by the buying public.

Amazon has used authors, readers, and their competition as pawns in a scheme to corner the market.

And you can bet dollars to milkshakes that Amazon is going to do everything within its power to ensure that books remain an overhead free commodity. They'll let authors write for free and continue to skim money right, left, and center.

If you want to fight back try finding a brick-and-mortar store and go buy your books there. Check out IndieBound (there's a big button on the left side of my page), buy your books from a real business not a monster.

Why I'm Leaving My Abusive Relationship With Amazon And Getting A Nook

This may sound hypocritical, it may sound desperate or like a case of Sour Grapes, but they say the first step to curing an addiction is acknowledging that there's a problem.

World - I have a problem!

My relationship with Amazon began several years ago when my father introduced me to wish lists. Up until that point I wasn't an Amazon consumer. I used Amazon to browse book descriptions, and then bought the books on Half.com (which may or may not be owned by Amazon - I honestly don't know). On Half, or Ebay, I could feed my reading habit on the cheap; usually paying $5 for a $7 book after shipping and handling. Even when I left the world of used books because I felt guilty that authors weren't getting their cut I went to IndieBound and Powell's to buy my books.

That wishlist though? It suckered me in. I set up an account so I could window shop on Amazon. I never planned on buying there, most of what I want is still way more than I can afford, but it was fun to window shop and hope that someone would send me a present of my wishlist. And oh what dopamine filled my brain when a present I wanted arrived serendipitously at my doorstep! It was like someone knew me! Or at least knew my email and could order things off my wishlist...

... Give me a moment to reflect on how sad the need for wishlists are... Okay, we're good...

You know what? Dopamine is addictive! (Meh, semantics, drugs play off the need for dopamine blah, blah, blah... we'll get to that later) That wishlist was my gateway drug to Amazon use. I held out, sure, but it was so easy to use Amazon. Especially with the 1-click buying option. It's the perfect system... hit a button, get a treat! Yay! I feel like a lab rat!

But even the wishlist and 1-click purchasing couldn't get me to love Amazon. There was even a point where I walked away from Amazon during the whole Gay/Lesbian Book Scandal back in 2009. I wasn't the target audience for those books, and I don't write for that genre, but there was nothing stopping Amazon from one day blocking science fiction or any other genre.

I stayed with Powell's for a time, buying my books there when I couldn't get to town and go shopping at an actual brick-and-mortar store.

In fact, it wasn't until I upgraded my phone that I became an Amazon Addict. My new phone came with a Kindle app. It was the worst possible situation for an addict, my drug of choice in easy reach 24/7. With 1-click purchasing a new ebook could be in my hands at any hour of the day. No shipping charges. No wait times. No reason to not buy.

Well... I tell a lie. There were several reasons not to buy. Not the least of which is that e-books are loans, not purchased items. A fact Amazon proved by erasing purchased books from e-readers in 2009. A person stealing my paperback would get arrested for breaking and entering, but Amazon could remotely access the e-readers and erase a book. Yes, Amazon paid everyone back. But they stole the books back first. You can read more on the fine print HERE.

Still, I was addicted.

That's how you can tell I was in a bad relationship. Even though I wanted to walk away I couldn't do it. I couldn't NOT buy my e-books. An e-reader app on my phone had opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Novellas, short stories, books from e-publishers that I never would have read otherwise were all purchased from the comfort of my home.

I was getting ready to format REAL LIES for Amazon when the news broke that they were giving away self-published e-books without the author's permission. For free. Like they owned the novel. Imagine someone handing out free copies of a paperback or hard cover, it would never happen. But Amazon can give away an e-book because e-books don't really exist? Or they planned on erasing them from everyone's e-readers? Or they just hate authors?

I don't know. The whole mess scared me into rethinking my plans for REAL LIES though, and that's where the heavy abuse comes in.

Ask any self-published author where the bulk of their sales come from and the answer is universal: Amazon.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing most e-book authors make a bulk of their sales on Amazon. Everyone has an account there. Everyone has the 1-click option ready and waiting. Nook sales didn't go well last year, I have yet to meet anyone locally who owns a Sony or KOBO reader. Everyone has Kindle or iPad, and that's why authors need to sell with Amazon.

So here I am, wanting to get away from this huge bully, but being told my career as an author depends on working with Amazon.

Even while Amazon is pulling titles off the market because of contract and pricing disputes, I'm expected to sell my titles on Amazon. If I want my e-book to reach international markets like the UK or Australia, Amazon is the only way I can. If I want to make money selling books, Amazon seems to be the only way I can.

This is the very definition of an abusive relationship in a work environment. To succeed in Business A I must do Thing B. It's like telling someone they can have a promotion if they give the boss a blowjob.

So, yeah, whipped whore of an author that I am... my traditionally published and Indie press work will be on Amazon. I need to pay my bills. My self-published short stories won't be there until Amazon changes it's business plan. That means sales will be nonexistent, but I'm okay with that. EDIT: As of this summer my short stories and self-published works are on Amazon. For every one book I sell with B&N I sell 100 or more on Amazon. I hate it, but I have bills to pay.

And my money? Last night I deleted the Kindle app from my phone and downloaded the Nook app. It took me ten minutes this morning to set up my new account, get my credit card information on file, and start buying books. Nook has a one-click buying system too.

Maybe I'm giving up one pimp for one that is equally bad. Maybe I'm on the losing end of this fight. Maybe I should let Amazon take over, tell me what to read, and grovel when they steal my hard work in the name of their bottom line, but I'm not going to. I'm voting with my dollars and moving to a company that I feels is a little more ethical.

With any luck the universal e-book format is just around the corner and next year I'll be able to buy my e-books from the local store in town instead of some worldwide giant. But that might just be a fairytale.