Today’s NYTimes article “With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don’t Need to Sell” waxes lyrical about the opportunities independent writers smaller publishing houses have found by publishing their works free of charge for Kindle. By doing so, many have made it into the Amazon Kindle Bestseller List.
Indeed, at the time of writing this, the top two books in the Kindle Bestseller List (Cape Refuge and Southern Storm both by Terri Blackstock) are free. In total, 15 of the current top 25 Kindle Bestseller books are available free of charge.
(UPDATE: Terri Blackstock left useful comments below)
But what doesn’t add up is that Amazon forces authors publishing works into the Kindle Marketplace to set a minimum price of $0.99c (see notes in red near bottom of the page).
I’ve just checked and confirmed this important fact, missed by Motoko Rich who wrote the NY Times piece, with my partner Violet Blue. Violet is an Amazon Bestselling author herself who has published 24 of her books into Kindle format.
Using her account in Amazon’s Digital Text Platform (DTP) I confirmed she is unable to set any of her books below 99c. In fact, she told me she would like to offer some of them for free if she could. (Violet has screen-grabs of her DTP interface on Flickr)
Back to the New York Times article, it paints a now familiar “free culture kicks it to the old guard” story of how independent writers smaller publishers are publishing their works to Kindle for free and then getting signed/distribution deals with publishing houses to sell hard-copy versions commercially.
Something fishy going on
But this doesn’t stack up, as it is impossible for an independent author like Violet to publish free for Kindle. From what I can see there is one of two possibilities here, both of which make a much more deeper and interesting story:
Possibility #1: Amazon is entering into special agreements with certain independent writers smaller publishers – and thus not playing a square game with the rest of their authors. Perhaps this is to drive traction to their e-reader, but to the detriment of maintaining a level playing field and equal publishing ecosystem. Or…
Possibility #2: Mainstream publishers (who apparently use different platforms to publish ebooks into Kindle marketplace) are able to set a zero price on their books. I note this option because those two free books written by Ms Blackstock are also available as ‘hard-copy’ paperbacks for $10.19 published by publishing house Zondervan.
I’ll leave the fact that Zondervan is an overtly Evangelical-style Christian publisher, and thus the burning question as to whether they are gaming the Kindle ‘free gets you to the top of Kindle Bestseller” hack to spread covert pro-Christianity rhetoric in the forms of works of fiction, to the conspiracy theorists out there.
I write the above with the disclosure that I find the DRM-laden nature of the Amazon Kindle almost as abhorrent as the spreading of pro-religious rhetoric via means that appear secular on initial inspection (see Alpha Course, books by C. S. Lewis, etc.)
UPDATE: Upon a second read of the NY Times piece in follow up to a comment left below, I noticed that the piece was centered around smaller publishers rather than independent authors per se, so I have struck out those references where made. However, there remains a big story here which is why publishers are able to offer books for free when the independent authors seemingly can’t.
wow… great article.
i dig the sentiments about: “the DRM-laden nature of the Amazon Kindle almost as abhorrent as the spreading of pro-religious rhetoric via means that appear secular on initial inspection”
peace
Not sure if it’s a conspiracy as much as a marketing decision (and probably special agreement with Amazong) to build buzz for the books:
“Giving people a sample is a great way to hook people and encourage them to buy more,” said Suzanne Murphy, group publisher of Scholastic Trade Publishing, which offered free downloads of “Suite Scarlett,” a young-adult novel by Maureen Johnson, for three weeks in the hopes of building buzz for the next book in the series”
And what the hell have you got against C.S. Lewis? He’s written some brilliant books, granted some of them pretty religious, but that’s because he’s a Christian and that’s what they do 🙂
Do you like T.S. Elliot?
[…] Today’s NYTimes article “With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don’t Need to Sell” waxes lyrical about the opportunities independent writers have found by publishing their works free of charge for Kindle. By doing so, many (apparently) unsigned authors have made it into the Amazon Kindle Bestseller List […]
Did NYT go back and revise the article? Because now it seems to acknowledge that the free books are from publishers, not independent writers. This is pretty high up in the article:
Publishers including Harlequin, Random House and Scholastic are offering free versions of digital books to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-retailers, as well as on author Web sites, as a way of allowing readers to try out the work of unfamiliar writers.
Which sounds like exactly what you’re saying the article left out. I’m confused.
One more comment regarding the Christianity. All of the books published by Zondervan are Christian books, and all of my books contain my worldview. My last book, Intervention, made the New York Times best-seller list (not free), so I’m not sure why you think anyone has some under-handed scheme. Offering free books is a great marketing tool. And it works, because here you are talking about them. 🙂
@Terri Blackstock:
I don’t think anyone is debating the merits of offering books for free. You wouldn’t be familiar with my work but I’m a huge proponent of free culture for many many years.
The main question here, and perhaps you can throw some light onto this for us given your position, is how your books are available for free download given that Amazon’s interface for publishers doesn’t allow books to sold for less than 99c.
Do you have an alternative agreement with Amazon, for example?
While I’m not a fan of religious content (I reserve the right to be a little snarky on it, it is my blog after all) I’m pleased that there are so many free books now available for Amazon so congratulations on your success.
I’m not sure, but I’d assume that the publishers probably do have some kind of different agreement with Amazon, or they may negotiate this on a case by case basis. My last book, Intervention, was a NY Times best-seller, so it may be that Amazon allows the publishers to do this in order to drive more business (i.e., our readers) to the Kindle. This is just speculation, however, because I don’t know for sure. My publisher has offered other books for free as well. These two books are several years old, and we’re only offering them for two weeks. I doubt I would agree to having them offer newer books.
I would assume that the Kindle Best Seller list is actually based off the number of items sold (even if for free). Do you actually believe that Kindle owners are downloading the top two books just because they are free. For you to argue this is a scheme by Christian book publishers would imply that simply by providing their wares for free, people will download them and therefore put these publications at the top of the list.
Not only does this not treat Ms. Blackstock with respect, but there are many other non-Christian book listed on the best seller list that are not in the #1 and #2 position. So free-ness alone does not dictate their ability to sell.
While the rest of your post certainly has merit, this little “snarky” paragraph is just a cheap shot at organized religion.
“I’ll leave the fact that Zondervan is an overtly Evangelical-style Christian publisher, and thus the burning question as to whether they are gaming the Kindle ‘free gets you to the top of Kindle Bestseller” hack to spread covert pro-Christianity rhetoric in the forms of works of fiction, to the conspiracy theorists out there.”
Good LORD, You’re an idiot… if you don’t like it then don’t read it… Zondervan is doing nothing different than the rest of them…
[…] blogger Ben Metcalfe mentions another controversy: apparently the option to give Kindle books away for free is not available to everyone. Metcalfe’s writing partner, Violet Blue, is unable to set the price for any of her Kindle books […]
[…] authors is that they’re apparently shut out of the free sample opportunity. According to a blog post by Ben Metcalfe, $0.99 is as cheap as independent authors can set the price of any of their e-book uploads. […]
[…] (UPDATE: Terri Blackstock left useful comments below) […]
The obvious answer here is that publishers — small or otherwise — are given the opportunity to compensate Amazon directly for the privilege of making books free for the Kindle. They pay to make books free. The promotional benefits of attracting readers and placing titles on the bestseller lists are well worth paying for, and Amazon is, after all, a business.
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It’s highly unlikely Amazon would ever offer independent authors publishing via their DTP platform the option to set a $0 price. That would just open up the floodgates. HOWEVER, it is unfair (dare I say, “anti-competitive” ?) that they do not disclose their terms for making a title free.
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As big publishers fight to raise ebook prices, the opportunities increase for small or independents to attract interest with inexpensive alternatives. Amazon has been very supportive of such things so far. I hope they continue to expand their support of independents by allowing them more of the options currently made available only to corporate publishers.
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– mattmchugh.com
Good and interesting article. This is what I was looking for. I hope the blog will be more similar articles.
I’ve used Amazon for 5 months now. I went thru the pain of formating for Kindle and guess what? Not one single sell because the lowest I can price it is: 99 cents. No one has even seen it. I would gladly price it at 0.00 cents and have the whole world at least know it’s out there and receive nothing. I wish I had some God-Like power on my keyboard with a 0.00 button on it, and at least let the world know I wrote a great book, but being an unknown writer with no publisher backing me, I might as well go swim in the Gulf with all that oil.
Is there any news on this? My self I just assumed it was possible to publish for free since there are already so many free kindle books available. I think it’s a shame since we’re missing out on a lot of books and like Thomas said indie publishers lose potential audience. In the meantime there’s always scribd.com a great site ot publish for free and for selling, although selling is only available from the US.
Well of course they’re manipulating the marketplace and making special deals on Kindle. That’s what they do. So now you get ‘free’ versions of (say) public domain works.
I believe possibility #1 to be the more feasible of the two options.
I can see how amazon has wanted to perhaps help out lesser known publishers and get there name out there.
Reasons why i go for ebooks
1. They are delivered almost instantaneously. You purchase and download and start reading them within minutes without leaving your chair. No need to wait for them for days, weeks and sometimes more to arrive by mail. If you buy books online you have to pay packing and shipping cost, but ebooks no packing, no shipping.
2. Go GREEN – Save the Forests – No trees are required to manufacture paper for the pages of an ebook.
3. Many ebooks are sold nowadays with bonuses, which you usually do not get with a printed book. This adds value to your purchase.
4. They are more safely stored and carried from one place to another, than ordinary books. They also withstand time more than books.
5. They can show links for easy access to more information and relate you directly to websites.
I was just wondering… As Kindle is not very popular anywhere outside the US. what platform is used everywhere else?
“They are delivered almost instantaneously. You purchase and download and start reading them within minutes without leaving your chair. No need to wait for them for days, weeks and sometimes more to arrive by mail. If you buy books online you have to pay packing and shipping cost, but ebooks no packing, no shipping.”
This comment really hits the nail on the head. Although regular printed books will continue to be produced in the future, increasing numbers of people will opt for the convenience of ebooks.
You’ll always be able to get free stuff on the internet, there some smart people out there that make a living out of finding ways pirating. eBook will be the same
Amazon are in a tricky situation with the ipad just being released. One of the main USP’s that the kindle – and thus Amazon have is the availablility of free books. I was under the impression that the marketplace allowed all authors to set their price at whatever they want. It seems that this is not the case!
The problem is that when companies become too powerful – Amazon, Apple and Microsoft – they are able to exert undue control over the marketplace.
I would not be shocked to find more cases of Amazon exerting their power as the competition with the Ipad heats up…
I’m glad to have visited your blog and good to know you! I find it interesting and informative.All IT eBooks are very interested to read all are best ebooks.
Yes, this really sound like they are covering something up. I hope this gets fixed soon.
I am English and therefore have no real experience of Evangelism within Christianity, It tends to be far more low key over here. As a kindle owner I found that the cost of downloading books until recently was prohibitive for me. So I thought I would try out some new authors from the bestsellers list, that were cheap or free. I was amazed to find that 4 of the 6 or 7 books I downloaded were overtly Christian in their message. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, I feel that I was not given any indication in the blurb for the books that this was their theme. I stopped reading all of them as soon as I realised what was going on, as I am not religious. I am sure that Christians would not appreciate being duped into reading books whose main message is that religion is a myth without being forewarned. I do not understand how these books can possibly have become best sellers, the ones I began to read were certainly not very well written. I feel that perhaps something fishy is going on. I feel amazon should be careful as there are a lot of people out there who do not like being hoodwinked. If I noticed something odd after just downloading a few books, then most people will.
I have tagged Christian-themed books as such on Amazon, and I keep hoping that Amazon will a) come up with a search option for tags (if there is one, please let me in on it!) and b) voluntarily and as a matter of course tag books with a Christian designation. I’ve been roped into just a couple of Christian-themed novels that were actually OK, but mostly, I just stop reading. The last one was divided into Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 was pretty engaging, but then–sucker punch on Part 2. Pretty cynical on the publisher’s part, if you ask me.
As a small publisher (ebooks and paperbacks) in the UK with, at the relevant time, 3 titles in the Top 100, I asked Amazon if I could price a book for free on release of the second book by the same author. I was told that the original Kindle platform offered the free option, and that this was no longer available. I was not offered any alternative deal.
Just a note on the DRM part of things. DRM is a choice made by the author or publisher, whichever is managing the Kindle. I’m very near to self publishing my my first novel through Kindle and in the page of options where you set everything up near the bottom of the page Option 5 where you upload the ebook it asks: “Select a digital rights management (DRM) option:” and has two options: “Enable digital rights management ” or “Do not enable digital rights management” So, any Kindle book you’ve purchased that has DRM protection has actually been turned on by either the publisher or the author, not Amazon.
[…] Price: $ 0.99 Price: Increasing your current income by that amount while doing something you enjoy and might be doing fo… Increasing your current income by that amount while doing something you enjoy and might be doing […]
“free gets you to the top of Kindle Bestseller” hack to spread covert pro-Christianity rhetoric in the forms of works of fiction”
I agree. There should be a disclaimer in the descriptions for Bible-thumpers, b/c 90% of my freebooks are just that. Not that it matters, but I am a Christian… and such preachiness irritates me.
I understand what you’re saying but KDP select is a very useful tool for new authors like myself.