Indie authors are in a pickle and need help from our readers. Amazon has an open-ended return policy for ebooks that some people are exploiting. Returns of fully-read ebooks have shot up over the past month, and in several cases entire catalogues are bought, read, and returned. Now, many indie authors are on the brink of closing up shop. All because an element on TikTok want to read "free books." <cough...library!>
The problem is that there is no free lunch, and someone has to pay for those books. Those someones are always the authors. How? Amazon deducts our share from our royalties, plus they keep the "delivery fee" which we paid them to electronically deliver the book(s). We actually end up in the negative for each book returned.
This is not a sustainable situation for indie authors--most of whom earn under 10K annually from their books. (No kidding. Less than poverty wages in the U.S.)
Any reader knows by 20% in if they're going to like a book or not. But reading an entire book then returning it is like eating an entire dinner then refusing to pay the bill. (Also, I will note here that Amazon is the only platform with this type of policy. All other platforms have an "all sales are final" policy.)
How can you help?
1) Email Amazon and ask them to help keep your favorite indie authors in business by changing their ebook return policy. (Be firm, but polite. They don't respond well to aggressiveness, and for good reason.) Personally, I'd love to see the "all sales are final" policy, but we are talking about the mighty Zon, so 20% read is probably the best we can expect.
2) Sign this PETITION to show your support for protecting authors from this sort of theft. And if you're so inclined, share the petition link.
Thank you in advance!
The problem is that there is no free lunch, and someone has to pay for those books. Those someones are always the authors. How? Amazon deducts our share from our royalties, plus they keep the "delivery fee" which we paid them to electronically deliver the book(s). We actually end up in the negative for each book returned.
This is not a sustainable situation for indie authors--most of whom earn under 10K annually from their books. (No kidding. Less than poverty wages in the U.S.)
Any reader knows by 20% in if they're going to like a book or not. But reading an entire book then returning it is like eating an entire dinner then refusing to pay the bill. (Also, I will note here that Amazon is the only platform with this type of policy. All other platforms have an "all sales are final" policy.)
How can you help?
1) Email Amazon and ask them to help keep your favorite indie authors in business by changing their ebook return policy. (Be firm, but polite. They don't respond well to aggressiveness, and for good reason.) Personally, I'd love to see the "all sales are final" policy, but we are talking about the mighty Zon, so 20% read is probably the best we can expect.
2) Sign this PETITION to show your support for protecting authors from this sort of theft. And if you're so inclined, share the petition link.
Thank you in advance!
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