Unexpected news hit the book world yesterday that long-time e-book vendor All Romance Ebooks is closing their doors on 12/31/16.
Worse? The fuckers were soliciting advertising for 2017 nearly a week earlier. I got an email from them because I have a couple of self-pubbed books on there.
Had, I should say, because I pulled them all.
Worse, they’re offering a “settlement” of $.10 on the dollar of what they owe people. Fortunately, my sales through them were always slim (less than $10 for Q4) so I won’t be out much.
If you haven’t downloaded your books from them yet, do so IMMEDIATELY.
If you have gift cards/credits with them, SPEND THEM IMMEDIATELY. You might have to keep trying the site because it’s getting hammered hard.
It really begs the question that if a majority of their business was as a third-party vendor and not a publisher, AND they were taking ad dollars from people…how do you run that business model into the ground? Yes, straight publishing I get it, there is a lot of overhead that you might not recoup, such as editing, cover art, etc.
But a reseller of DIGITAL books?
Something’s not adding up.
This pretty much leaves Smashwords as the last “big” independent vendor. Siren-BookStrand, through their BookStrand division, does have a third-party distributor system (and you can check sales real-time). As an author who’s been with Siren-BookStrand since 2008, they’re always paid me on time, every time, and I know other publisher use them as a distributor.
If you’re a self-pubbed author, take a look at them, in addition to Kobo, Nook (which is slowly circling the drain) and, of course, Amazon. iTunes can be self-uploaded through their publisher system if you have a Mac machine. Otherwise, Smashwords has a system. Smashwords also distributes to other systems like through libraries, etc. but some books aren’t eligible for content reasons. Be careful, because sometimes you can directly upload to those other sites instead of using Smashwords. (I always have to fight with Smashwords’ meat grinder. Files that look perfect on other sites look like shit on theirs without me sacrificing a virgin goat or something first.)
I frequently get asked where people “should” buy my books from. Yes, I make a little more per sale if you buy my Siren titles directly from Siren-BookStrand. My self-pubbed stuff, you can buy at whichever vendor you prefer.
Some links about this story:
ICYMI…
My latest release, A Kinkmas Carol (Suncoast Society 41, various, BDSM) and a direct prequel/sequel to The Reluctant Dom is now available!
http://www.bookstrand.com/book/a-kinkmas-carol
Description
[Siren Sensations: Erotic Consensual BDSM Ménage Romance, M/M/M, M/F/M, M/M, bondage, sex toys, spanking, HEA]
Seth and Leah are hosting a kinky Christmas party for their friends, complete with a rigging contest. This time of year is always hard on both of them as they each remember Kaden in their own way, and the past and present come together in their hearts and memories.
Kaden wasn’t just an important part of their lives—he mentored countless people as a founding member of the Suncoast Society munch group. As the revelers congregate and reminisce about their lost friend, it soon becomes apparent to some that, just maybe, there’s an extra guest in attendance who wasn’t on any RSVP list.
Are their imaginations simply running wild due to the evening’s high spirits? Or is it possible that the ultimate control freak is fulfilling a promise he made to those he loved most?
Note: This book contains double penetration.
Also… Ask DNA (Suncoast Society 42, MFM, BDSM) is now available for pre-orde:
http://www.bookstrand.com/book/ask-dna
Description
After nothing but bad luck, Melanie’s ready to give up on love. She puts herself in her friends’ hands and goes with them to a shibari class at Venture. Seems her luck changes when she meets Kirby and his fraternal twin brother, Davis.
Kirby and Davis are immediately smitten. While fully independent, Davis falls on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. Even better, Kirby realizes Melanie seems to understand Davis in a way few people ever have. Davis knows he’s not the easiest person to live with, but Melanie soothes his mind like no one else. He’s willing to do anything to make this work.
As the three of them settle into their dynamic, Melanie can’t believe she’s got not one, but two sexy Doms of her dreams. But when a jealous ex and a deeply buried family secret both explode at the same time, will it jeopardize the happiness that finally seems within their grasp?
Note: This book contains double penetration.
Facebook Release Party: https://www.facebook.com/events/1664862710471449/
View the book trailer! https://vimeo.com/196005221
Note: It takes 4-6 weeks for books to be released to third-party sites. I have no control over that. If you have a Kindle, you can order directly from Siren-BookStrand and have the file sent right to your device/app. If you have another kind of device, or read on a tablet, you can buy other format files from Siren-BookStrand and either download them or transfer them to your device. Nook | Kobo | iPad | BookStrand App via iTunes or Google Play for Android (Includes FREE books!)
Click here for my Suncoast Society series page, with a full listing and reading order, in addition to other tidbits of info.
Now on third-party sites: Two Against Nature (Suncoast Society 39, MF, BDSM) by Tymber Dalton.
Buy Links:
http://www.bookstrand.com/book/two-against-nature
Kindle (US) | Kindle (UK) | Kindle (CA) | Kindle (AU)
Kindle (JP) | Kindle (IT) | Kindle (DE) | Kindle (MX)
Kindle (BR) | Kindle (IN) | Kindle (NL) | Kindle (ES) | Kindle (FR)
Nook | Kobo | iTunes | Google (I’ll update the Kobo link when it goes live there. They have a holiday maintenance shutdown on the backend – doesn’t affect purchasing – so it might have gotten caught in that.)
Description
Holly’s severe chronic pain from her fibromyalgia isn’t merely physical, it’s emotional, too. Her brother Louis sits in jail, wrongly convicted of their mother’s murder. Nothing will stop Holly’s efforts to get his sentence overturned. She’s put her life on hold to make it happen.
Walt’s avoided the fact that he’s insulated himself from moving forward because he still holds a torch for his ex, Kimbra. When he meets Holly, he knows he can help her in more ways than one—Kimbra’s an attorney…and a friend. Walt’s also a heavy sadist who wants to show Holly how the good kinds of pain can help her overcome the bad.
While work commences to free Louis, Walt realizes exactly how hard he’s fallen for Holly. As he finds himself fighting to show her that a spoonie and a sadist can make a relationship work, will he convince her that two against nature can absolutely be perfect for each other?
Coming Soon
- Ask DNA (Suncoast Society 42, MFM, BDSM): 01/09/2017
- Time Out of Mind (Suncoast Society 43, MM, BDSM): 01/23/2017 (Click here for a NSFW sneak peek!)
- Happy Valenkink’s Day (Suncoast Society 44, various, BDSM): 02/06/2017
- Splendid Isolation (Suncoast Society 45, MM, BDSM): Coming Soon
- Similar to Rain (Suncoast Society 46, MM, BDSM): Coming Soon
Follow my author page on BookStrand to never miss a new release there!
Tymber, Draft2Digital is a self-publishing author’s “support” site that works much like Smashwords, but without the store. They provide formatting, publishing, distribution and royalty collection functions. I use them to upload my books to Nook, Kobo and iTunes (as I do not have a Mac.) There are no up front fees but they do take 10% of the retail price of the book as compensation. They do not lay any claims to copyright and there are no contracts. You can cancel the agreement at any time. The best part for me is that they are local guys, based in Oklahoma City.
@KB – That’s good to know. I’ve never used them because I format my self-pubbed stuff myself and upload directly to keep from getting any additional fees taken out of my sales, but it could be helpful for those who don’t do their own formatting.
I have purchased more than a hundred books from them that I can no longer access. I updated my reader, and although supposedly everything else remained the same, the books no longer opened. Adobe said it was a problem with All Romance. All Romance said it was a problem with the reader. So, I quit even looking at their site. Maybe others had similar problems.
Well before I knew about the cents on the dollar I went back and used up my credits. I had a lot. I new 2017 would be a tight belt kind of year so I took advantage of sales with rebates and banked the rebates against buying the coming year. So as soon as I opened the email I went off an used my credit. What should have take less than an hour took 4 hours. The older stuff I had was already downloaded and stored in my Calibre program so I have those and I immediately downloaded my new purchases as well. Again took forever.
I feel bad when I heard later about the authors not getting a payout. I assumed there wasn’t as much overhead the authors would still get paid. Sometimes I’m amazed at how naive can I be at my age. And then cheated not just for this last few purchases but going back the whole quarter. I shopped there a lot.
But I also feel a bit like the selfish because gee whiz it was my money to spend. It was thinking I was being smart banking while I had some extra cash to use when money was tighter.
Thanks for letting us know. I was able to go over and download the books that I had not previously saved. 🙂