Draft2Digital's New Fees

Draft2Digital just announced its new fees for authors. Say what you will about Amazon, but it's yet to start a pay-to-play model. Of course, every business needs to make money, and sure, Bezos is a kazillionaire, but he still could charge authors if he wanted to.

Don't get me wrong; D2D's fees are relatively tiny: a new account activation costs $20.00 and an annual maintenance fee of $12.00 will be applied to accounts whose net book sales total less an $100.00 over the preceding 12-month period.

Mark me down for the $12.00.

I only signed up with D2D to get wide distribution for my three paperbacks. I was cool with KDP, but I wanted to expand my books' reach. SPOILER ALERT: I have never sold one paperback copy, even through Amazon, unless I count my own purchases. 

While some people still swear by gatekeeping, I am thrilled that any writer, whether penniless or independently wealthy, has the opportunity to share his or her work with the world. Believe it or not, $$$ ≠ talent. Weird concept, I know. I'm also ecstatic that authors aren't forced to toe the party line in order to land an agent. We can write whatever the hell we want to write. 

Yes, KDP takes a percentage of sales; Draft2Digital does as well. So, with D2D it's fees on top of fees. Don't get me wrong; even for me, $12.00 isn't a dealbreaker. I'm not going to suddenly delete my account in outrage. The company's justification for its burden of hosting books that are complete losers has something to do with IT and security (?). Does it employ armed guards to safeguard its book library? And aren't IT and security in this context one and the same? I personally think it would be awesome if it was actual security guards. Boring job, though. "Lemme get this straight: I'm guarding books that nobody wants to steal?"

I have little doubt that KDP, too, will eventually move to a pay model. Bezos will need to further line his pockets, so he can finance his wife's multiple cosmetic surgeries. I've got 13 published books, so hopefully when that's instituted, I won't be charged per book. Only one has even met the earnings threshold (if I'm using the D2D payment structure). One could say, well, if twelve of your books can't even make a hundred dollars in sales, you're a waste of digital space. I say, hey! My new motto!

"April Tompkins, a waste of digital space"

Google says, "For most authors, particularly self-published ones, building a deep catalogue is a fundamental strategy for a successful, long-term career." So true! That's worked out for me splendidly! Nevertheless, I'm not going to pay a parking fee for thirteen books, so if Jeff decides to start charging me, they will all, save for one, need to go.

My long-term career has pretty much aged out anyway.