The Latest Amazon Drama

The drama isn't just Amazon's though. Earlier this month, a series of bills were introduced in Congress that, if passed, could inhibit the power of several tech giants including Google, Apple, and Facebook, not just Amazon. 

Apple's already been in trouble for their conspiracy back in 2011 with five of the ten Big Six publishing companies in the U.S. Do you think they or anyone else backed down? Hell, no. Add in the shady shit Facebook was pulling in the last two presidential elections, plus more crap than I can list from the rest, and they've gotten the attention of the American politicians.

And not in the good way.

The following is my opinion, and just my opinion. So take it with a grain of salt, tequila, and a lime wedge.

A lot of my fellow indies believe Amazon is "too big to fail". They've gone exclusive with the company through the Kindle Unlimited program since Amazon has a rough 70% of the e-book market IN THE UNITED STATES. These indies really don't look at the rest of the world. It simply doesn't count.

If the U.S. government forces Amazon and the rest to split up like they did with Ma Bell in the '80's, we have no fucking clue what the outcome will be.

Other indies are seeing the writing on the wall and diversifying--both their genres and their retailers.

I've been diversifying as well. As much as I love urban fantasy stories, the genre was overrun years ago. Plus, a ton of writers jumped into BDSM romances after the success of Fifty Shades of Grey. It's hard to get any eyeballs when all the lemmings are writing the same shit.

But hey, I was told I didn't understand writing to market. Except what my fellow indies were doing was writing to trend. Then there were those indies who grouped together and decided what the new hot subgenre should be and would write it to death. Hell, recently someone suggested I join in and write Paranormal Women's Fiction, the latest "it" subgenre. I smiled politely and said I'd think about it.

I'm not going to. I like my supers and my sword and sorcery stories for now, though I'm dabbling with what is essentially a paranormal domestic comedy with the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse series.

But does any of this sound familiar? Yep, we indies are repeating the same damn mistakes what is now the Big Five are doing.

That's not a good thing.

Anyway, if you're a writer, keep an eye on these bills. Whether you are trad, indie, or hybrid, they will affect you if they are passed. So start making some preliminary plans, and start saving your pennies.