Moving to Kobo...soon!

Mar 10, 2025 1:16 pm

Hello Readers!

Yeah, so uh...the world is on fire? And there's a lot of discussion about boycotting Amazon, including cancelling your KU subscriptions. I really don't want to get into a political discussion, but I will say that I see the merits of both sides: supporting indie authors through KU but cutting out everything else from Amazon OR completely boycotting Amazon, including your KU subscription. Readers should do what they feel most comfortable with.

A lot of readers and authors are making the move to Kobo, and I will be part of that move. I am a full-time writer, but my novellas and stories under Gemma Addison Dove make up a very small percentage of my monthly income, so I have the freedom to try new things like this. Other authors who only have one pen name may depend on Amazon and KU for 90% of their total income to take care of their families and keep a roof over their head. It's not as easy as 'finding somewhere new' - it takes time. And a lot of authors can't afford that, especially if their spouses or other family members are also in danger of losing their jobs, or already have. And the reason a lot of authors are exclusive to Amazon in the first place is because Amazon controls a very large percentage of the market, and for a lot of writers, being exclusive to Amazon and in their KU program is the main reason they were able to make the transition from part-time to full-time writer, or even just make a substantial part-time income. I keep seeing readers accusing authors of putting all of our eggs in one basket, but the reality is that there was only one viable basket to begin with. But maybe this is the beginning of a tide of change. One can hope.

I'll be keeping my KU subscription and reading queer KU authors, but like I said, I have the luxury of being able to take my books OUT of KU to test out new waters. It also doesn’t have to be permanent. I'm going to try and stick it out on Kobo for one whole year, and if I get zero sales/reads, then...I will think about going back to Amazon/KU. Who knows where we'll even be at that point, anyway…

My ebooks and paperbacks will still be available on Amazon for purchase, but they won't be part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription. HOWEVER, this is where things get tricky. Authors have to sign-up for a 90-day period in KU, which renews every 90 days automatically, unless you check the box that says you don't want to renew. I've gone through and unchecked all those boxes, and many of my stories are expiring in the next few weeks, but some are not expiring for a few months. It also gets complicated, because I have a bundle of four stories, but I’m not allowed to move any of those four stories over to Kobo until the whole bundle expires on KU. And I can’t make the bundle available until all of the stories are expired. Still following? Basically, it’s going to be slow going as each story expires and then gets moved to Kobo and other retailers.

I plan on being on most other retailers, such as Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and others (including my own web shop!), but I’m mostly mentioning Kobo because they have a subscription program, similar to Kindle Unlimited, so you can read a ton of books for one monthly fee. They also have their own e-readers available. I’ve already been using Kobo for years as a reader, since I buy all of my wide/trad published ebooks on their platform, and I have a paper screen e-reader that is a free agent and not dedicated to just one retailer. (It’s called a Meebook.)

I probably won’t be able to have any of my short stories on library sites like Hoopla and OverDrive, because they don’t allow erotica, but I’m hoping to have my novellas Wild Love and Summer Love available through Hoopla and OverDrive (but they usually take several months to process, so it’ll be awhile). The good thing is, because Gemma is not my only pen name, I’ve already used most of these other publishing platforms, so I don’t have a huge learning curve. (BTW: if there are any authors who need help with this stuff, feel free to reach out.)

One of the features of being in Amazon KU was that I could make my books free for five days, every 90 days. I won’t be able to do this anymore (at least not through Amazon), so I’m going to be using up my freebie days as one last hurrah as each ebook leaves KU. Some of the books have already had their freebie days used up earlier in the 90-day cycle, so that’s why some don’t have freebie days. Below is the crazy confusing schedule:

Wild Love: Leaving KU on March 17, Freebie Days Already Used Up

Just Dinner #1: Leaving KU on March 19, Free from March 11-15

Just Dinner #2: Leaving KU on March 24, Free from March 11-15

Summer Crush: Leaving KU on March 19, Free from March 11-15

CDG, Vol. 1: Leaving KU on April 4, Free from March 26-30

Birthday Girl: Leaving KU on April 6, Freebie Days Already Used Up (but it’s in CDG, Vol. 1!)

Summer Love: Leaving KU on April 9, Freebie Days Already Used Up

Lucky #7: Leaving KU on May 21, Freebie Days March 18-22

First Time: Leaving KU on June 5, Freebie Days TBA (but it’s also in CDG, Vol. 1!)

Phew! That was a lot of organizing and planning, haha. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out. Sorry I have not published anything new in a while.

I hope everyone stays strong during these difficult times, and when you need a break from the crazy, I highly recommend reading some sapphic smut.

But wait! Two more things:

Author Jae has also put together a blog about Where to Buy Sapphic Books Directly from Authors and Publishers.

Jae also has a blog post about How to Make Sure More of Your Money Goes to Authors.

🩷🤍💜🤍🩷

That's all for now!

You can also follow me around the web:

Talk to you soon,

Gemma Addison Dove

She/Her

gemmaaddisondove.com

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