When I started this year, I had three ideas for changes of direction in my writing career:
- Create this site, so my marketing efforts are associated with my own name, instead of a melodramatic and rather silly blog title that I must admit I still have quite a bit of affection for. It’s a little slow to get off the ground, but I’m going to keep plugging at it (if anyone could help by sharing me all over your social media, it would be much appreciated), because the original reason I did it remains valid and isn’t likely to change.
- Take down all of my short stories and only sell them as collections. This idea has already been rescinded.
- Stop using Amazon KDP Select, which requires Amazon exclusivity, and start publishing on Smashwords as well, which (through their Premium Catalogue) sells through a number of different venues and formats, improving options for potential customers.
That last one has run into a significant speed bump:
No one is buying anything at the alternate venues. A fair-to-middling month on Amazon KDP Select is better, in terms of sales, than my entire time on alternate venues. And that’s counting the significant amount of time I spent on those alternate venues before I signed up for KDP Select the first time.
Philosophically, I’m uncomfortable with being exclusive to one venue. I want my buyers to have options, and I don’t want to be at the mercy of some megacorp. This is how monopolies happen.
That said, I have to be realistic. I’m trying to build a career, here. If Amazon Kindle has become the public’s medium of choice, then I have to do what maximizes my exposure in it.
So talk to me, folks. I got my ears on, good buddy. My instinct is to hit “Depublish” on all those alternate venues, and get back on KDP Select. What do y’all think?
(PS – A little good news to go with all this: I’m very close to finished with Part 3 of Dreams of the Boardwalk, and it will be going up next week.)
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