Kindle EBook Theft!

If asked, most people would agree that it is indeed wrong to steal money from someone. So, that said, when it comes to kindle ebooks, why do so many people think it’s okay to steal? For a long time now indie authors and publishers have been complaining about Amazons’ return policy on ebooks.  It allows kindle owners to buy, download, read and probably copy an ebook and then return it for a refund. Greedy readers abuse this policy time and time again. Effectively, such readers are thieves. Do they imagine that every time they claim a refund for an ebook that the refund comes from the pocket of Jeff Bezos, Amazons’ multi-millionaire owner? It doesn’t. It’s taken directly from non-millionaire authors. Amazon seriously needs to address this problem by at least reducing the time period that an ebook can be returned within. Indie authors and publishers have helped build the success of the KDP platform and we deserve better treatment.

Most book blurbs give a pretty good description of the subject matter of a book and that along with the ability to dip into a book before buying is surely enough information for a reader to decide whether they want to buy? In that regard, returns based on ‘bought by mistake’ are mostly suspect? Very few returns will be down to technical problems so that just leaves readers who want a book, but don’t want to pay for it. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t like it as much as you thought you would. That’s just tough. I buy a ton of paperbacks and some I like more than others and some I never finish, but I have never felt I have the right to claim a refund. I made the decision to buy based on the blurb and from flicking through the pages.

As an author I don’t make a living from my books, not even close to it. The modest money I make helps me pay a few bills and buy a few extras. So, to the person who recently bought, downloaded and then returned six, yes SIX, of my titles, I say this: thank you for making it so much harder for me to make ends meet in the coming months. I hope you sleep well. It’s not as if I ask a huge amount to begin with. Most of my titles cost less than the price of a cup of coffee and a cookie.

Most indie authors have been led to believe that they should give away their work for free or almost free, it’s a lingering aspect of the stigma still attached to self-publishers. It shouldn’t be the case. It has encouraged readers to believe they are entitled to free books. We work damned hard on our stories and books and we deserve some return, rather than our work being returned, so some greedy person can enjoy a free read at our expense. 

Amazon needs to re-think its return and refund policy on kindle ebooks, it owes it to the writers and publishers who have contributed, no matter how modestly, to the KDP empire.

Some Thoughts on Indie Writers and Online Censorship

I have heard rumours that Bookstrand.com are initiating a policy whereby the books of all indie authors, regardless of subject matter, will not be included on the site main page. It could be a book of harmless flower poems, but it would still be shunted off and tucked away on an indie new arrival page. I personally don't think that's fair, it smells of discrimination and it means less "upfront" exposure for indie writers.

I can fully appreciate that some online book stores, particularly those catering to a general and wide age range audience, don't want porno covers and explicit sex titles in their shop window so to speak. However, if an indie book fits in with general romance ebooks and has a non explicit title and cover then I don't see why it should be sidelined.

A lot of indie authors are every bit as professional as those who choose to go through a publisher. In fact some of them are more professional. I have seen books put out by some online publishers that are so badly edited they shouldn't be on sale.

This apparent backlash against indie writers concerns me very much. I suspect it stems from the fact that the subject matter of a lot of indie works deals with what many consider to be taboo subjects, such as incest and rape fantasy. Paypal actively crusades against such subject matter and is leaning on Companies that feature such works, freezing their accounts, as well as the assets of individual writers. It amounts to censorship and this is something that should concern and worry us all. Censorship once started is a hard ball to stop rolling. It gathers momentum and very soon it crushes all in its path.

Where will it stop? Will we have Paypal and credit card companies dictating what subject matter authors can write? Will they perhaps draw up guidelines that we, as writers, will be forced to adhere to at the risk of having our accounts frozen? Who judges what is a suitable subject? I have a phobia about insects. I utterly loathe them. They disgust me. Does that mean that all books dealing with the subject of insects should be banned? Of course not!

I don’t like rape fantasy stories or incest or torture stories and I choose not to read them - choose being the operative word here. Adults have the right to make choices about what they want or don’t want to write and read. We are not children to have those choices made for us. It’s an infringement of personal liberty.

What next? Will the writers of works disapproved of by Paypal and other such Companies be whisked off in the dead of night to some cyber concentration camp to be reprogrammed or even never to be heard of again?


Just my thoughts on a difficult subject.

An excellent article on the subject of censorship:
http://selenakitt.com/blog/index.php/2012/02/19/slippery-slope-erotica-censorship/

If you value creative freedom consider signing this petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/7/stop-internet-censorship/