Link of the Week – A Voice, Indie Author Support Network

Indie authors are long past being tired of the Zon’s antics. Such monkey business includes rank stripping, disappearing reviews or page reads, sketchy Terms of Service rules, the ease of which scammers are able to take advantage, the lack of transparency, unfair wielding of power, and so much more. Most of the woes come from the Kindle Unlimited (KU) program but can affect all authors, whether they exclusively sell with Amazon or distribute wide using different platforms. But no matter what we say or do, Amazon ignores our concerns as if we are pesky little peons.

Currently, a new organization is being formed with the idea that indie authors are a massive force that can not only provide support to one another but give indie authors a voice.

You can read more about this group “exclusively focused on high-level advocacy and interfacing with retailers on issues which concern indies” in a blog post written by David Gaughran.

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/giving-a-voice-to-indies/

While this group is still very much in its infancy, I suspect this will catch on like a raging wildfire. It’s already gaining momentum.

http://indieauthorsupportnetwork.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AuthorSupportNetwork/

Link of the Week – Rank Stripping

Instead of a Hump Day Kick Start today, I am posting a link to writer David Gaughran’s blog Let’s Get Digital. He outlines one author’s ongoing rank-stripping issue by Amazon. It’s a serious problem for innocent authors following the rules and it’s costing time, ranks, sales and marketing dollars. Ultimately, it’s just another punishment to authors trying to get any type of visibility in Amazon’s crowded marketplace using legitimate marketing techniques. It’s an outrageous abuse by Amazon’s KDP program—stripping ranks, deleting reviews, jacking with but buttons, burying discoverability in favor for Select authors, and more!

This is a must read!

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/new-year-old-problem-innocent-author-rank-stripped-for-third-time/ 

We need to make a lot of noise over this. We must put on pressure for viable change. Spread the word and let Amazon know how you feel.

Link of the Week – Kindle and Clickfarms, WTH?

Clickfarm employee

I have a love/hate relationship with Amazon. As a consumer, I love the ease of shopping with them. As an author, I am in no way happy with their changing book-selling landscape, their elusive algorithms, the near impossible discoverability on their search engines, and how difficult it is to make sure I’m getting paid correctly. I’m very much aware of pirate sites and scammers hanging around on Amazon and stealing MY money. And I am aware Kindle Unlimited is flawed. But I had no idea just HOW flawed. I have been apparently (and blissfully) clueless of scammers that are also authors. Clueless of clickfarms. Clueless of the unethical manipulations of popular Amazon lists—the coveted lists that also help spread author names and titles to more Amazon readers. This not only affects hard-working (starving) authors, it affects readers, too. So why isn’t Amazon doing anything about it?

Read more (in detail) here on this post by David Gaughran and what we can do to make changes (she says with only a shred of hope).

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2017/07/15/scammers-break-the-kindle-store/