M Thomas Apple Author Page

OK, so I have been pulling my hair out (what’s left of it) the past few days over trying to understand an email thread with “Draft2Digital.” (Note to self: this occurred in early 2024; evidently, forgot to post it! The first thing that goes is memory, and the second is…umm…)

Let me sum up. (If you’re not interested in a rant-n-rave about the state of the independent publishing industry, you can skip to the part where I list the URL for my new book Bringer of Light… 🙂

Last year [Ed. – 2023] came the sudden announcement that Smashwords (where I sell most of my ebooks) was “merging” with Draft2Digital, an online competitor. By “merging,” I took that to mean “selling out,” and I was not happy.

Then it turned out that Draft2Digital announced they would begin to create print books. And they would even distribute them to Amazon.

Great! I thought. So after I ported all the ebooks to Draft2Digital, I could use their service instead of going through KDP Amazon, whose online preview interface has become laughable cartoony.

But not so fast.

First, I had to click on one page to say (1) I had never printed anything through KDP, (2) I had printed before but not the current/new book, or (3) I had printed everything through KDP, including the new book.

I obviously chose (2).

Then there was a message saying that I had to write an email to Draft2Digital, who would then forward it on my behalf to Amazon to get their “permission.”

A suggested sample was provided for copy/paste, which I duly copy/pasted and sent.

Next day, two messages.

“Amazon and Apple won’t allow us to do this because mthomasapple.com is a competitor’s sales channel.”

I responded, “No, it is not. That’s my name. And my personal website.”

(D2D’s response: “Oh, sorry.” Basically. (Not direct quotes))

Next message:

“You chose “had printed before” but the email text says “I have never had nor been denied an account with KDP.” This is contradictory.”

OK, granted I should have read the fine text more carefully.

But “I have never had nor been denied an account” is TWO things, not one. The rest of the email message was about whether I had ever had an account terminated for bad behavior. So logically I assumed that’s what the entire email asking for permission for D2D to distribute to Amazon was about.

So I responded with a brief edit of the email, removing the “have never had” to make it match my previous (2) selection. I then commented that I had had issues with Amazon selling unauthorized 3rd party copies of my book and that I hoped the switch to D2D would be better.

Response from D2D?

“If you are having issues with Amazon, please note that distributing to Amazon from D2D will offer you few options. It would be better to remain direct with them.”

(By “direct” I assume that “Use KDP to sell your books” is meant rather “talk directly to.”)

But left me confused whether D2D would continue to set up the distribution to Amazon.

So I asked for clarification, particularly since the book already had been assigned an ISBN by D2D.

Response? Even more baffling.

“If there were an issue with Amazon, you would not be able to work with them, as they would refer you back to us.”

Uh. That wasn’t the question.

I wrote once again to clarify that the book in question was NOT available anywhere, that D2D had already assigned an ISBN, and I wanted D2D to distribute it to Amazon. Then I asked whether it were true that KDP authors were not allowed to use this print distribution service from D2D.

Response? As baffling as possible.

Basically, “you can have a duplicate listing of the same book.”

Huh?

That was NOT the question!

“So, yes, you can distribute a print book through us and Amazon at the same time.”

Huh? That was NOT what I asked!

Is this some sort of Millenial or Gen-Z way of avoiding answering questions?

Or just a sneaky way to avoid removing an assigned ISBN?

Smashwords was assigning the same ISBN to ALL formats of an ebook — which is against the rules. ISBNs are supposed to be linked to one format of one book. Full stop.

Anyway, long story short, this experience has been very disappointing and left me even more cynical than I already was (lol). In the end, I have kept ePub versions of my books on draft2digital.com (you can see Bringer of Light here).

But if you have a Kindle reader (or Kindle app), or want a physical copy, it’ll be on Amazon.

I don’t trust companies that say things like “you just write the story, we’ll handle everything else” (including author pages, table of contents, for more click here, etc.). Uh. No thanks. I’m perfectly capable of handling myself, thank you very much, and making a web page for my books is not a big deal.

It’s all about control. It’s always about control. Authors should have control. I’m not giving up control of what I produce to others.

**Note: this is also why I hate AI. Filthy thieves, Bagginses, we hates it forever!