Hi everyone. I’m sorry I’ve been absent so long … July!!! Can you believe where the time has gone?

HEALTH AND BOOK THEFT:

As you’ve probably guessed I’ve faced daily struggles (and continue to). Just when I feel as though I’m getting back into some kind of rhythm something happens to halt all activity. I just started outlining a standalone book after not writing a thing since The Room at the End. Here’s hoping that title doesn’t prove prophetic.

I say this due to the important news I mention in the post title: Amazon is allowing marketplace sellers to sell my paperback books, which are illegal and definitely a copyright infringement. I followed everything the good Dave from Kindlepreneur advised, and contacted the relevant department twice on 12 books, only to get declined both times. Then they sent me to KDP help.

As you know, because you all know what the A Monster is like, once again I got turned down and they tried to send me back to the first department! ARGHH!!!! Yup, I was frustrated, but I managed not to have a meltdown or over stress. A chat 3 hours later still didn’t do it, and I tried messaging each offender, then Amazon banned further messages as I’ve sent too many! … You could not make up this stuff.

It’s appalling and I did contemplate deleting all my books and give up. But not for long because that’s not me. I am in the process of looking into Smashwords, which now works with D2D, but I’ll still face people stealing my work left right and centre. And with the AI stuff growing ever more prevalent and all pervasive, I do still have my doubts.

THE CONSEQUENCES:

Due to all this mess, I’ve also had to un-enroll all of my ebooks from Kindle Unlimited. Three run until March, but a couple finish this month and some up to February. I regret this, but simultaneously have been outraged at the pittance per page read they pay out.

I worked it out one month, and had I sold the equal amount of books to match the amount of pages read, I would have earned a LOT more. The pay per page is appallingly low, and I no longer feel it’s worth offering because it means I run at a considerable loss. Yes, there are pros and cons to this, and I’ll look and see what’s available via the platforms I’ve mentioned.

I suspect that no longer being exclusive to Amazon, eventually, will exclude me from being able to offer the service. That’s something else I have some thoughts on. The trouble these days, lols, is my thoughts don’t always make it into the outside world, and if they do, it usually takes a while! 🤭

I’M NOTHING IF NOT DETERMINED:

My illness leaves me incredibly debilitated most of the time, and so this is a huge deal to have to find a work around. A big thing I want to do but don’t know how–yet–is to sell direct from my own sales site. That will take me a lot of learning and work, especially as I’ll need to set up automatic delivery of ebooks.

I don’t see how I can sell paperbacks outside the UK due to the immense shipping costs that would involve. Another thing to look into. Unless Smashwords and D2D have to be stand-ins to do that for me.

For sure, though, I’m determined to get my ebooks on direct sale from my own site, and at a discount, seeing as that way I’ll receive 100% royalties, but I will also have extra hosting costs. All things I need to look into and try to remember, lols.

It is my deepest wish that you don’t encounter the same problem as me. Unless I’d clicked on “other offers” on my paperback sales pages, I would never have known this was going on.

If you haven’t come across Dave’s posts on this huge issue, here’s the link: https://kindlepreneur.com/amazon-printing-scams/. I hope you don’t need it and if you do that Amazon gives you a better response than they gave to me.

Years ago, Blasty took care of the thousands of ripoff sites that provide illegal downloads of my ebooks, but since that collapsed, the scale of tackling that level of theft is beyond me.

If only these selfish, greedy people, including the readers who encourage these illegal and immoral practices by engaging in them, could see how much they destroy the souls of the very writers they profess they love. Ha. Right. Yep, stealing really shows that love. And, no, I’m not at all flattered. If readers like my work so much, they need to make sure I get paid for it. Anyway, enough on that nastiness.

🤞🤞🤞Update … 🤞🤞🤞

Since threatening Amazon/KDP with legal action and losing me as both publisher and customer of decades, I have two emails which give me hope. One book, The Vanished Boy, is in the process of having the offending sellers’ inventory removed for this book at least. It hurts that it had to reach this point and be so much more difficult than it needs to be. Anyway, everything crossed moving forward, but it has taught me to spread around my “eggs” into more baskets 🧺 🙂. I wonder if pulling every ebook out of KDP Select has anything to do with this sudden change of heart too? 🤔 

POSSIBILITIES MOVING AHEAD:

In higher spirits, one thing this craziness has stimulated is the idea I could also sell video and ebook courses alongside my own published books. If I have a site with a shopping cart, check-out process, and automatic downloads, then why not diversify if I’m up to it?

So, the chances are I won’t be around for a while longer yet. Getting myself free from under Amazon’s tyranny and monopoly is my main focus after myself and my health, and dear hubby.

I miss you all more than I could ever adequately express. Please know that I love and respect you all and keep you in my thoughts.

I hate, too, that I’ve missed so many of your book launches, and I have to accept that if I make it back online in a sustainable way, I won’t ever get caught up, and it will be more a case of starting anew.

I’m so incredibly grateful to those of you who’ve reached out to check on me. You mean the world! 💖 It pains me to not be able to give a more upbeat message, but at least I can leave you with this little video I made in Canva. Happy Holiday Season and keep well, my dear friends. I promise to be in touch as soon as I can. Wishing you all every success in 2025 and beyond. Hugs and smiles across the miles xxx 🤗🤗🤗

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!