The recent hoopla about Amazon’s purchase of Lightningsource and ultimate announcement that small published, POD and self-published books would no longer have a Buy button on its site has caused a ripple that this company may not have wanted. Or maybe they did. At any rate, I’ve thought long and hard about the four books I have listed at their site (I refuse to use the addy because I don’t want a link in this blog) two of which have the Buy buttons removed, which means readers can only buy from outside sources and pay higher shipping charges. And I’ve reached a decision.
As a writer friend of mine has urged, Fight Back. My battle won’t even cause a ripple, but if every writer today would follow suit, I don’t think it would be long before this decision would be rescinded.
My plan? It’s simple. I will no longer use the Amazon link in any of my promotional efforts on behalf of any of my books. In checking other bookstores on the Internet, I find they all carry my books. Guess what? People don’t have to buy them at Amazon. So I’m in the process today of changing all links anywhere my books appear on promotional sites online. Readers will now be automatically linked to BarnesandNoble.com where they can purchase all my books, including some that have my short stories in them.
Will Amazon care? Probably not. But if all the tens of thousands of writers out there would do the same, they might begin to care. Don’t you think? And so I’m going to do my best to urge all the writers I know, and that’s plenty, to link to another bookstore. It doesn’t have to be Barnes and Noble. Books A Million carries my books, ABE books carries links to dealers all over the world who sell my books. Caution here. Borders is following Amazon’s lead as they are tied together, aren’t they?
Any of you who haven’t read the article concerning this “What Are They Thinking?” article, here’s a link. Pass it on.
Now, I have a lot of changing to do on promotional sites. Oh, by the way, no longer will I have links to Amazon on anything I pass out, post cards, booksmarks, or handouts at conferences where I speak.
Velda Brotherton 