The ebook marketplace is literally getting flooded with free material. Great for readers, but not such good news for us writers trying to scratch out a living from our work. With millions of free downloads to choose from, why is anyone going to bother 'buying' a book anymore?
Traditionally the period between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is a very profitable one. This year, compared to my results this time last year, was nothing short of dismal. Instead of a surge in sales I barely saw my sales figures rise any higher than the deathly-quiet period leading up to Christmas. Amazon timely introduced their new KDP Select Program in December, where Amazon Prime members can download for free ebooks enrolled in the system. As well as this, authors were able to offer their books totally free to the general reading public for five days. Many authors jumped on this bandwagon in the hope of greater exposure, as well as a cut of Amazon's promised pie of $500,000. How much participating authors will make from this scheme remains to be seen. I'd say the ensuing piece of pie will be so miniscule that one would barely be able to see it.
At the end of the day if too many books are offered for free and no one is making money (or very little), then no writers are going to be bothered writing new books. What would be the point? Everyone, no matter what occupation they are involved in, expects a paycheck for their work.
Writers are no different.
My Kindle Books
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