TLDR: My Ebooks will be Amazon exclusive for the foreseeable future. My print books will still be available via multiple retailers.  All my books should be available in KU by the end of March 2022.

If you’re a reader, and want to know more, read on from here. If you’re a fellow author, read on a bit further.

If it were up to me, I would spend (almost) all day writing. Making up worlds and stories is like oxygen. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing to consider. Self-publishing isn’t just about writing, there’s the publishing part (I know, right), and marketing, and yada yada yada. 

I spent the last year learning other publishing platforms, learning how to advertise on those platforms. But no matter how much time I dedicate to the business side of the industry, there remains several undeniable facts:

1. Amazon is the dominant Ebook retailer (as of 2022). Their Kindle Unlimited reading program also boasts an astronomical number of subscribers.
2. Enrolling a book in the KU program requires Ebook exclusivity.
3. Certain genres do better in KU. It’s also more new-author friendly. 
4. I am a new author in a niche that does well in KU. 

I won’t spend time on point number one or two, as barring some kind of antitrust suit I can’t imagine the situation changing any time soon. 

As for three and four, there are a few genres that seem to thrive in KU and the more niche they are, the more this holds true. Military Scifi, certain niches of Romance, Fantasy subgenres, including Sword & Sorcery and Progression Fantasy, as well as serials and novellas…

Guess who’s main work-in-progress is a Serial Sword & Sorcery story with elements of Progression Fantasy?… Yeah, this guy. 

Guess who’s also a newbie author? Yep, you got me. 

I should’ve seen it coming, but at least I gave Going Wide the good ol’ college try. Eventually, I would love to publish my Ebooks everywhere, but until I can make a bigger name for myself, I just don’t see it happening. The audience for my genre is on KU and having my books “free to read” on KU means that my readers are much more likely to take a chance on my stuff. 

And that’s what it’s all about after all, right? Finding our readers. 

Right now, that’s my only goal.

One day I’ll see you guys on other Ebook retailers, but right now I’ll be on KU. Hope to see you around.

For my fellow authors: The great debate of KU vs. Wide is one that should be a personal decision. There are some heated viewpoints on either side, but at the end of the day, the only one that should be making the decision is you. Find out where your readers are, where those hungry for your genre are. It may take a year or more to figure that out, but that’s okay. Writing and publishing are marathons, not sprints. Treat them accordingly.