Writers Tricks of the Trade January-February 2015 | Page 21

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK BUY TO PURCHASE THE BOOK

FOR THE INDIE WRITERS OF AMAZON, IS IT
PUBLISH OR PERISH?
DAVID STREITFELD AT HTTP://BITS.BLOGS.NYTIMES.COM WRITES “ONE BIG ARGUMENT FOR ‘ALL
YOU CAN EAT’ MUSIC, VIDEO AND BOOK SERVICES IS THAT THEY ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO SAMPLE
NEW ARTISTS AND ULTIMATELY DEVELOP A DEEPER RELATIONSHIP WITH A FEW OF THEM.”
That seems to be the premise behind Kindle Unlimited—the theory that if
you listen to songs or artists you’ve never heard before, being able to sample
it free might encourage you go to a concert where you might buy a T-shirt.
Or, maybe you will look for more music by that artist, who winds up being
rewarded at the end of the process by giving away something in the hopes of
getting sales. That’s not the way it used to be.
The take by Taylor Swift, as expressed in an article in the Wall Street
Journal, is that what the giveaways are teaching consumers is that culture is
not worth paying for online. That means artists must earn their keep with
something more than their art — those T-shirts or other items. And, if artists
do not want to or cannot interact with their fans, they might be out of luck.
Traditional book publishers haven’t been quick to offer or participate in
reading-subscription services, most likely fueled by the fear that individual
books, their authors and the editors who shape them will be devalued. Enter
self-published writers, also called independent or indie writers, many of
whom have just begun their careers. They are trying to move up the food
chain, while established writers have been trying not to move down it, so the
balance is different. Many authors who were traditionally published have
moved to self-publishing, or to being hybrid author with a mix of traditional
and self-published books.
The good news is that these days it’s easier to get published than it has
ever been. The questionable news is that indie writers, despite their name,
now rely on Amazon, the big fish in the pond, either to a greater or lesser
extent. And Amazon felt the need to start its own all-you-can-eat service,
Kindle Unlimited, in order to remain competitive with start-ups like Oyster
and Scribd. Kindle Unlimited opened in July. In the six months since then, the
amount of material on it has increased to 700,000 books from 600,000 —
nearly equivalent to the entire amount of material available for Kindle ereaders shortly after Amazon introduced them in 2007. Pretty amazing!

ALTERNATIVES TO
KINDLE UNLIMITED

www.oysterbooks.com

FOR $9.95 A MONTH,
READERS CAN ENJOY AS
MANY BOOKS AS THEY
WANT—EVERYTHING
FROM NEW YORK

TIMES BEST SELLERS AND
OPRAH’S PICKS, TO
CHILDREN’S TITLES
AND MORE.

OYSTER HAS HALF A MILLION
TITLES AND NEW BOOKS
ARRIVING EVERY DAY, SO
THEY ALSO OFFER A WIDE
SELECTION OF STORIES TO
DIVE INTO.

READERS CAN BROWSE AND
DISCOVER ON THEIR OWN,
OR GET EXPERT
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM
THE OYSTER EDITORIAL
TEAM. OVER TIME, OYSTER
GETS TO KNOW WHAT
READERS LIKE, AND RECOMMENDS BOOKS BASED ON
THEIR READING HABITS
AND TASTES.

The vast majority of Kindle Unlimited books are self-published, so it can be
Cont’d…

W I%QIL