Self-publishing has been around for many years, and it is increasing in popularity. Many authors choose to self-publish because they do not want to or cannot afford to go through the difficult process of using a publisher. One of the most popular platforms for self-publishing is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP. This program allows authors to publish their books as e-books and paperbacks for free. KDP is widely seen as a great platform that is very beneficial to authors, especially indie authors. However, “Amazon can penalize authors if it finds a breach of its exclusivity agreement because of pirated books.”
The Kindle Direct Publishing platform launched in 2007 along with the first Kindle. It is one of the most popular self-publishing platforms because it puts books directly onto the Amazon website as well as the Kindle platform. This gives authors the opportunity to sell their books in an already well-established online bookstore. While KDP is very useful to authors, it also has a very large flaw.
Amazon has a rule in the KDP Select Terms and Conditions that states the book cannot be published electronically anywhere other than Amazon. If a book is found elsewhere by Amazon, it will typically be removed, and the author’s publishing account may be suspended entirely. When an author agrees to the terms of KDP, they are giving Amazon, “the exclusive right to sell and distribute […] in digital format.” While this is a valid term to have, Amazon was not very clear about this condition when piracy is involved. If a book is pirated and posted to another platform or file-sharing website, Amazon deems this a breach of the exclusivity terms. So, if an author’s work gets pirated, which is entirely out of their control, “Amazon might remove the author’s book from the Kindle store and possibly impose a ban from publishing on KDP altogether.”
Piracy is a situation that no author has control over, and yet Amazon will hold them accountable for it and remove their work. This is detrimental to many authors because not only does it remove their source of income for one book, but it may prevent them from being able to use KDP to publish at all. Amazon will often take down the books without warning, only sending an email to the author afterward, claiming the content was “freely available on the web.”
Amazon is usually the place where the pirates are obtaining the books to publish to free websites. “These individuals have automated systems that can comb through Amazon and copy their e-files.” If Amazon’s security is so easily being breached, why not strengthen their security systems, and work harder to fight the consistent piracy problem? Some authors, like Raven Kennedy, author of Gild, try to do what they can to catch pirates and their illegal versions of their books. Kennedy spent “her own income to pay companies to issue ‘takedown notices’ and constantly combed the web for pirated versions of her books.” Even after all the attempts she made at protecting her work, she still had two of her books removed. Unfortunately, most authors do not even have the resources to protect their work like Kennedy did.
This problem with Amazon is not new, however it appears that the company is becoming more aggressive with the enforcement of the exclusivity clause. Books are being removed frequently and without warning, which irritates both authors and readers. It is not the fault of the author nor the reader that a book is pirated, and yet they are being punished. Some readers are proposing a strike of Kindle Unlimited, hoping to help the situation. However, this would be extremely harmful to the Indie authors that still have books on the platform, “some writers are still depending on that platform and income for their livelihood.”
Authors who self-publish typically do so to avoid the difficulties that come from working with a publisher. First and foremost, there is a severe lack of diversity within the publishing industry. Many authors who are not white automatically worry about whether their books will be accepted by a publisher. As of 2020, “the heads of the “big five publishing houses are white” and “so are 85 percent of people who acquire and edit books, according to a 2019 survey.” Some authors are trying to raise awareness about this lack of diversity. R.F. Kuang, author of Babel, is coming out with a book called Yellowface that she says deals with “how high the barrier of entry is for diverse editors, people in marketing and people in sales, to get through the door.” The diversity within publishing companies is directly related to the diversity of the authors that the company publishes. It is also much more expensive to go through a publisher rather than self-publish. So, the platform of KDP can be an amazing thing because it provides the opportunity for authors to publish their own work and not have to worry about prejudice in the process. This is also why it is so harmful when KDP removes books and bans authors based on piracy. Many authors rely on self-publishing as a form of income and as a start to their career, but KDP removing their work is detrimental to their ability to grow as writers.
It is important to be aware of these types of issues so that as readers, we can understand who to support and how we can help our favorite authors. Canceling Kindle Unlimited subscriptions is not the best idea because there are still so many authors on the platform that rely on subscribers for their income. The best thing we can do at this time is encouraged Amazon to adjust their policy and work harder at stopping piracy. There is a petition with over 34k signatures that can be accessed here if you would like to sign. Hopefully, the concern expressed by both authors and readers will push Amazon to make changes.