AMAZON'S UNFAIRNESS TO INDIE AUTHORS

Indie authors generate reviews and find new readers by using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to connect. Apparently, Amazon interprets that as establishing personal relationships. Once that determination is made, that person isn't going to be allowed to post reviews of the author's books. This definitely impacts the fact that all of my beta-readers and bloggers are in some way connected to me via Facebook. Either they have liked my fan page, become a friend, or respond to my posts seeking participants in my blog tours. What Amazon has done amounts to pulling the rug completely from under the indie author and sabotaging important elements of our promotion strategies.

How is an indie author (especially a new one without a strong reader following) supposed to advance in the rankings in order to trigger the algorithm that prompts Amazon to participate in the promoting, reach bloggers/beta-readers for more "unbiased" reviews, or make ourselves visible to new readers? Should we never expect to reach an "Amazon Best Seller" status? Many of us are not visible to major reviewers where we can achieve best seller status, such as New York Times or USA Today. This situation is very disheartening and I'm at my wits end trying to find a way to survive in a very competitive profession.

Please -- if your review is ever not posted for an indie author -- challenge Amazon. It's a tedious process, yet, independent authors have few tools by which to convince them that this policy/practice is totally unfair.

In addition to this, under the Kindle Unlimited program, Amazon is no longer paying an author when the reader has completed 10% of the book. It is paying us per page and only when the book is initially read. Therefore, if a person buys a book and does not finish it at the time they start reading (at the end of July) but finishes it after their family reunion (in August), it's unclear as to whether we will get paid for the full book, since royalties are calculated at the end of each month and the purchase can only be counted once. Additionally, why should we not get paid simply because the book is purchased when Amazon continues to get paid when the book is bought?

More and more, I'm convinced that, although Amazon publishes authors using their Kindle Direct Publishing, it stacks the deck against those same independent authors. Your voice, as readers and bloggers, can make a difference in how we're treated, so please consider that when interacting with Amazon.

Thank you for your support.