We live in an exciting time when it comes to the power of the written word. A twitter post with 1 sentence or idea can go viral and ruin someone’s career, increase their "popularity" by 1 million (or more) new followers, or can be sent into oblivion before anyone can give it a second glance.
Speaking sending words into oblivion, I loved the idea of having an agent. I imagined him or her to be someone who could champion my book and help me announce it to the world. Instead, my illusion was quickly crushed and destroyed when, after several full-manuscript requests, it was rejected, time and time again.
About the same time those rejections rolled in, I bit the bullet and entered this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. I figured if the manuscript sucked, I'd never make it from the ten thousand entrants to the second round (only 400 per category). But, based on the synopsis, it was chosen. It didn't make it to the third round. However, after reading the comments from the impartial people who'd reviewed the first 3 chapters, it was clear they really enjoyed it. They were concerned as to where the book was going and afraid I would start preaching or get on a soapbox or something (which I don't and would never do in a novel). Those comments put me in gear. I realized it didn't matter if I ever sold anything. I wanted to get it out there as fast as I could. At the same time, I was completely and utterly terrified.
I kept thinking about the few comments I'd received from agents. These were people...respected people, with established backgrounds, and bestsellers under their belts. I felt the book wasn't crap, but I wasn't impartial. For me, it took some awesome beta readers who gave me the push I needed to continue forward.
Part of me had always been envious of Indy authors who did everything themselves. With the comments from my beta readers in my mind, I hit that submit button, even though I was scared out of my mind.
Within ten minutes, I had a sale. Then, nothing. For days. I wondered about that rogue sale. What crazy person had read my synopsis and spent a few bucks to read something by someone with no reviews that involved a purity ring, a rapist, and a vendetta? All of those hot-button issues the agents had stayed away from and avoided at all costs? I was stoked and also anxiously awaiting the kindle reader to come to his/her senses and return the book.
A funny thing happened then. I announced the book on Facebook. People I never would have imagined took an interest, while some close friends who were "interested" never gave it a second glance. This is, apparently, not unusual, but came as a surprise to me nonetheless.
Now, a few months later, the Kindle Unlimited Progam has rolled out. Authors who have published exclusively on Kindle have the opportunity to enroll and receive a very small cut of a fund for each book downloaded and read past 10 %. Amazon members pay $9.99 a month to download any title they chose out of 600,000 books. There has been constant debate since the program was announced and some authors apparently feel that Amazon is devaluing their books.
The only reason I didn't make my novel free is because I wanted people to have to "buy" into the story and not just download it and let it sit there, amidst a hundred other free books. However, I will be making it free for a limited time as often as I'm allowed and have dropped it to .99 for a limited time as well.
The reason for making the book cheap is not to devalue the novel or to have it chosen over the other million books on Kindle. I want everyone who is interested to be able to afford to buy a copy. I wouldn't have had a choice on pricing if I'd signed a contract with an agent. I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe the person who needs to read No Man Sam doesn't have a disposable income. Or, maybe they're struggling through their own feelings and need an escape. I understand that. I believe words are like magic and I don't care that they're cheap. I was never in this to make money. In fact, I've given more away to charities than I ever expect to gain, but that's OK. We're all on this rock together. Let's make the most of it and enjoy it! We have to do what we were meant to do. For me, that's writing.
If you're one of those authors who hates Kindle Unlimited, Indie Authors, and/or cheap ebooks, I hope you can see through to my side of the fence, even if you don't necessarily agree with every statement above. I challenge you to put yourself in the shoes of an Indie or new author. Maybe I'm wrong or completely off base...that's ok with me. We're all here to grow and learn and experience new ideas. I'm thankful to Amazon and every other company that sells self-published books. The ebook world should be filled with new books of all genres, daily. We can never have too much knowledge, read too many stories, or identify with too many characters.
I am thankful that in this day and age, readers from all walks of life can have an avenue to publish an ebook. I appreciate the fact that I can self publish a book full of hot-button issues and create something that means something to someone. After all, isn't that what writing is fundamentally about?
