Amazon's Powered by Indie: The Power to Pretend You Care

Anyone who had a book published through Amazon through CreateSpace or KDP probably received an email or two last month about Amazon's Powered by Indie campaign. I was one of the authors that received the first email in which Amazon was congratulating me for having one or more of my books included in the promotion. Can you understand how exciting this was?

Well, at least for a few minutes.

I immediately headed over to the special page featuring all these great independent authors. And what I saw was not surprising--a small range of top-selling indie authors. I went directly to the author filter list because I wanted to see which of my books had been chosen to be featured. The email hadn't been specific. I searched for my name, my titles and everything I could think of. I wasn't listed anywhere.

This should have discouraged me, but it didn't. I reread the email, thinking I was stupid or something. It made a plea to promote this great thing Amazon is doing by talking about your own indie publishing experience on blogs and social media, because your story may be featured.

Huh. So that's what's up. I get it. I immediately wrote a blog post (which was genuine in sentiment) and posted it all over social media. I thought I was catching on. Maybe my book wouldn't show up on the featured page unless I promoted the Powered by Indie page.

Wrong again. I also had the idea in my head that this would be a rotating feature, changing the books daily or weekly throughout October. There were only a couple of thousand books (if that) promoted by an even smaller number of authors, because most had multiple books featured. I will admit that I checked every day all month long for my book to show up, but not because I actually thought it would. I just wanted to make sure that I was in fact being duped into giving the online sales giant free advertising. Which, if you think about it, was useless because most authors end up only promoting their work to other authors, who probably don't buy as much of it as you think (though we do support each other in different ways).

I checked the wide expanse of the web for author chatter about this since I didn't know if the original email was a mistake or a ploy. Some authors admitted to not getting the email at all, while others were in my position, searching for their own featured book that wasn't really featured. About ten days after the initial email, everyone on KDP received an email about doing your part to promote it, but it didn't contain the promise that your book had been featured.

To be honest, I have enough problems getting my books in front of the right people. I don't need Amazon distracting me from that. And keeping me from improving my book sales does the company no favors (though a boost in books sales from me probably wouldn't be noticed at all). 

And just to add to your knowledge about indie sales in general and the all-time sales slump that's happening right now, I ran across this post that provided all I needed to know about why Amazon is nothing more than a necessary evil, not in any way a helpful entity for those selling less than a few thousand copies per month.

So much for Amazon creating an indie renaissance. They have the power to do it, but it's not as quick and easy as working with the publishing powerhouses. That leaves the indie author to keep doing it on their own. The renaissance will come. Just maybe not tomorrow.

Proud to be #PoweredByIndie

I was surprised to receive an email this weekend from Amazon telling me that my work is being featured in their celebration of independently published authors.

Being self-published isn't an easy job. Even with the changes that are going on throughout the publishing industry, it's still a label that makes some readers and most critics turn their nose up. You have to be courageous to tackle the challenge. You have to be strong. You have to put everything on the line to grab your piece of the publishing pie.

Truth is, I'm not very confident if you meet me in person. I don't like to talk a lot to people I don't know well, and small talk is the most energy-draining activity I've ever had to participate in. But when it comes to writing, communication comes much easier for me. I never saw another option for a career path other than writing because of this gap in my communication skills. So why put a dozen barriers in front of my goal?

Yes, traditionally published authors can have advantages over self-published authors. But I would rather take the reigns on what I see is the total vision for my work. Places like Kindle Direct Publishing let me be me. Whether that's good or bad is for the reader to decide.

And that's why I'm Powered By Indie.

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If you want to check out all of the self-published authors that Amazon's featuring this month, you can check out their Powered By Indie landing page. I hope you find something exciting and do your part to support indie authors.