About the Amazon Boycott

So, you folks may ask why I, as an author, am saying I believe in the boycott.

And I first have to ask why you're surprised after what I've been posting? Let me get into this for you, just so you know. I'm not going to respond to individuals who have snarky remarks on this, and I'm not going to even look at comments, so you know. This post is going to detail intersections of my identities and how they relate to my writing. So, sit down, buckle up, and hold on.

Those of us who write are under fire. Our entire livelihood is being threatened by this administration. They have no only threatened to criminalize open door romance, but they are in general slowly criminalizing LGBTQAI/Queer content. This means that for me, my entire catalog could be banned just for existing as it does. Who is on this administration's side? Billionaires like Musk and Bezos. They are supporting whatever Rump does, and they're standing by his decisions because it makes them richer.

But who really makes these people rich?

We do.

The dollar has power, whether you realize it or not. The one day economic blackout cost Target and Walmart an estimated 120 BILLION dollars. That's a huge amount for one day. That showed them something, and that something is that we're not going to tolerate their bullshit, and there are other places to put our dollars. So, some of the reasons for not being for the boycott I've seen in the last few days:

It hurts indie authors because people aren't buying on Amazon and aren't using KU.

Yeah, that's true. Not going to pretend it isn't. Sales are going to drop. For one week.

It's stupid. Well, that's a judgment, and not a fact. So, we're not going to even get in to that one.

It won't do any good.

Patently untrue. Boycotts historically have been effective when employed by a united people. And that's what we're trying to do here, unite people.

The biggest issue we're having fighting this administration is people won't unite. Each community is too busy with in-fighting, and much of that in-fighting you can bet has been started by the right by sowing seeds of discontent. Splits in communities are leading us to ignore the forest and focus on the trees. But the forest is on fire, and just because the tree you're standing next to isn't burning yet, it doesn't mean it won't be next to catch on fire.

People are busy fighting over semantics. Over terminology. Over who gets to be included. Over fifteen million other things, and they're ignoring the very real threat to our LIVES that this administration and Rump are representing. Project 2025 is here folks, just like those of us who read it warned. We got told we were fear mongering. We got told we were paranoid. We got told we were being ridiculous and there was no way they would go to that extreme. Well guess what? We were right.

That brings us back to authors. We have power. We have platforms. And we are going to lose our freedom of speech and ability to write things that don't agree with this administration if we don't DO something. If we don't unite and organize. I could go on for an hour or more about what's happening in the world. In the United States alone. But I'm going to focus just on this author situation.

You have to decide. Politics cannot be ignored by us anymore. We cannot remain neutral in the face of fascism because those who do, side with fascists. There's no quarter given to us by them, and we give none in return. No tolerance for neutrality. At this point, if you're not fighting fascism, you're one of them.

We have power with our words. We have platforms on which to speak. We have a duty to do so.

Back to the boycott. It's a week. One week out of 52 weeks in a year. If you can't stand to lose money for one week to make an impact, you're very much showing where your values lie, and that is with the money provided by Amazon. It's time to dump Amazon and their abusive policies anyway. I keep hearing "I have no choice" but you do have a choice. So, Amazon constitutes a lot of sales. Take those sales to other platforms. Defund Amazon. They're using you to make money anyway. All those KU page reads where you are making less than a dollar a book? Imagine if you had sold that many books on your own website where you would make every cent and only have to subtract taxes. Fourth Wall offers a free platform and takes 5%. Payhip and Gumroad do the same. Diversify. Use Ream. Use Ghost/Substack (though I just left substack due to politics, so use that with care). Blow up your own work. Do newsletter swaps and get your work out there with links to other places to buy. Join group promos. Use prolific works, Story Origin, and Bookfunnel. Get reviews on Book Sirens, booksprout, and netgalley and pubby. Those are just off the top of my head that are ways to diversify your income as an author. Will it cost a little money? Sure, some of it will. But Social media is free (for now) and you can advertise to a bunch of places each day.

Amazon sales are passive sales a lot of time. There are people there who stumble on your book by putting in key words or having it recommended when they read someone else's book. Use active methods to drive people to your books, not to Amazon. Leave Amazon in the dust. Abandon the predatory fees and the abysmal amounts that you make, and do something else.

Is it going to take work? Sure. But anything worth it takes time and work. And I get it. I'm a starving writer. I don't have extra money at the end of the month, and that little bit in royalties is a pleasant blessing when it comes in. I work a full-time job, do work with my publisher, and do better help on the weekend and in the evening. I am always busy and sometimes I just collapse into bed and do nothing because I'm too overwhelmed by how busy I am. I had to discontinue my PA because I couldn't keep up with the payments each month. I've had to cut a lot of subscriptions that I've used over the last few years. I actually just filed for bankruptcy (again) in fact. So, yeah, I get the no money situation. Believe me, I do. I'm trying to keep my head above water.

But you know what? I have values and beliefs that people mean more than money. Money is not going to be there for us when we're down and out. It will leave the minute we don't hustle 24/7. And that's not right. We shouldn't have to spend our entire lives chasing a dollar.

But that's not going to change if we don't do something to change it. And that's going to mean doing things that don't benefit us immediately like boycotting Amazon. Are we going to see immediate returns? No, and the company will pretend like it didn't do anything, but the truth is, it will hurt their profits.

And I'm sorry, it's one week. That's it. It's not a permanent boycott of Amazon. After the 14th, business as usual resumes. If you can't stand losing Amazon income for one week, it might be time to think about where the income is coming from, and if you would be better served by funneling your readers to another place where you won't be taken advantage of like Amazon does now. You are Amazon's product, and they're making money hand over fist on your hard work. Okay, I know that's a lot, but if you read it all, congrats. You made it through my musing and tirade. Maybe it'll make you think. Maybe you'll block me. I don't know, and I really don't care that much. Like I said, this is a statement, and I won't even look at the notifications related to it over the weekend. In fact, other than talking to people on messenger, I won't be on FB much because I need a break from the doom and gloom and the constant inundation of people complaining about the boycott.

And again, I emphasize, if you are a reader, GO DIRECT. Support authors, not Amazon.