Difficult Decisions

 I’m using links to my stories on Amazon to break up text, because it kind of links to the article. Besides, some of the book covers are beautiful.

This started out as a series on a blog, over a decade ago

I’m feeling complicated.

If I want to have my ebooks included in Kindle Unlimited, which is reasonably profitable, I have to keep those ebooks published through Amazon and only Amazon. There are quite a few people who would rather not buy from Amazon, and I understand that, and up until now, while I couldn’t spread ebooks widely, I could publish a paperback version of my stories on Draft2Digital. They distributed to all sorts of places and made books accessible to independent bookshops as well as big booksellers like Waterstones.

Today I got an email. As I have not achieved $100 in royalties, I need to pay a $12 fee if I want to keep publishing through Draft2Digital. If I make more than $100 in royalties, there is no fee. It has been presented as a way of deterring poor quality stories from AI operators. And there are a lot of arguments in favour of reducing low standard books written by AI. However, a skilled AI operator can easily produce hundreds of books every month, generating perhaps a few pennies per title. Those pennies quickly add up. I’m pretty sure that they can churn out enough to cover their expenses.

I made this cover myself, on Canva, and without knowingly using AI

Meanwhile, I don’t think that I’ve made $12 total over all my books over the last couple of years. I charge $5.99 for Cats in the Bible, and I get 6 cents per copy in royalties. I would have to sell over 1,600 copies to make $100. I’d have to sell 200 copies just to make $12 and break even.

Samuel Johnson said No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.

I have a leaky roof and a son at college. I’m old, creaky, and I don’t have many skills. I’m going to have to be at least a little commercial when it comes to my writing. At the moment, I can’t be sure that what I make from An Apprenticeship of Ghosts will be more than the cost of the amazing cover from Getcovers – and it wasn’t expensive. I’m not going to be publishing with Draft2Digital going forward.

Around two thirds of the stories in here were originally on my blog, but I couldn't bring myself to publish without adding a little bit extra to make it worth publishing

I’ll start the process of closing my account with Draft2Digital on 1^st October 2026. That gives anyone who wants to buy my paperbacks a chance to pick them up before I shut down the account. If there’s a problem, get in touch and I’ll see what I can do, although I can’t make any promises. I am also going to look into alternatives to Draft2Digital, but I’m not optimistic.

A lot of my stories are going to disappear from my blog as I convert them to books and stories on Amazon. I’ll try and give fair warning, and I’m currently planning on keeping up the habit of posting flash fiction regularly on my blog, so there should always be something that is around to dip into if you feel able to visit. I’ll try and play fair, even if I’m taking Samuel Johnson’s advice mostly to heart.

One of my favourites, when I accidentally got entangled in steampunk

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, then let me know. I’ll be honest, as it’s the least that I can do. If someone pays me the compliment of reading my work, the least I can do is listen to concerns.