Most people in the Romance community at this point have heard the sad news that All Romance E-books, a distributor of Romance and erotica, is closing. I have deactivated my books there, as they are not paying authors anymore. 😦
It got me thinking about what to do… Should I go back to being Amazon exclusive? It seems like KU is killing the competition, and maybe there is more money to be made by re-entering that program. But then, so many readers do not want to shop at Amazon, or can’t (for multiple reasons) so being tied down to just one vendor is maybe not the smartest.
For now, I’ve decided to stay “wide.” What that means is my books will continue to be available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Amazon, and Scribd.
Also, I have started a PayHip page for digital downloads of my books. Find it here: https://payhip.com/ameliabishop (I am working on a PayHip page for AC Bishop, too.)
A while back I had created a square store for selling signed paperbacks. So if that is something you are interested in, you can find those here. (US shipping only)
Is there a place you like to buy (or sell) your Romance fiction? I’d love to know!
amelia bishop 
While I acknowledge everything Amazon did to democratise publishing, their monopoly has ultimately crushed authors and resulted in British author’s incomes dropping by half, from £20,000 (on average) to below the breadline at £11,000. I took the decision to go trad with my first novels Corinthian and Ariadne’s Maze (forthcoming 2017 Mugwump Press, sorry, have to plug :P) largely because Amazon’s keywords and narrow genres mean my very literary kink will get lost in the dinoporn—or worse, the Dungeon. And not the fun kind, I mean the Dungeon of Amazon Invisibility. I can well see small cooperatives of authors writing in the same genres banding together for blogging and marketing purposes. One awesome blog for sex writers that folks might actually read, splitting marketing budgets, sharing a common imprint, that sort of thing. It’s worth exploring. I think what we’re seeing now, with the woes of ARE, Eloras Cave and Samhain, is a rebalancing of the system, but I think we need to have broader discussions, and perhaps even collective action as Authors to get a fair deal from the online retailers.
Indie or Trad, literary kink isn’t likely to sell well. It’s also unlikely to be dungeoned, tbh. (Unless you’re writing something like incest or child-rape or scat play.)
I think whether we blame Amazon or someone else, the fact remains: our work is undervalued. Readers (especially Romance/erotica readers) are no longer willing to pay big bucks for stories. We have undercut each other too deeply and for too long. And yes, Amazon encouraged that, but we – as readers and writers – are not blameless.
Small co-ops are a great idea but the struggle is finding readers, and right now the vast majority of erotica & Romance readers are on Amazon and see no reason to look outside the zon for their reads. Though if you ever start something, count me in 🙂