My Stance on Amazon

Maybe it’s late to be saying this, but Bezos is a dangerous beast. Hachette hasn’t got it right either. The truth (as usual) is somewhere in the middle. For a while now I’ve been waiting with baited breath, hesitating to join CreateSpace to publish my own works. Publisher? Not as yet; this nutter’s takin’ a swing at it solo, so far.

How’s it working? Interesting people follow me these days. I’m glad they do, and I’m grateful. Thank you to every one of you.

It’s bad news when one company resorts to name calling and misquotes to shut down others, and the 1% of successful writers aren’t helping much either. Amazon won’t be having competition, and in an ideal world they’d see the damage they’re doing and back down. We all know that won’t happen.

Wal-Mart exists, right? So does McDonalds. Hey, people gotta eat. IKEA has problems too, but the solution isn’t shutting down and doing nothing. Hachette will probably lose this fight, and for the time being all I have to say is I’m glad I’m not in the middle of it.

You know, I’m not that guy. If that’s you, my condolences. I have been there and it genuinely sucks. That’s empathy, if nothing else.

I decided to publish with Amazon simply because that’s where the traffic is. The same reason we buy overpriced cars, gas, food and drive on roads of questionable condition the taxes of which we aren’t sure were paid. (In Canada, we pay a lot for our roads. Our education buy levitra suffers, but we have fewer potholes. Pretty lame, actually. Not even worthy of an apology.)

It’s that simple. I’m trying to draw attention to my work. If I don’t jump out in the middle of rush hour I’m not going to get hit by anything. I know the risks and I am choosing to take them. I don’t plan to buy from Amazon, but I might have to.

You know, that necessity thing. It’s a darker future than I would write because … Aaran can choose to print whatever works she wants without penalty. How I handle DRM in a world of neuro-plugins I’ll get into in another post. No promises, though.

She has to have that freedom, and so do we.

The worst enemy, as always, this cause, and any other, is not just ignorance, it’s indifference. As writers we are pinned to the mat, publishers are struggling against a drastically changing literary landscape in which no patience can be found. Loyalty?

“What were you lying?”

So what do we do? I’ll present Aaran’s world in this idealized fashion, and while I do you’ll see current issues involved, like gang revenge rapes, such as the one Aaran is targeted in Resolute Gait, Wispy Child, available at Wattpad. That is my answer. What is yours? Experience tells me that necessity will dictate if convenience cannot. The haves do, and the nots, not.

So, to you all,

Good Hunting.

  • August 13, 2014