There’s no doubt that it’s becoming harder to be an indie author these days. We’ve known for a very long time that the Kindle gold rush is long gone, but just in the last few months writers have faced some new challenges. How are we as Christian writers to respond to growing challenges?
The most talked about of these recent challenges is perhaps Draft2Digital’s introduction of a $20 joining fee, and a $12 annual maintenance fee. This came as a big shock to a lot of people - certainly to me.
These fees are in place to try to protect readers from scammers who abuse platforms like D2D to upload large quantities of fake books created with AI that were never intended to be read. The annual fee is only charged to those who make less than $100 (after D2D take their bit) on the platform.
After receiving this news, I checked what my previous year’s takings on D2D were. My heart sank. I already knew it was well below the $100 threshold, but it was also well below the $12 fee. I would now be paying more to D2D than they would be paying me. I would be making a loss just by being on the platform. In a situation like this, one may legitimately ask, what’s the point of even being there at this point?
I was struck with feelings of unfairness. This policy puts authors from developing countries at a greater disadvantage, and even here in Australia, the exchange rate means we’ll end up paying a lot more than $12. But most of all, it felt like I was being kicked while I was down - fined for my failure.
This choice has resulted in a lot of emotion and discussion. Many people have immediately withdrawn their books from the platform.
For me, this was an eye-opening moment. I was forced to face the truth of my lack of success. I’ve always known that I wasn’t making many sales, but I tried not to compare myself to others. Afterall, we’re all on our own journey, proceeding at our own pace. But as I stared at a flat line of zeroes on my KDP dashboard, and considered I was now paying more than I was making, I felt the message was clear. You’re not a real author. You’re not good enough. You are not valued.
My purpose here, is not to throw hate at Draft2Digital. They are doing what they believe is best for all concerned. My purpose is to examine how we react to these kinds of difficulties.
So how did I respond to all of this? I allowed myself a day to feel sad. To live in my emotions as I wrestled with these feelings of inadequacy and failure. But after that, I knew I would have to get back to work. I chose to view this setback as a challenge - a call to arms - to try to raise my sales, to at least see if I could reach that $12 mark to break even. And I remembered that my value is not in how much money I’m making, or how many people are reading my books, it’s who I am in Christ. I’m proud of my stories. I believe in my stories, and I know there are people out there who have enjoyed them.
This experience was also a good reminder to involve God, not only in my writing, but also in my marketing. For us, writing is more than just a business, it’s also a calling. We have words of encouragement and life to share with the world. If God wants those words to be read, doesn’t he have the power to help make that happen in his time?
Draft2Digital’s new policy isn’t the first challenge we’ve faced, and it won’t be the last. I predict things will only get harder as time goes on. Despite this, we are still living in a great time. We still have the ability to publish our words, relatively free of gatekeepers. We still have more opportunity than most writers throughout human history.
It can feel wrong to ask God to bless our marketing efforts, to help our books find success. It feels selfish somehow. But God has given us gifts. He has put words in our hearts that I believe he wants us to share.
Today is the launch day for my latest book - the fourth installment in my Jewel of The Stars series. I have worked hard over the last 30 days to promote it, and I have seen some results. Not earth-shattering results, but I’m no longer seeing a flatline of zeroes. That little glimmer is enough to keep me going, because it sparks something in me that tells me it will be worthwhile some day. It’s not stubbornness, it’s not self-delusion. It’s faith. The story is not over yet. God still needs to write the ending. Until then, I keep working, keep striving, not in my strength, but in his.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
Hi Adam, I really miss the gold rush where we could upload an ebook on Amazon and Draft2Digital and the retailer algorithms would do their thing and sales/KU page reads from people we don’t know personally would somehow appear in our KDP dashboard. The hunger to ‘fill your Kindle/ereader’ in the early to mid 2010’s created what economists call super profits (extra ordinary profits).
ReplyDeleteIn 2016, after a lot of prayer, I made the decision to focus on working a day job instead of writing because I knew my author earnings weren’t sustainable in the medium to long term when compared to the guaranteed income from a day job. I’ve watched so many authors quit writing altogether because they have bills to pay and couldn’t afford to spend their time and money on book publishing. Or, they loved writing and hated marketing and, when traditional publishing opportunities shrank and declining book sales in bricks and mortar stores impacted their sales and income, they chose to walk away from the publishing world.
Indie publishing has evolved so much in the last 10-15 years. The 2020’’s have seen the sharp overcorrection in supply and demand. During the gold rush, the demand for ebooks, in particular, outstripped supply and created the gold rush super profits. In 2026, the oversupply of books in all formats plus expanding digital library distribution services has made it harder for authors to sell books. It’s also harder for readers to find quality books with the scammers pumping out AI slop in their vain attempts to get-rich-quick.
All that to say I’ve been expecting distributors like Draft2Digital and the retailers to implement some form of financial gatekeeping to try and manage the oversupply of poor quality books from scammers and those looking to make a quick buck. Amazon has expanded its paid advertising business and it’s harder to get organic algorithm love and free visibility in their online store.
The economy, with rising interest rates, also puts financial pressure on readers and their household budgets. It’s easy for readers to stop buying books and cancel paid subscriptions eg. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited because they can read library books or reread books they own or read the books they’ve collected to read ‘one day’ when they have time etc. (I’m guilty of hoarding ebooks for a rainy day, lol.)
Despite everything, God does have a plan for our writing. Some things don’t change. Seeking God’s will and writing for His glory will take us on a unique journey, if we’re willing to trust God with our writing and publishing dreams. That also means having good stewardship of the financial resources He has given us — and being diligent in our research of the publishing industry and not getting ripped off by scammers and predators who see Christians as easy marks to con.
If we are called to write, God will provide the means to share our writing with our target audience of readers. We have to be prepared to do the work in writing and producing quality products, knowing that vanity (fame and fortune) isn’t likely to align with God’s will for our writing. There’s also wisdom in knowing when to push harder with book marketing/promo and when to let go and take a step back and pray for clarity in God’s direction for our book selling and publishing goals.
Thanks Adam. There are so many parameters to measure success - and it does take time too. Love your books and glad you haven not let the setbacks stop you from continuing to write.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouragement. It can be really hard sometimes. Well done on keeping on!
ReplyDeleteDienece Darling