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.

Flogging Social Media to Death

Once upon a time, a writer could use social media to connect with her readers, build a fan base and sell more books.

What's the key words in that last sentence? Trust me, it's not "sell more books."

Today, I don't even get on Twitter anymore. No one talks. Every single tweet screams, "BUY MY BOOK!"

Something a lot of writers don't seem to understand is that following other writers, then demanding the other writers follow them back IS NOT BUILDING AN AUDIENCE. It becomes one ginormous echo chamber.

Even worse, half the new followers on my Twitter account are companies trying to sell their "special services" to indie publishers. Sorry folks, I know how to format, and I already have editors lined up. And I'm sure as hell not paying four-to-five figures for someone with no internet marketing experience to promote my books.

(Though if anyone can recommend a good fantasy digital artist, I'd love to hear about them.)

Facebook isn't much better. With the company going public, the shareholders are pressuring Zuckerberg to show them the money. Over half of posts don't show up on my family and friends' feeds, much less my fans. I'm sure as hell not paying $20 bucks to contact my family! And I don't trust Facebook's analytics for advertising when they keep telling me I need to improve my love life by joining a dating website, and I should earn my degree in medical transcription.

Oh, and I need to increase the size of my penis.

(Seriously, dudes?)

MySpace is officially dead. YouTube's become a joke since Google took it over. And Google+ is selling what info they can collect about you to any scam artist willing to buy it.

(Guess what? My penis still does not need to be enlarged. Thank you very much.)

If I haven't responded to you LinkedIn invite, I apologize. What do you mean you didn't send me one? Didn't you realize they mined your entire address book?

Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest simply don't appeal to me. I write. I don't take pictures. And I really don't want Pinterest reselling pictures of my adorable beagle around the internet.

So for now, I'm sticking with Blogger. Hey, I'm a writer, so why not write?

Or I will until Google takes all my blogs and uses them as evidence of why a middle-aged mother of a teen needs her penis enlarged.