this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Literature

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tl;dr Books, most likely generated by an LLM, were being sold on Amazon under Jane Friedman's name.  The same books were added to her Goodreads profile.  Amazon initially refused to remove the books.  If it's happening to her, it's definitely happening to other authors.

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[–] Arotrios@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Serious question for the authors reading this - if there was a non-exclusive Fediverse e-commerce alternative to self-publishing on Amazon (including print on demand), would you use it?

Second question - what features would you like to see to make it fly? Dream big here - I'd love to hear all your ideas.

Third question - besides the topic of the article above, what does Amazon do wrong for authors? I've got a fair idea, but I really want to hear your thoughts and personal experiences.

[–] Pandemanium@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Draft2Digital already exists as a way to publish everywhere except Amazon (and actually you can do Amazon through them too but then both take a cut). I'm not sure what the benefit would be for a publishing service to be connected to the fediverse.

[–] Lowbird@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Their contract terms for new authors are set in stone, atrocious even for the publishing industry, and unavoidable for most because they have a stranglehold on the ebookmarket.

Honestly one could go on and on and on about the shit they've pulled/tried to pull at various times.

Anyway... Why would the hypothetical e-publisher need to be on the fediverse?

To be honest right now that just seems like a recipe for getting no publicity and no sales, which no author who wants to actually have an income would do just to promote fediverse. There'd have to be an advantage beyond already existing platforms.