I have never liked TikTok. I tried it a while back as a way of advertising my works but just did not like it. If any of you reading this do, awesome. However, users of that platform decided to post videos that would start off an ugly, wrong, and blatantly opportunistic trend.
Those people, who I will refer to, as kindly as I can, as... individuals, posted videos suggesting that people can return ebook purchases to Amazon after reading them, provide whatever reason is available, and get their money back. I will not post links to the videos here for two reasons. First, I do not want to give the individuals or their videos any more attention. Second, I know how the internet works. I don't want this turned around on me and be accused of "bullying" the individuals in question. Needless to say, this has had a negative impact on the authors caught up in it.
One author had (at the time of writing this) forty-seven returns last month. This month, which has yet to end, he has had ninety-seven. Another author had twenty-one returns in the last thirty days. There are many other examples out there. I have even seen one of an author who was put in a position where they owed Amazon money as a result. That is insane.
We authors all share a dream that one day, we can make a living from our writing, especially us indies. We pour our hearts and souls into our work, pay editors to fix the mistakes, pay artists to design a cover for us, and even pay for advertising when we can. We want our books to reach as wide an audience as possible, because we want to entertain every reader who buys our work. When people do things like this, it is stealing, pure and simple. Don't try to make up reasons or excuses to defend such a practice, because there will never be any that I will take seriously. For those who will try and play the "can't afford it," or the "we're living in tough times," cards, don't bother. We are all living in tough times. Authors need to pay bills and put food on the table. You are stealing from us.
But, I have hope. For those of you who are still happy to continue stealing from authors, pay attention to this last part.
You may think you are happily gaming the system by stealing like this, but do not count on it lasting. A petition on change.org has gathered a large number of signatures, including mine, and is almost at its goal of 75000 at the time of writing this. Hopefully, Amazon will take notice soon.
You must also be made aware that this constant theft of our work may get detected by Amazon and could put your account at risk. Yes, I am aware that this is a hypothetical, but it is something that I am confident of. As far as I am concerned, that sword you're swinging cuts both ways; it is just a question of when.
Finally, remember the controversy surrounding John Locke. He was an author who thought he could game the system.
Ironic, I know.
For those who don't know, Locke purchased reviews for one of his books and was catapulted into the limelight before the truth was revealed. For further reading, I would suggest checking out this article. When that scandal hit, Amazon came down like an anvil on the review process, but the damage had been done and other indie authors took the brunt of it. As far as I'm aware, Locke is still writing, but his credibility was forever tarnished.
Please take notice of these examples. It is not too late to stop what you're doing. And, please don't try debating this with me or any other author. Your chances of justifying it will be low, at best.
