Sunday, December 18, 2011

Amazon's KDP Select Program Attempts to Squeeze Out Competition


For those authors considering Amazon's KDP Select program, this is their response to my question about NOOK and iPad versions.

"When you choose KDP Select for a book, you’re committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of your book’s enrollment in KDP Select, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. Similarly, you cannot offer a sample or teaser on any platforms. If you are an author or publisher you'll have the remove the book from sale from other sales channels to participate in the KDP select program."

Thus, Amazon confirms their intent is to squeeze out their competition. If you're an author or publisher my advice would be to steer clear of the KDP offer and hope Amazon doesn't insist in the future that you ONLY publish through them. I suspect, however, this is their ultimate goal. EJ

This public service publishing announcement brought to you by eBook Publishing, your low-cost alternative to publishing success. http://ow.ly/82ZOe

1 comment:

  1. Note: even if you cancel the agreement, you remain obligated to abide by the terms. The copy below is from Amazon's Terms page:

    "If you un-publish your Digital Book, we will remove it from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, but you must continue to comply with these commitments, including exclusivity, through the remainder of the Digital Book’s then-current 90-day period of participation in KDP Select.

    If you don’t comply with these KDP Select terms and conditions, we will not owe you Royalties for that Digital Book earned through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program, and we may offset any of those Royalties that were previously paid against future Royalties, or require you to remit them to us.

    We may also withhold your Royalty payments on all your Digital Books for a period of up to 90 days while we investigate. This doesn’t limit other remedies we have, such as prohibiting your future participation in KDP Select or KDP generally.

    https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?ie=UTF8&topicId=APILE934L348N#Select

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