Running on Crocs

So, how about Paypal? Great, uh? Overnight, it becomes unstable enough that I’m not sure what to do. Because some of my contracts with small presses pay specifically through paypal. Except, of course, for the press that Paypal suddenly noped a year and a half ago, and who now pays by check.

I wish the others did, but they — including one of my greatest money makers — don’t even have my physical address, which has changed anyway since then.

For the last five years or so, most short story indie contracts just had the “Give us the email address to pay you through.) The brainless ones didn’t even do that, and tried to send money to my communication email which is a) personal not company. b) does not have a paypal associated. That was …. fun.

So, even though I’m more exposed to shenanigans than the average bear, I cannot cancel paypal without causing complete insanity in the business. And then my accountant will try to kill me, which is bad because he knows where I sleep. (He knows very well, actually, since my husband is the CFO of the writing company.)

So…. sigh, adjustments are being made. But it’s not simple.

And I wish I could say it’s the last of such shocks we’ll have in a while, but if I’m diagnosing the cause of paypal’s insanity correctly (They were dying anyway, so decided to go out as heroes of the revolution. No, no proof, but there’s… indications in the financials) several others are going to try to pull this.

If we’re very lucky, the next one won’t be Amazon, which lost a ton of money on Rings of Power, and might try to virtue signal to the trad publishers, because they think this will get them more support or something, by knifing indies in back.

And please, for the love of bob, don’t tell me that’s why I should abandon Amazon. That’s like saying “You’re going to run out of air, so you should stop breathing preemptively.” Right now, that’s where 90% of my readers are, so I’ll continue going there, until I’m forced to do a fast switch up.

I’m just hoping they take long enough to do the crazy that another stable method of payment has emerged (I expect it in six months or less) in which case I’ll be fine. Because I can side-step and sell directly to my fans. Probably at a discount.

I WAS investigating a way to do e-arcs for new releases, where you get them a month in advance, but there might be a few typos that haven’t been caught. (Oh, the glory of sending me typo lists FIRST. What? Well, this is what computer companies do. The public are the ultimate testers.) But I was counting on paypal. Okay, so that won’t happen. I’m …. looking into another service. I’ll get back to you, soonish.

I was belly aching in a group of fans on discord about how indie is like playing hopscotch on a river full of crocodiles. Every time you chart out a path, crocs appear. And then you have to change course, and….

Then I realized so was traditional. This week I had to burst a “always been indie” friend’s illusions about her favorite trad writer. No, that person wasn’t making millions. That person was BARELY making middle-class income, and a delay in getting a book bought would send her into distress or welfare. I know because we have mutual friends. Yes, she was everywhere, and her books were getting bought. Look, that particular house gets paid to the bookscan by the distributor. And bookscan only captures 1/3 the sales AT BEST. And then there’s the percentage the author actually gets, and….

And in trad, you have to worry about if someone is talking about you behind your back, and perhaps getting your publisher to drop you. Sure, people talk about you behind your back in indie too, and try to plot against you. But it’s much, much harder to turn enough people against you to make a difference.

And in trad you had to worry that the EDITOR who bought you would either get fired, quit, or simply be less-favored by the time your book came out, and your book would be sabotaged to get to the editor. (It wasn’t even a hit on you.)

And there was almost nothing you could do. As with my first published book, you’d watch the Titanic heading to the iceberg, and all you could do is scream, because nothing you did would change it.

So… Swigs coffee. Look, at least in indie, we don’t have to pretend there are no crocs, or tell our fans the river is beautiful and smooth so we don’t get blacklisted.

And at least for me, indie is selling, which is a massive plus in this not-a-recession we’re having. The more I write the more I sell. I need to write more. And keep running.

I survived trad. I can survive indie.

I just wish the crocs would stay still long enough for me to get a head start.

The alternative is I’m gonna get me croc skin shoes.