But one can set the bar TOO high sometimes…

I wrote a little bit about this last night on Twitter, and I want to put my thoughts in a blog post for those of you who don’t follow micro-blogging.

As you know, I took down copies of my e-books from Amazon over their new pricing policy for international Kindle customers. If you missed that, Amazon is giving AT&T a 2$ cut of every e-book sold for “roaming charges.” Sure, it screws the international customers, raises the prices of the books by roughly 20% and cuts out the local cell phone providers from providing a better, cheaper and faster service than AT&T. But the Kindle goes to market faster this way, and that’s all anyone seems to be talking about.

My plan was to shift my e-book sales over to Smashwords, which made sense in light of their plans to start putting books on the Nook. But three points have come up that cause me to doubt my decision to boycott Amazon.

Point one: now that the Nook is out, guess who they use for wireless service? Yep, AT&T. I could go to Apple and sell you e-books, but who’s their primary service carrier? AT&T. In the US, they’ve got a firm grip on most of these wireless appliances, and no matter which market I go to, their wireless device will also likely use AT&T. So no matter which way I try to sell you an e-book, they still get some of the proceeds. If anything, I’ve got to hand it to them for locking down so much of the market for e-book delivery.

Point two: Smashwords has just sent me an email announcing their partnership with Amazon. I can of course opt out of selling books with them through a link in the Smashwords dashboard, but if they’re working with Amazon, then my supposedly “indie” option is also workin’ for The Man. So, why shouldn’t I?

Point three: As much as it annoys me when companies screw people over, the general vibe I’ve got from international reviews on the Kindle is indifferent to the fuckery they’re getting. They just don’t care. In fact, many people are trying to spin being charged extra money as a good thing. (“But I’ll be charged the same no matter where I travel, because it’s ALWAYS roaming charges!” Um…and you’re still getting fucked at home too. So that’s like anal rape for every download, AND never getting a reach-around.)

This post should theoretically now devolve into a rant about how nobody cares if they’re getting screwed these days, but instead I wanted to ramble about how I can sometimes aim too high ethically.

It’s really hard to find good ways to distinguish myself from the large crowd of self-published writers. Good or bad is irrelevant. I need a way to stand out from the crowd. So this restricts me from making marketing efforts that are unethical.

That’s a tricky thing to accomplish. No hit and run ads. Very few banner ads, and then only in places where it’s expected. (Like webfiction guides and Serial fiction sites.) No tearing down other people or businesses, or attempting to cast myself as being “unfairly kept out of the business.”

And I wanted to make another point in my collection, “Don’t deal with unethical vendors.” But the thing with Amazon is, there’s no way to sell the e-books without using them. Having a few thousand free downloads are nice for the ego, but they don’t command attention the way sales do. Amazon makes sales for free books. That bears expanding upon. Amazon willingly put up a description for my books that says “You can get this book for free here,” and yet people still ponied up cash.

Something else to consider: Amazon Kindle readers have shown a willingness to experiment by getting titles from unknown writers. Everything I write has consistent, reliable sales with Amazon. Everything. I cannot find a more indie-receptive market anywhere, and because higher sales means more random placements in related searches, Amazon creates the potential for exposure to new readers.

Walking away from a receptive audience with potential for random exposures to new customers is not being ethical. Ignoring my only consistent source of regular sales does not say, “I’m principled.” It says, “I’m being moronic.” I’m not spiting the makers of the Kindle, either. I’m spiting the Kindle readers, and I kinda need them.

So at some point in the near future, you can expect to see Amazon and Mobipocket buttons going back on my web site. I’ll try to avoid kneejerk boycotts unless the company does something so bad that the readers abandon them. Right now they can do no wrong, apparently. I need the marketplace they offer, and avoiding them won’t win me any new converts anyway, will it?

Perhaps I am wrong, and there’s some other reason to keep the boycott going. But nobody at the company noticed my absence, so I seriously doubt that’s any reason to avoid the only people who have consistently opened their wallets to buy my stuff.

I can admit it: I was wrong. I’ll lower the bar and go back to hawking my goods with The Man. Sure, I feel dirty about it, but at least this way I can afford soap and the occasional bottle of booze to help me clean the outside and erase my shame one shot glass at a time.