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Before I get to experience an author I might like, their stories disappear and reappear on Amazon/Kindle. I spent days searching for a story only to find it in my kindle library. It is getting very confusing!
Kindle is ruining bigcloset
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Your Kindle Library
It's already in your Kindle library when you find it, after searching on BCTS? That's very nice of them.
-- Daphne Xu
Kindle Unlimited
is likely the culprit. I've noticed lately that some BC stories end up in my reading queue before I even know they were published. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
~Crys
I lack technical expertise.
Kindle is very confusing for me. Once something goes to Kindle it is gone to me.
Gwen
Kindle is part of the reason the site's still around, I'd argue.
The returns from Kindle sales go toward paying the site's costs and are part of the reason the kitty's monetary goals every month are as low as they are. They also help to keep many of the authors who contribute's heads above water to some degree, meaning they have more time and inclination to provide the stories we love.
I can understand the frustration, but it's far from a case of Kindle ruining BCTS :)
Melanie E.
I can kinda understand the frustration
If the site were flushed with donations it may probably have less of an issue with needing Kindle to survive.
Authors need to make a living too though I despise Amazon and wish some other vendor would be used for the ebooks but it is not in my control..
This is not about Amazon but just e-books of course.
The fact Erin has to beg for donations to pretty much every month is ridiculous.
This site is subsidized less by advertisement because it utilizes less intrusive ads. There is still some tracking stuff though as I normally surf using Brave which indicates there are 8 cross site trackers on here which Piper may say is really to track internal usage of the site. It may also be the reason when not logged in I surf a LOT faster.
We just need to agree on
We just need to agree on timing; in theory an author can have works on kindle, other works here, and maybe kindle works here when they”earn out”, or age.
I’m certainly not interested in shorter works on Kindle’s intensive data gathering platform, but people have a right to monetize their efforts…
I don’t use Kindle’s subscription reading services; I re-read,am not interested in paying twice. I think it’s like SF was in the ‘70s; you had Galaxy and Analog monthly for shorter works, and you could go to Kroch’s (a bookstore chain) for anthologies and paperbacks…
Making a living and this site
Many of us don't publish to make a living. I write for fun and the pure enjoyment of doing it. Kudos for those who to manage to earn some money from their scribblings.
I have thought about publishing on Kindle but the Amazon 70% grad of all revenue (or 30% if you don't want them to do anything) is just obscene IMHO. If at some point in the future I do publish on Kindle, then all the income would be given to Erin and the Elves.
However, I do contribute financially to this site. Not everyone can afford to chip in even $10/month so I try to make up for some of them with my donations.
Samantha
Quite a Few of My Stories Are on Kindle
All of those stories I now have published on Kindle were published as free stories on BC before being moved to Kindle.
I donate 100% of the proceeds to this site.
I can understand your perspective . . . but without the income from the Kindle sales, this site would be in trouble financially.
It would be nice if everything was free . . . but nothing ever is.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
TANSTAAFL
EOM
for the axe had convinced them that because his handle
was made of wood he was one of them.
Just another Churchill Quote. . .
. . .he probably never said.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Kindle Select (if you're unfamiliar with it)
When you publish an ebook on Amazon (Kindle Desktop Publishing), they give options for the author. Included is the option of enrolling your book on Kindle Select. There are marketing advantages to doing this, primarily choosing a day or days that the book can be offered free or for a reduced price. In other words, you can list your book with an ebook site like Bookbaby, eReaderIQ or eReader Cafe (if accepted). That's where you see $4.99 books for 99cents or free, and is often done with the first of a series to hook readers.
Amazon's catch is that if your book is Select, it may not appear anywhere else. Apparently they have bots that search the net and if your book is found in whole or a portion, you cannot make it Select until you scrub it from the net. This is not paranoia; it has happened to me on several occasions -- I have posted a story on BCTS (maybe 20k words) and some time later, expanded it into a full-length book (maybe 100k words) and sent it to Amazon. I was using Select for my books but was prevented from enrolling the new book -- their bots found the 20k "offending" words and specified that I had to remove them from BCTS (all praise to the understanding Erin!) to be allowed to make the book Select.
That's why some stories disappear from BCTS when they appear on Kindle. Believe me, I would love to have the original short story that germinated into a book remain on BCTS, but I'd made the choice for Select to use the marketing tools.
And finally, a plea to all readers: Please, please, please review all Kindle books you read! (There are ways to post anonymous reviews and stars if you don't want your name attached; here's how)
Is select the sort of "add-on
Is select the sort of "add-on" service where you can only access books in it if you keep up their monthly subscription? (I know they have one like that, at least.) Not interested in books that don't stick around once paid for... In fact, I've found ways to backup and make local copies of all my Kindle purchases (usually converting them to ePub, a publicly documented eBook format, unlike the one Amazon uses) until recently, in case Amazon's bookshelf rules should change in the future...
Totally love eReaderIQs watchlists, by the way...
Ah, no that seems to be
Ah, no that seems to be "kindle unlimited", bundled into prime.
I have prime, of course, but I still don't hold with books disappear ing from my electronic library. I might look at my free monthly download from KDP, though, if that's permanent.
Just a thought
Could you put, "the original short story" as a permanent freebie on kindle, as a leader there, and then maybe point to it from BC?
Just a thought,
~Hypatia >i< ..:::
Kindle is how I found Big Closet
Soon after I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription I discovered that a LOT of my favorite stories were published by Doppler Press. Eventually one of the books mentioned Big Closet by name and I found this site.
Oh, wow!
Oh, wow!
-- Daphne Xu
A note about Kindle Select.
From other post I have seen, I believe:
Some authors here seem unaware that, not opting in to kindle select, would allow them to publish else where too.
>i< ..:::
Less $
Yes, but By not choosing kindle select you are lowering the royalty you get as an author per book. It's very complicated. Also if Amazon detects your story as available free somewhere, they will price match it and set your kindle edition to free
If I ever were to publish on Kindle
I have decided it will be new content that I didn't publish on BCTS.
But, what I might love to see is a page showing a set of core stories that BCTS recommends in each of the basic genres that are published here that remain free -- maybe along the lines of Retro-Classics -- for new readers or visitors to the site as an introduction to the kind of content they can find here if they are patient enough. A sort of highlights page.
In addition, it might be good to have interviews with popular authors who have moved their works to Kindle from BCTS with at least one of their stories remaining in order to give a small taste of their work.
Just some thoughts ...
AuP
Great thoughts!
When can we expect these projects to be completed? :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Well ...
This is a fantasy site. One can dream. LoL!
Maybe just add a button like this to the top line Classic Stories I think these retro-stories more than anything else drive me back to BCTS more than FM or the other so called TG sites. The quality I can find here on BCTS is truly amazing.
And, Frankly, more than I love the Retros, they have more often than not challenged me to write better and inspired me to stick with publishing only on BCTS.
My dream would be to be good enough one day to have one of my stories become a Retro-Classic too. A muse can dream, can't she?!
Hugs back at ya,
AuP