Is Kindle KDP strangling the goose that lays the golden egg?
Amazon's latest venture is to offer a free lending library to Prime members. Authors supposedly gain from a ratio share from a money 'pot' - those having most books borrowed having the biggest payout - designed to benefit the big players only.
It doesn't end there, Amazon allow each book enrolled in the scheme, to go 'free' for 5 days in each 90 period, this to boost advertising and marketing of their authors.
However, the market is suddenly flooded with free books. The scheme has only been in motion a few days, yet since its inception, I haven't sold a single copy. Contact with other Kindle authors confirms my suspicions, sales have slumped.
Why purchase books when you can get them free?
Readers realise that any book of interest, will probably be free at some point, so why buy? Not only that, there are sufficient free books to more than satisfy any reading habits, so why buy.
If readers no longer purchase, how can it be worth writing in the future?
There are no royalties on free books, so how will Amazon fare when royalties dry up? It seems to me that they have almost killed their golden goose - or are they hoping to solely make money from sales of Kindle?
Whatever, I shall jump on the bandwagon for at least 90 days, because I don't know what the alternative is. It seems to be a case of go with the flow, or die.
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