Need some help this Independence Day

                                                                                                                                                Via: Flickr

It’s July 4th, Independence day.

I’m an indie author. I’m also a registered independent voter. Coincidence? Not really. I just have a hard time agreeing with everything one side says, be they red or blue or green or whatever. I’m very leery around those who do. How does one do that? How does one so easily agree on every subject, every viewpoint, every policy, as another person or group of people? Nobody does that. People that have been happily married for decades still disagree about things.

As a result of this view I tend to recoil when presented with a petition and asked for my endorsement of it. I think I can count on one hand the times I’ve ever signed one. Things have to be pretty bad to even get me to read one.

But yesterday I did. It was probably the easiest decision I’ve made when doing so. And I’d like you, as a reader, to consider doing so as well.

The petition is in regard/response to an open letter penned by a few authors asking the public to boycott Amazon. This is surrounding the current contract negotiation and some of the changes made while its being hammered out. They have several reasons that they outline, rather poorly in my opinion, for asking this. What bothers me the most is the misinformation being spread. These authors are not unknowns, they are big names we’ve all heard of and none of them are ignorant as to how the world of publishing works. So when I see them spreading these lies (yes, I’m using that word) I get a little tense. When someone says listen to me, trust me, I know what I’m talking about, and then goes one to spread information that has no factual support, is self-serving, and is intended to harm the very people they are claiming to help I feel they need to be held accountable. One way to do so is to fight fire with fire.

Some independent authors have started a petition at Change.org. The petition is long. Its detailed. It provides a lot of information on what is really happening in the Amazon vs. Hachette negotiation as well as the publishing industry in general. The length and detail are necessary in order to understand the full picture. If you’ve read this far I hope you’ll continue on and read the whole thing.

Why? Because it may greatly affect the world of publishing, particularly indie authors, you the reader, and the cost of eBooks in the near future. If you’re a visitor to my blog you most likely hold these things valuable already.

I won’t expound on what’s in the petition as it does an excellent job of doing that all by itself. I’ll only ask that while reading it you remember one thing;

 

There are only two people essential to the world of reading;

the writer and the reader.

Everyone else is just a middleman.

With that I give you this link, and a heartfelt thank you.

 

(if you wish to sign and avoid being spammed in the future you can simply uncheck the box at the bottom of the short form, Change.org has an excellent online reputation)