Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱Mar 4

Amazon is excluding spicy romance & LGBTQ books from the affiliates program. It's Bezos obeying the fascists in advance. And it highlights how, with the flip of a switch, they can easily shadow-ban whatever books they want.

I'm removing all my Amazon affiliate links & will deprioritize Amazon links

#writing #publishing #selfpublishing

Show threadDavid BridgerMar 4
@susankayequinn Several years ago, I decided to boycott Amazon. Haven't bought or sold anything there since then. Explained my reasons to my publisher, who agreed to remove all my books from there, and the books I've written since never get put on. It hit my sales like a truck, as I knew it would, and they've never recovered, but for me it was the right thing to do. I'm not claiming any sort of moral superiority here. Everyone to their own path. All I can say is that I sleep better for it.
Show threadBroadfork

@DavidBridger @susankayequinn I haven’t used Amazon for anything in fifteen years.

In the UK they were always undercutting other companies, putting them out of business, while not paying their taxes and offering poor employment terms and conditions to boot.

The right choice isn’t often an easy choice. But it is the right choice.

Mar 4 at 10:39pmWeb
Show threadDavid BridgerMar 4
@Broadfork @susankayequinn I agree 100%.
Show threadBroadforkMar 4

@DavidBridger @susankayequinn It can be a hard choice to make when they are the market leader for your line of business so huge credit to you. 💚

As a customer, where possible, I choose who, where and how I spend my money. That and how I vote are two givens in my life.

Show threadSue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱Mar 4

@Broadfork @DavidBridger

I do think people are, more and more, understanding that their choices in shopping are really holding THEM hostage as well as having all the negative impacts. Finding a way for readers to still be able to get books and work their way off dependency on Amazon is tough... but the environment is ripe for it. Sometimes people just won't leave... until they do. Until there's just one terrible thing too many.

Show threadBroadforkMar 4

@susankayequinn @DavidBridger Yes, that’s very true. One minute the customer thinks they’ve got a good deal from the options available to them. The next there’s only one offer on the table because the competition has folded or been assimilated.

But sooner or later Empires always fall. And when they do, they crumble quickly.

Show threadDavid BridgerMar 4
@Broadfork @susankayequinn Thank you. I share those two givens of yours.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Mar 5

@Broadfork @DavidBridger @susankayequinn
I can't remember exactly when I stopped using Amazon, but it was quite a while back, when I heard about their terrible employment practices. I wasn't going to support a business which penalized their workers for taking breaks (and other relentless, ruthless and callous practices).
I have not regretted it. For books, I go to Fishpond.com.au; and that was the only thing I bought from Amazon anyway.

(I wish I could put a permanent setting on all my search engines to exclude results from Amazon; it's a bit annoying to have to add the "-site:" string every time I'm looking for shopping stuff...)

#CorporateGreed