Writer’s Corner: Why Put All Your Eggs on One Basket?

Recently, I’ve been hearing complaints about Amazon pulling down revues when they suspect the reviewer and author know one another, by checking if they are on each other’s friends lists on social media. While it’s true that this is not a fair practice. I’ve been known to purchase the book of someone who happens to be on my friends list, because the name is familiar. I’ve also been known to request a review copy if I see a promo post on social media for a book that catches my interest. Neither of those scenarios means that I actually know the author personally, although I may know of them on social media.

Anyone that has followed me for very long knows I’m not a big fan of the business practices of Amazon. And this is just one of the reasons why. In Amazon land, Amazon makes all the rules. For authors, they encourage exclusivity and then they monitor your activity and they determine what is acceptable and what is not. Their rules don’t always make sense, and they often are unfair, but what is an author to do? Amazon is the number one book distributor, to be sure, and they bring in the most sales.

I’ll tell you what I do. I rebel. Amazon can urge you to go exclusive and put your books in Kindle Unlimited, but they cannot force you to do so. I publish wide, through an aggregator, Draft2Digital, and through them, my books are distributed to not only Amazon, but also Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, and Smashwords, and they are available in libraries and brick and mortar bookstores, which doesn’t mean they will be there automatically, but it gives me a foot in the door. (For more on why I publish wide, see my post “5 Reasons Why I Chose to go Wide With my Books”.)

Still, Amazon slaps my hands for not publishing direct through them by making my books wait until the day of release to accept them for publication, so they aren’t available on Amazon for preorder as advertised. But they are still available for preorder on other distribution platforms, so I’m not sure who they are hurting with that one.

The reason I publish this way? I just don’t like putting all my eggs in one basket. Think about it. If you enroll your books in Kindle Unlimited, and agree to keep them exclusively on Amazon, you are limiting the readers who can find your books to only those enrolled in KU, whereas my readers might be found on any of the above-mentioned platforms, as well as being listed in library catalogs. Not only that, but when Amazon decides you’ve violated one of their all-cherished rules and freeze your account, and it happens. If they are your only distribution platform, your income just came to a screeching halt. It doesn’t matter whether the violation is real or imagined on Amazon’s part, your income will remain on hold until you can prove they are in error, which is not an easy feat, or until you’ve done your penance in Amazon’s mind. I don’t know about you, but I know I don’t want to give anyone that much control over my publishing business.

I know for many exclusive authors, KU is a big part of their incomes. But there are other subscription services, like Kobo Plus, which don’t require exclusivity. I don’t know how they compare because I’ve never had my books in KU. Kobo Plus likely does not have as big a reach as Amazon KU, but of course it also serves a different part of the globe. So, by publishing wide and enrolling in Kobo Plus instead of KU, you can extend your global reach, increasing the number of potential readers who see your book, all over the world.

No matter which platforms you chose to publish on, you must be prepared to promote like crazy. There is no difference in the platforms in that regard. By publishing wide you also increase the areas your promotions need to reach, but thanks to social media, authors can now do that fairly easily. When I was interviewed on the Stark Reflections podcast, Mark Leslie Lefebvre asked me what my best marketing tool was. I replied, hands down, this blog, Writing to be Read. He seemed surprised by my response. But, I post here, then use social media channels to promote the post. I promote on X, Pintrest, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Occasionally, I share a promotion on Instagram, but I don’t generally use that platform. It’s a soft sell, promoting the blog, rather than the product. Once I get them to the blog, the post promotes the product.

Every book I release gets a blog tour with WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, and I use this blog to promote those posts and spread the word with social media, as well. My own books also get a Kickstarter campaign, which I promote mostly through social media. Kickstarter has their own platform for updates for folks who are already following the campaign, so I just need to spread the word on social to draw in new backers.

So, what do we do to solve the problem of our perfectly legitimate reviews being taken down? Well, you can go wide with those, too. If you send out review requests, ask reviewers to post their reviews on other platforms, in addition to Amazon. You might also consider purchasing paid reviews, like Kirkus Reviews, which can be placed in the area for Editorial Reviews on your Amazon page, but I’m not a big fan of these either. On the one hand, you are guaranteed a good review. Even if they claim they are honest reviews, you must wonder, because no one wants to pay for a bad review.

And when posting your own reviews, don’t limit yourself only to the distribution platforms. When I post my reviews, I post them first on my blog, where no one can pull them down. Then, on Goodreads and BookBub, in addition to Amazon. If I have the time, I may also post on the Barnes & Noble site. Those aren’t the only ones out there. These are just the ones which I know and use.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Amazon dilemma. Where do you post your reviews? How do you handle Amazons reviewing requirements? And while we’re at it, what is your best marketing tool? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

About Kaye Lynne Booth

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.

Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by The Ones Who Stayed With Me, by Nurse Sammy, and WordCrafter Press.

Chronicles of the journey into the medical field as a young nurse and beyond, told with raw sensitivity and compassion. The Ones Who Stayed with Me offers small glimpses into the world of an L.P.N. put in difficult, often touching or humorous, situations—and Nurse Sammy’s courage, vulnerability, and insight are a gift to us all. In these pages, Nurse Sammy tells her story and that of those she met along the way.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/OnesWhoStayed