It seems 2016 is determined to bury us in sadness and despair. Politics continues to dominate and fuel our fears and insecurities, bringing out the worst in far more of our citizens than we could ever have imagined.

Then there are the deaths of so many who had brought us joy and the gift of their very special talents. We’ve lost humanitarians, scientists and a host of others who’ve gone unremarked but made a difference in all our lives.

2016 was a tough year for authors, made even tougher as one of the primary distributors of romance novels announced it will close its doors on the 31st. All Romance Ebooks made the announcement on 12/28, offering authors 10 cents on the dollar for any royalties earned in the 4th quarter, providing a very narrow window for purchasers to retrieve their books from their virtual “library”, and otherwise engaging in questionable business practices as they shutter operations. Discussion HERE.

There’s little point in debating how and why this happened, or bemoaning the fact that monies earned from pre-orders and books sold during their spate of sales and recent frenetic marketing activities will not find its way into authors’ or small publishers’ pockets. Nor is there any indication that anyone who took them up on their promotional opportunities for 2017 (that email arriving just a few days before the closure announcement) will ever recover that investment.

I had seen this coming round about mid-summer. After much soul searching, I decided to bail two weeks ago and placed almost my entire catalog into Kindle Select/KU. I left 3 collections on ARe because of their flexibility for offering discounts leading up to the holiday. Mostly I ran ‘free for limited time’ promotions, so I’m not out any money during that period – although for the 4th quarter overall, there was the potential for treating myself and Firstborn to a dinner at Outback (not big bucks obviously). Oh well.

What’s troubling is that it’s very difficult to access that site right now, and if you are a purchaser scrambling to recover books you purchased but had not yet downloaded from your “library,” there’s a good chance you will be SOL.

I am so very sorry if that’s the case. Well, rest assured, I’m pissed purple, too…

Almost all my titles are in Kindle Unlimited—the “read for free” as long as you pony up $9.99/month club—so that may or may not help you.  [BTW: the Zon is having sales on KU subscriptions. I got mine for 30% off for a year’s worth. At the rate I gobble books, they ain’t gonna make squat off me, she says gleefully.]

The problem with being “all in” with Kindle Unlimited is that I can’t, under Amazon’s ToS, offer to reimburse readers who weren’t able to rescue their books. But, if you are in that particular pickle, email me. I’ll see what I can do.

With just a couple days left in 2016, here’s hoping this year’s agenda to make life super-sucky for everybody finally gives up.

Peace, love, blessings and…

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH US ALL