Some of you may have noticed that my books have disappeared from both Apple and Google. (Or “Appoogle” as I call them.) After a lot of research, thought, and number crunching, I’ve decided that I could no longer utilize those platforms. I know that many of you will be angry, as you may not be able to purchase through Amazon in your country. I am working on a way to rectify that problem, but as of yet, I cannot promise that it will happen, let alone when.

The problem is that neither Google nor Apple are well thought out sales platform. (Which is not too surprising, since Apple is only interested in sucking you into their world, and Google loves to come up with cool ideas but never bothers to think them through.) It is nearly impossible to get the ball rolling on either of those platforms. A reader cannot even search back through the pages, searching through the rankings until they find something they want to buy. Basically, Appoogle says “this is all we’re going to show you, and if you don’t like any of them, tough.” To find my own books, I have to basically search my name, which makes it highly unlikely that many new readers will stumble across my books.

Granted, I may not have spent enough time trying to figure out how to find stuff on their sites, but therein lies the point. As a reader, we shouldn’t have to. That’s when I realized that Amazon has a bigger share of the market simply because they are much better at presenting you with something you will like.

There are two other reasons that I decided to discontinue my attempt to sell through Appoogle. First, I was losing about 50% of my revenue per month! (That alone should be enough of a reason.) The second is that my mailing list signup rate has also dropped by 50%, which, surprisingly, hurts even more. I have always believed that my mailing list is my safety net. With a large enough mailing list, should Amazon suddenly no longer sell ebooks, (or should their terms suddenly become intolerable) I am guaranteed the ability to continue to make a living writing my stories.

I recently traveled to Seattle, where I had a chance to meet with people from Amazon, and learn a bit more about the Kindle Desktop Publishing program, as well as the Select and Kindle Unlimited Programs. After that meeting, I feel a little more confident in the future of Select and Kindle Unlimited. It was after that meeting that I sat down and started taking a serious look at the sales and mailing list numbers from the previous 3 months.

It was a mistake for me to start selling through Appoogle at this time. Someday, I’m sure I will return to those platforms, despite their remarkably poor design. But I’m afraid that day is further away than I had thought. I still have a lot of stories to write, and for me to be able to continue writing them, and continue expanding this website, and to fund all the related projects I hope to do (but cannot discuss at this time) I have to make a living. Right now, the best way to do that is through Amazon, exclusively.

ryks-sig

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