Authors, What If Amazon Went Out of Business Tomorrow?

This is obviously a hypothetical question even though Amazon has posted losses the past few months in a row. Today's “What If?” question is brought to you by panicked authors unable to access KDP for a short amount of time today. This question is also brought to you by all the people that say such things as “I'm glad I'm all platforms because what happens if Amazon SUDDENLY decides to start taking 50% of my profits? If so, I'm out.”

I'm honestly curious to find out if independent authors think we can sell and have a career without Amazon. There are a few indie authors who sell better on platforms other than Amazon. They may do really well at Apple/iBooks or Barnes & Noble, and those earnings net them the same amount they get from Amazon or more. I'd love to see how many people this is true for. Three percent of indie authors? More? Less? I'm on Amazon, BN, Kobo, and iBooks for my Nogiku Series, but I sell only 5% of my books anywhere other than Amazon.

So, okay, let's say Amazon goes kaput tomorrow like many freak out that they may do. Those that are secure in themselves with the notion of “I'm fine because I publish on all platforms”, I beg of you to think differently. First, there would be the confusion. What happened to Amazon? Where am I going to buy books? After a day or two, would people flock to Kobo or iBooks or Barnes & Noble? Probably. Do you think their systems are designed to sell your books or even handle the weight of that many new customers? Probably not.

Remember as an indie author, you are INDEPENDENT. You can decide to sell wherever you want! Which is one of the joys of being your own boss. We put our books in the hands of readers by using third-party vendors. Now's a great time to consider your website and how it can benefit you should those third-party vendors up and die on us.

This post is a prelude to many I have on making WordPress work for you! ;) (See what I did there? You have much to look forward to).