How many authors from SOL are on Amazon

[Donald Wayman]

Just saw an authors blog about having books on Amazon, is there a list of authors that have listings there?

[Crumbly Writer]

Nope. There's no master list of self-published authors. To be honest, based on the comments on this forum, there's only a handful. Those that are, are eager to announce it, though.

According to Lazeez, we can list an email address, but we can't actually 'promote' book sales here (since he's in the business of promoting free stories.

What seems to be more common, is authors yanking their stories in preparation for publishing. That's because of 'exclusivity' stipulations in publishing contrasts (which don't always work out), or Amazon's 90 strangle hold on authors (a 90-day 'exclusive' arrangement).

[Deadly Ernest]

CW,

I could be wrong, but Lazeez' real issue is with those who post teasers and then tell people to go buy the full story elsewhere. Every case I've heard where he's kicked someone off for self-publishing promotion has been of that type. A few of us, including me, self-publish on Lulu and Amazon but also have the complete story available at SOL for free. Because we put it on SOL for free he hasn't objected to us also selling it through another source and having that information in our blog.

Ernest

[rbhol...@charter.net]

That is the point entirely Ernest.  You and CW among others admit up front you have books or stories for sale.  Yet you do not TEASE the users at SOL with partial postings.  The honesty is definitely respected by me and probably others as well.  The tease or whatever label anyone puts on it is dishonest as all hell in my opinion.

[Deadly Ernest]

It's the being up front and honest aspect that helps, but it's also the fact the full story is free via SOL if they want to go with the SOL system and encourages people to sign up for a full account.

[Switch Blayde]

I only have one novel on Amazon (in ebook format only).

The author I know who has a lot is Lubrican.

Switch
["Sexual Awakening" (full length novel) at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1VHIZC ]

[stories at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Switch_Blayde ]
[Twitter at https://twitter.com/swblayde ]
[discussion group/blog at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/switch_blayde_group/ ]
 

---

Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2015 05:37:12 -0700
From: dwaym...@msn.com
To: storie...@googlegroups.com
Subject: How many authors from SOL are on Amazon

Just saw an authors blog about having books on Amazon, is there a list of authors that have listings there?

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[Crumbly Writer]

Ernest, it (announcing books on sale on SOL) goes a little further than that. I typically have a link to purchase at the bottom of each chapter (on ASSTR and my webpages) which Lazeez doesn't allow. Thus people looking for the books will only discover them if they search eCh individual blog.

What was asked was 'is there a way to find ALL the published authors'. Currently, the answer is no.

[Crumbly Writer]

The other issue (which I forgot) is that everyone publishes on different sources (ex. Amazon, create space, smash words, lulu, etc) which makes finding each author's books trickier.

[Joe "Bondi" Beach]

On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 8:29 AM, Switch Blayde <switch...@hotmail.com> wrote:

I only have one novel on Amazon (in ebook format only).

The author I know who has a lot is Lubrican.

And, to Bob's credit, versions of at least some of his novels for sale on Amazon are still on SOL, although some of those are available only to premier members. For example, Tumblr Sister on SOL is Tumblr Sibling on Amazon. Bob has a hilarious preface about how "Sister" became "Sibling" as Amazon continued to demand changes. (Disclosure: I haven't read either of them and don't know how closely one tracks the other.)

I have books for "sale" (they're free downloads) on Amazon and elsewhere, but even for the one title (Cheerleaders in Paradise) that's not free, the original version is still on SOL and, as with the others, will remain there.

bb

-- 

A 2014 NaNoWriMo winner!

Micol, slightly revised and with all three stories together, is now available free directly from me in ePub format, or from Mediafire. Download my other stories, all but one for free, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Lulu, iTunes and Storiesonline. They're also on my Tumblr blog. 

[Crumbly Writer]

Getting down to brass tacks, my books are available on Amazon and smashwords (i.e. most ebook distributors). They're also available on SOL, but I'm dropping them from ASSTR.

[Switch Blayde]

CW,

ASSTR does not allow that.

Switch
["Sexual Awakening" (full length novel) at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1VHIZC ]

[stories at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Switch_Blayde ]
[Twitter at https://twitter.com/swblayde ]
[discussion group/blog at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/switch_blayde_group/ ]
 

> Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2015 09:45:02 -0700
> From: crumbl...@gmail.com
> To: storie...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: How many authors from SOL are on Amazon

>
> Ernest, it (announcing books on sale on SOL) goes a little further than that. I typically have a link to purchase at the bottom of each chapter (on ASSTR and my webpages) which Lazeez doesn't allow. Thus people looking for the books will only discover them if they search eCh individual blog.
>
> What was asked was 'is there a way to find ALL the published authors'. Currently, the answer is no.
>

[Switch Blayde]

And they might publish under different names. Lubrican publishes as Bob Lubrican. I post on SOL as Switch Blayde yet my novel is written by S.W. Blayde.

Switch
["Sexual Awakening" (full length novel) at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1VHIZC ]

[stories at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Switch_Blayde ]
[Twitter at https://twitter.com/swblayde ]
[discussion group/blog at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/switch_blayde_group/ ]
 

> Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2015 09:48:27 -0700

> From: crumbl...@gmail.com
> To: storie...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: How many authors from SOL are on Amazon
>

> The other issue (which I forgot) is that everyone publishes on different sources (ex. Amazon, create space, smash words, lulu, etc) which makes finding each author's books trickier.
>

[Sagacious]

One other thing you might want to consider. The pseudonym I use on this site is not what would be on the title page of anything I'd be willing to submit to amazon. I imagine that would be true for a few others on SOL.

On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 6:14 PM, <rbhol...@charter.net> wrote:

I think probably the only method is to make your own listing.  Depending on how you organize your bookmarks I would think you could have a folder under the SOL site.   For example I have the following tree of sites:

Stories  (main story folder)

        Finestories

On Sunday, August 16, 2015 at 8:37:12 AM UTC-4, Donald Wayman wrote:

Just saw an authors blog about having books on Amazon, is there a list of authors that have listings there?

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Rock on into the night.

[Donald Wayman]

 

Pseudonyms were my original consideration, because I found a trilogy I liked on Amazon where the author had only posted the first book on SOL.

 

From: Sagacious

Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2015 6:18 PM

To: storie...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: How many authors from SOL are on Amazon

 

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[Crumbly Writer]

THAT's what Lazeez and others disapprove of. They may not advertise it on the site, but they're playing a hostage game, where they give you the first bit to force you to pay for the rest. Authors do the same thing with Amazon, where they offer the first story in a series for free, but at least they're straight forward concerning the prices of the entire series. But yeah, that was my thought on trying to find the published "Winds" (i.e. what's the author's actual name?).

[Crumbly Writer]

I'm sure if you were to ask the authors, they'd be GLAD to tell you what name to search under, but that doesn't get us any closer to a unified list of all Amazon SOL authors.

[rbhol...@charter.net]

Take Ernest for example.  I have multiple bookmarks for him under different names.  From any of those I can find a link to his Lulu page where his ebooks are on sale at.   I haven't used that link because I can not afford to purchase the books my disability income is just too limited.  Every penny is counted in order to even have access to the internet among other things. For all I know those lulu links can have stories or books which have yet to be made available on SOL.  He hasn't mentioned any but the possibility exists (doubtful given his obvious honest appearance)..    A link can be provided by an author in many ways as a footnote at the end of a posted story, a part of their profile, or in the Blog on SOL without violating the policies in my opinion.  The links are just another site where stories are available.  And not all stories have to be available on all the sites.  In some cases I figure its redundancy or backup insurance against loss.

[Deadly Ernest]

G'day,

My situation is a bit odd, I do have a a few stories (not many) that I can't post at SOL yet because of contractual arrangements entered into with another site before I started posting at SOL. When those contract expire the stories will appear on SOL. I am allowed to post those stories on Lulu, and do. The first story I published Ed's New Life is a lot different to the Clan Amir series and when I sent them to the publisher he wanted me to use a different name to keep the two separate, so I used Ernest Edwards for the Clan Amir series and that's all I write under that name - My full name is Ernest Edward Bywater, thus that name. I assisted another author with writing the action parts of his stories and, initially, didn't want my name on them for legal reason, but later took over full control of them when he ceased writing - thus the Cazna Rochester stories I'm now fully responsible for revising and some need to be finished. Beyond that, some years back I honored a request by The Scot to take on and finish Shiloh, and that's it - at the moment. Everything I've been involved in writing (other than as an editor) is available from my Lulu site. All new stories are posted at SOL when finished and also at Lulu as well, the only difference is Lulu gets the full story at once and SOL gets it in 5,000 to 8,000 words chunks every couple of days until it's all posted - most of my stories are 45,000 words and up, so they take some time to post it all at SOL, but it's all loaded on the first day.

NB: Some stories cost a little more than the others because I can't undercut what my other publisher charges.

Ernest

[rbhol...@charter.net]

That is why I said what I did about  your honesty.  I have not looked at lulu or smashwords or the other commercial sites for that matter.  You and CW among others have come across as totally honest.  That honesty makes a huge difference.  Its why I am up front about some things in my own past.  I do admit that I tend to make comments and/or statements in such a way they appear to be a lie about many events, but there are enough facts that can be verified as long as someone has the right name and connections to check them out.

[Kim Little]

Question for those of you who are on Amazon: What's the deal with content guidelines there?

[Switch Blayde]

The biggest limitation Amazon has that affects me is no incest and no underage sex (under 18).

Switch
["Sexual Awakening" (full length novel) at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1VHIZC ]

[stories at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Switch_Blayde ]
[Twitter at https://twitter.com/swblayde ]
[discussion group/blog at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/switch_blayde_group/ ]
 

---

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 06:16:56 -0700
From: kimlitt...@gmail.com

To: storie...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: How many authors from SOL are on Amazon

Question for those of you who are on Amazon: What's the deal with content guidelines there?

On Sunday, August 16, 2015 at 10:37:12 PM UTC+10, Donald Wayman wrote:

Just saw an authors blog about having books on Amazon, is there a list of authors that have listings there?

[Kim Little]

So then... what constitutes 'sex'? The Clinton definition?

[Switch Blayde]

Anything that would be viewed as child pornography, which is pretty broad.

Switch
["Sexual Awakening" (full length novel) at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1VHIZC ]

[stories at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Switch_Blayde ]
[Twitter at https://twitter.com/swblayde ]
[discussion group/blog at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/switch_blayde_group/ ]
 

---

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 06:55:02 -0700

[Switch Blayde]

Oh, no bestiality either, but that doesn't affect me.

Switch
["Sexual Awakening" (full length novel) at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1VHIZC ]

[stories at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Switch_Blayde ]
[Twitter at https://twitter.com/swblayde ]
[discussion group/blog at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/switch_blayde_group/ ]
 

---

From: switch...@hotmail.com
To: storie...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: How many authors from SOL are on Amazon
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 07:24:05 -0700

[Joe "Bondi" Beach]

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 6:16 AM, Kim Little <kimlitt...@gmail.com> wrote:

Question for those of you who are on Amazon: What's the deal with content guidelines there?

No fun stuff, i.e., under-age sex, incest, bestiality, blah blah blah.

Selena Kitt has an amusing rant about how her stuff disappeared and then came back. So does Robert (Bob) Lubrican about his efforts to publish Tumblr Sister [Step-sister, Sibling].

bb

-- 

[Deadly Ernest]

Kim,

Before you consider using Amazon make it a point to give their terms and conditions a very good and close read - every time I've checked them it required the author to hand over a lot of control and rights of their story to Amazon for little in return. They even get the right to keep making money off it after you ask to have it pulled. That's why the few items I've got at Amazon are via Lulu because that means I return those controls and rights, but it does cost a it more. So most of what I have via Amazon are freebies.

BTW One of the issues is Amazon demands the right to set the prices and they pay a lower percentage of sales to the author.

Ernest

[Crumbly Writer]

I'm evaluating a new story where siblings fall in love, only it turns out (later on) that they aren't actually siblings. (I did that once before, except there the two characters had been though several lives and just 'ended up' as siblings this time.)

I'll have to see whether that flies with Amazon or not. However, by stretching the story out so they don't actually have sex until a sequel pretty much guarantees that no one will complain (i.e. anyone weirded out will have quit before they get kinky).

Ernest, when those stipulation in the Amazon ToS turn up most often are if someone else steals your work. If Amazon discovers anyone else publishing the same work, they'll immediately stop paying you, even while they continue accepting sales. Many new authors get frustrated and walk away from their work, but the solution is to send them evidence that you were the original author (ex. SOL postings, comments in forums, date stamped work files).

[Deadly Ernest]

CW,

That may be when they are applying them 'at the moment' but the issue I have is they insist on having those rights and can apply them at any time they wish to and you have no comeback. In the situation mentioned by you they should contact you and seek proof before screwing you over.

Now, I've four books available at Amazon, all through Lulu, and none of those conditions apply to my books because they are not in the agreement between Amazon and Lulu or Lulu and me. yes, it costs me 10% of what Amazon pays to Lulu, but I do get to retain control of my works. It's no big loss because 3 of those books are out there as public help information and are at zero dollars so there is no money made on them by anyone.

Ernest

[Crumbly Writer]

I've heard of a LOT of newbie authors (with only one book to their names) getting disillusioned with the grief that Amazon gives them. However, in my case (with ten books), all they've ever done is tell me 'We see someone else, "Crumbly Writer and Vincent Berg" claiming credit for your story. Once I tell them the one is only a pseudonym, I haven't had any problem.

I also have an extensive record of email messages to other authors, showing just how long I've been working on a story, so I'm pretty well covered. I also assign an ISBN for books as soon as I start writing, so that helps prove that the book is mine (i.e. I claimed credit before any Johnny-come-lately).

By the way, I'm not sure how your lulu sales have been holding up, but I've recently (over the last six months) watched my smashword sales dry up, and the majority of my readers now purchase the story via Amazon. I'm wondering whether this is an SW issue, or is it happening across the board. (SW used to be the biggest self-publishing outlet).

[Deadly Ernest]

The local judicial system in America work reasonably well until sometime in 1776, then it went to hell - lol.

On sales, from what I've seen in various reports sales are down for indies across the board. My Lulu sales are about average for the current state of play, I get humps when a new book is out, so a few new books in a short period sees a jump, then it drops ro a lower level after that - which is where it is at the moment.

Sale via Amazon, according to the reports from Amazon my four books with them average one per three months, while I get about two a month via Apple, and about three a month via Lulu of those same titles. Now, they don't really mean much to mean because the one of the four that I can get some money for has no sales via Amazon or Apple, while I've got many sales of that same title via Lulu at a slightly high price due to the Amazon deal cutting the price by a dollar. So I get no cash from Amazon or Apple, but the freebies have a nice pick up through them with a much higher level of sales via Lulu. I'll try to get some more definitive stats later (if I remember to do it - short term memory has an issue, now if I can remember what it is.)

Ernest

[Wayne Gibbous]

This is for everyone interested in ebook publishing: I've been publishing quite a while on Amazon and on Smashwords under a different pen name. I use both as e-book publishers only and do not participate in Amazon's special Select 'deals' for authors.

Amazon's content policy is basically that they will block anything they feel like. Read it, that's pretty much what it says. After several hundred books I've published on Amazon, I can tell you that NO incest, NO under 18, rape, forced sex, bestiality are allowed. "Pseudo-incest" is allowed: stepchildren and the like. I have one book about a man and his son who have moved in the dad's older gf and her daughter and they all four end up swapping. But there's no marriage...key point. They would probably approve a book that has a brother and sister find out they aren't really related. I have also published books both places where Daddy- or Mommy-sex fantasies are played out. But with non-relations.

Now, Smashwords will allow incest but only 18+. Remember they also distribute to a lot of resellers, notably B&N and Apple. If you only want it on SW and B&N, then incest Should pass. Apple, forget it, never., ever They are the strictest of all the book retailers, Amazon is second. Apple also draws the line at too much sex, ie, not carrying what they judge as XXX-rated books and this is very inconsistent in how they allow or disallow your book. I'm just resigned that Apple will only carry about half my titles that are on SW & B&N.

No book publisher makes the author turn over their rights and SW and Amazon both allow you to take down books you no longer want sold.

I sell quite a few books through both publishers but I also have a lot of titles for sale through them, several hundred, all under another name.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I've got 2 years of experience with both these large e-book publishers and it's mostly from the back-and-forth as author/publisher that I've been able to figure out the boundaries they have internally.

Once you sense how they work, it all falls into place. I can upload a book and have it on the market the same day from both publishers. These two pretty much cover teh market in my opinion. I hope it's been helpful.

[Crumbly Writer]

A couple comments, Wayne. Amazon will ban ANYTHING if anyone registers a complaint, even if it's completely unjustified. It's up to YOU, the author, to prove it doesn't break the rules. So, if a squick freaks out the right reader, consider the book banned. (Though the banning isn't consistent. Several partner sites (like B&N) may still carry it.

Many people now avoid the KDP Select. It used to be because they pay less, but now it's because authors dislike the required "Kindle Unlimited" program (where readers can read whatever they want, and you only get paid based on how much they read). Their older determination of content (for Kindle Unlimited) only paid a flat fee, so it rewarded short stories (10,000 words for a 'novel') over in-depth stories.

The issue with Amazon 'keeping your book' has to do with print books, and NOT ebooks. They 'borrow' books, and only pays for them when a sale is made. Since they 'prestock' those titles, if you pull a book, or make changes to it, the older books NEVER go away. They'll keep selling them, and if you buy them yourself to get them off the shelf, they only stock more.

I'm interested in the 'what's too much' argument, because I'm not contemplating another 'almost incest' book. The characters start out as brother and sister, kissing only, but it turns out (several chapters in) that they were both adopted but didn't know it (it fits into the overall plot). I'm hoping that, putting off the actual sex, I can slip it by unnoticed. That's what I did with Catalyst, and I never had any issues with that story (brother/sister romance).

[Deadly Ernest]

Wayne,

I suggest you go back and read the Amazon terms regarding e-publishing with them. Because they claim the right to reformat your book anyway they wish (clause 5.1.5) and all you can do is pull it if you disagree. Also, they claim the right to give away free copies as part of a promotion of any sort and not pay you a cent for them (clause 5.2.1). The Kindle Lending program allows people to loan the books they buy and you're automatically in it unless you opt out for each book as an individual book (clause 5.2.3). In clause 5.3.4 the take the right to set the prices however they want, regardless of what you want. But the real biggie is in clause 5.5 Grant of rights (bold is my addition to emphasis items):

5.5 Grant of Rights.

You grant to each Amazon party, throughout the term of this Agreement, a nonexclusive, irrevocable, right and license to distribute Digital Books, directly and through third-party distributors, in all digital formats by all digital distribution means available. This right includes, without limitation, the right to: (a) reproduce, index and store Digital Books on one or more computer facilities, and reformat, convert and encode Digital Books; (b) display, market, transmit, distribute, sell and otherwise digitally make available all or any portion of Digital Books through Amazon Properties (as defined below), for customers and prospective customers to download, access, copy and paste, print, annotate and/or view online and offline, including on portable devices; (c) permit customers to "store" Digital Books that they have purchased from us on servers ("Virtual Storage") and to access and re-download such Digital Books from Virtual Storage from time to time both during and after the term of this Agreement; (d) display and distribute (i) your trademarks and logos in the form you provide them to us or within Digital Books (with such modifications as are necessary to optimize their viewing), and (ii) portions of Digital Books, in each case solely for the purposes of marketing, soliciting and selling Digital Books and related Amazon offerings; (e) use, reproduce, adapt, modify, and distribute, as we determine appropriate, in our sole discretion, any metadata that you provide in connection with Digital Books; and (f) transmit, reproduce and otherwise use (or cause the reformatting, transmission, reproduction, and/or other use of) Digital Books as mere technological incidents to and for the limited purpose of technically enabling the foregoing (e.g., caching to enable display). In addition, you agree that we may permit our affiliates and independent contractors, and our affiliates' independent contractors, to exercise the rights that you grant to us in this Agreement. "Amazon Properties" means any web site, application or online point of presence, on any platform, that is owned or operated by or under license by Amazon or co-branded with Amazon, and any web site, application, device or online point of presence through which any Amazon Properties or products available for sale on them are syndicated, offered, merchandised, advertised or described. You grant us the rights set forth in this Section 5.5 on a worldwide basis; however, if we make available to you a procedure for indicating that you do not have worldwide distribution rights to a Digital Book, then the territory for the sale of that Digital Book will be those territories for which you indicate, through the procedure we provide to you, that you have distribution rights.

..................

Whenever anyone wants an irrevocable right of yours they're out to rob you blind. In short, what Amazon does is allows you to keep the copyright because there's no way the courts will let them get away with stealing that, they let you sell through other sources, but they claim the right to sell your book however they like for all time and there is no way you can legally revoke that right or stop them - that's taking over your basic rights on control of distribution and they stand after you pull the book. Because Amazon do it a number of the other e-publishers do it as well, so always check the full wording of the terms and conditions.

Some people say they don't abuse these rights, if they were serious about never abusing them they wouldn't be in the terms and conditions to begin with.

Ernest

[Wayne Gibbous]

I simply wanted to add my actual experience with over two years of publishing on both platforms, over 230 books on each. Every company, your cable TV supplier, credit card company, car manufacturer, insurance company, has lots and lots of legal detail and, for most of us, it never comes into play. Likewise, I wanted to share what it has really been for me dealing with these publishers and retailers in getting erotica published and sold. I've never had a book taken down because of a complaint though, I suppose, it could happen.

Also, I've found that Smashwords will give you some idea why a book didn't pass muster but Amazon just says it's 'blocked.'

In my view, it's a workable system once you've had enough experience to work out in your own mind what the limits are but their written guidelines, especially Amazon's are completely unhelpful.

[Crumbly Writer]

Don't apologize. That's what the forum is here for, so we can all (authors and readers) can share knowledge and issues. If your experience helps others, it's a win for everyone. I've found that articles about writing are virtually useless, but forums where everyone works out issues as they pop up are much more valuable.

[Deadly Ernest]

Wayne,

Every organisation has lots of legal detail where 90% of it is set to protect them from abuse by their clients. However, very few have legal details claiming rights and powers over the clients. Also, everything they put in such legal forms has a reason (from their point of view) for being there. They may not use it right now, but they see a reason for wanting it so they can use it later. With Amazon their theft of purchased books was only possible because of the way they had such rights already in their terms that almost no one read, and they did that more than once. When they 'recalled' the books they did not credit the purchasers credit cards with the money, they simply gave them store credit for the amount, nor did they recredit the taxes paid - the customers had to wear that. If that had happened with a print book the buyers would have been allowed to keep the book or be paid the full amount they paid for it - and then only after a court order was issued, Amazon took the books back without any court involvement.

The interesting thing about the rights Amazon has which I'm concerned about are not in the legal terms for the traditional publishers nor are they in the terms used by Lulu or dpdotcom (the two publishers I use).

In short, the terms I object to aren't needed, aren't used by most others, and are highly objectionable. Also, most wouldn't stand up under Australian law.

Ernest

[Kim Little]

So here's a question for the brains trust/collective experience of the hive mind: would this pass muster according to TOS on Amazon or Smashwords?

http://storiesonline.net/s/11938:164815

Cos according to at least one American president, it's not actually sex...