It's not about the $12. D2D could've avoided much of the backlash if they'd applied the $12 fee equally across the board. Considering the way they worded their announcement, many low-earning authors are feeling hurt and discouraged since they've been lumped in with the AI sloppers and apparently aren't considered "genuine authors" in D2D's view.
I made less than a dollar on D2D in the last year (all from library borrows), and I'll have to pay this fee by credit card since my current account balance won't even cover the $12. Let's hope that the fee won't increase for a while...
I agree with your comment being lumped in with AI sllop - I felt the same, until I'd had a think about it from a more business perspective. For me, reading a little wider enabled me to calm down a bit. I'll see what happens and play this by ear.
I get it from a business perspective (sort of)... but I still think D2D could end up hurting itself with this. Instead of extending the $12 fee to the people who can *most* afford it (the high-earning authors), they're alienating what I'm going to assume is a significant percentage of their author base by targeting only the low-earning authors. Many of those authors have already walked away, straight back into Amazon's open arms. I'm not sure how that benefits D2D (unless, perhaps, they only want high-earning authors on their platform.)
They may also lose out on new authors because D2D is now one of the only self-publishing platforms that charges a fee to even get started. Sure, that'll stop AI sloppers from opening a ton of new accounts... but it's also going to discourage legit authors. Faced with the prospect of having to make separate accounts and upload on a bunch of different platforms—even if they can do that for free—some will probably decide it's not worth it at all... and the world could lose out on some great books.
Interesting perspective. I still think D2D is shooting themselves in the foot. And why would anyone pay extra for MeWe, Twitter/X, etc.? I sure don't. Also, my works are published through a small publisher. It's their account, so I'm assuming my books won't be impacted.
Yeah, we’ll see. Sigh. And I can’t bring myself to pay a multi-billionaire for the privilege of posting longer tweets, but I guess some people have money to burn.
It's not about the $12. D2D could've avoided much of the backlash if they'd applied the $12 fee equally across the board. Considering the way they worded their announcement, many low-earning authors are feeling hurt and discouraged since they've been lumped in with the AI sloppers and apparently aren't considered "genuine authors" in D2D's view.
I made less than a dollar on D2D in the last year (all from library borrows), and I'll have to pay this fee by credit card since my current account balance won't even cover the $12. Let's hope that the fee won't increase for a while...
I agree with your comment being lumped in with AI sllop - I felt the same, until I'd had a think about it from a more business perspective. For me, reading a little wider enabled me to calm down a bit. I'll see what happens and play this by ear.
I get it from a business perspective (sort of)... but I still think D2D could end up hurting itself with this. Instead of extending the $12 fee to the people who can *most* afford it (the high-earning authors), they're alienating what I'm going to assume is a significant percentage of their author base by targeting only the low-earning authors. Many of those authors have already walked away, straight back into Amazon's open arms. I'm not sure how that benefits D2D (unless, perhaps, they only want high-earning authors on their platform.)
They may also lose out on new authors because D2D is now one of the only self-publishing platforms that charges a fee to even get started. Sure, that'll stop AI sloppers from opening a ton of new accounts... but it's also going to discourage legit authors. Faced with the prospect of having to make separate accounts and upload on a bunch of different platforms—even if they can do that for free—some will probably decide it's not worth it at all... and the world could lose out on some great books.
I think your points are very valid. It will be interesting to see what happens. That $20 hit might stop people from signing up in the first place.
Interesting perspective. I still think D2D is shooting themselves in the foot. And why would anyone pay extra for MeWe, Twitter/X, etc.? I sure don't. Also, my works are published through a small publisher. It's their account, so I'm assuming my books won't be impacted.
A lot of people do pay for those other networks like X and Meta. Possibly D2D are shooting themselves in the foot - only time will tell.
Yeah, we’ll see. Sigh. And I can’t bring myself to pay a multi-billionaire for the privilege of posting longer tweets, but I guess some people have money to burn.