I hate to say I told you so, Amazon, but…
Okay, I don’t hate to say it.
But I DID tell you so!
According to the numbers being thrown around, Amazon is alienating its ebook “power-buyer” audience by banning erotic fiction.
What!? People are buying PORN on their Kindles? *gasp*
Yes, yes they are. They’re buying a LOT of it. And I don’t know why this is such a surprise. Porn has driven every major new technology we’ve released. And this ain’t your mama’s porn.
Look, I don’t know how much the holier-than-thou reading our porn in the closet commentary while spouting morally indignant objections from customers influenced Amazon’s decision to ban certain books from their virtual shelves – however, I do know that while those folks are a vocal MINORITY, the Kindle “power-buyers” are a non-vocal MAJORITY – and they’re voting with their dollars.
They are taking their business elsewhere, Amazon.
Do you have any idea how much my sales increased at Barnes and Noble because Amazon “banned” my erotic books from their site? ONE HUNDRED TIMES. That’s right, I went from making about $1000 a month on Barnes and Noble to… *drumroll people* almost $100,000 in a month. Now, granted, that number has decreased since the whole banning thing also happened to coincide with the Nook’s crazy Christmas-buying extravaganza, but I’m still earning three times the amount on Barnes and Noble than I am on Amazon almost six months later.
The polls don’t lie. Readers are abandoning their Kindles for Nooks, especially the “power-buyers” that the publishing industry is drooling over. I could have told you months ago – in fact, I did – that the power-buyers were also erotica readers. And that while they might not email Amazon and protest about the book ban (although some did) in the numbers of the morally-objecting vocal minority – that Amazon was going to feel the sting of actual monetary loss when those erotica readers abandoned Kindle and went elsewhere to find their reading material.
Told ya so.
So is it a good payoff for Amazon, do you think? Was my $100,000 month just a drop in the bucket to the mega superstar? (Their cut would have been about $40K… but Barnes and Noble pocketed that money instead…)
Is Amazon too big to fail?
In this ebook game, I wouldn’t make assumptions like that, even if you are Amazon.
Erotic Fiction You Won’t Forget
www.selenakitt.com
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