Why I Use Amazon and Why Independent Bookshops Need to Stop Whinging

Written in response to the self-righteous out their who think my life is theirs to make demands on.

I publish my books through Amazon as they have enabled hundreds of thousands of independent authors like myself to self-publish.

I use Amazon because otherwise, I would have no platform to publish. My voice would remain silent.

I would have no way to reach my audience.

I would need to take payment, package and ship the books myself. That would take half a day before I can actually get to work.

I would need thousands of pounds in order to do that without using Amazon.

Independent bookshops whine that Amazon is destroying their business.

Yet these same bookstores do not support independent authors. If you are not traditionally published or with one of the major wholesalers, they won’t touch your book.

Only the authors published by traditional (corporate) publishers get stocked by independent booksellers.

Typical annual earnings of authors is less than £10,500. 99% of authors are not rich people unless they already have a trust fund, or some other form of additional income.

Even going through other print on demand publishers such as Lulu or Ingrams, means that my books still end up in the Amazon store.

There is no way to avoid them. Period.

Oh, wait. Yes there is.

It would mean that I would need to invest thousands of pounds. That money would cover the typesetting, design, and printing. I would need to store the books in my house.

Before even selling a single copy.

Then I would have to invest the same amount again (most likely more) in order to market and promote my books.

I don’t own a house because I cannot afford one. I rent a small, modest two bedroom apartment that my partner and I live in.

The spare bedroom is her office. I have a desk in a cubbyhole where I work from.

So where would these books be stored? And whose paying for the storage?

Oh, you expect me too, just so you can feel morally self righteous.

How nice for you. That you even have the luxury of such a choice.

I see you use a hotmail address. Owned by Microsoft, a corporation that has a pretty iffy track record themselves.

By using Hotmail you are supporting a company that colludes with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

ICE have been forcibly separating children from their families and imprisoning them.

In the recovery community we have a saying: “Don’t take others inventory before you take your own.”

In biblical terms that means: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?”

Point made.