Draft2Digital ends free ebook publication

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My most recent novel, available at many online book sites.

Kind of a serious post about self-publishing from this author who has never had to pay to release novels.

All my ebooks are free, unless purchased on Amazon which charges a nominal .99 cents. That won't change as long as I can help it. But yesterday I received an email from Draft2Digital noting a new policy concerning maintenance fees. For new accounts, a one-time charge of twenty dollars will ensue, and unless one earns more than one hundred dollars a year, an annual fee of twelve bucks will be required.

I read this with a slight smirk on my face; the merger between Smashwords and Draft2Digital has been an ongoing process; my account was integrated only last summer. For nearly fifteen years I have published ebooks without paying money to a company; did I expect that to last forever?

As it stands, it's a dollar per month to maintain my novels within D2D's system, because it's going to be a LONG TIME before I earn a hundred bucks, unless my books go viral on Amazon. Which is possible, I'm not saying it couldn't happen. Yet reality presumes that probably won't occur, and I am FINE WITH THAT. I'd rather people download my books for free, pirated copies as well. Hopefully any pirated copies are free.

I perused a Reddit thread on this subject; most of the comments expressed disappointment while some noted it might slow the slog of AI-produced books. A few wondered how long it would take Amazon to do the same. Some groused this would penalize authors with the least room for financial margin, but it's a buck a month. Few things free last forever, God's grace being one of them.

The reason for this post is to give a heads-up to anyone considering D2D as their book distributor. Previously there was no cost. Now there is. Again, it's minor. I wonder what Mark Coker thinks of this. I wonder if prices will rise every few years. D2D would have to hike the annual fee pretty dang high for me to grumble.

I have few complaints with Draft2Digital, and this isn't one of them. It's how businesses work, and if it does weed out AI-generated books, I'm all for that. If it makes indie authors choose other routes, all the best to them. I've had a good fifteen year run of releasing free books for free, the cost of covers aside. I don't do this to make money, I do it because I always wanted to be a writer, am blessed with an overactive imagination, as well as the time to put it to good use. That I can publish my stories online so easily, and still cheaply, is awesome!

And now back to our regularly scheduled random nonsense....

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