Let’s deal with some terrible advice that is given to authors.
“Never get political on your socials.”

No. Get political. Your politics and subconcious beliefs are in your books already. Get political. Talk about issues that matter to you because that’s how you’ll find your readers. Avoiding talking about anything is how to never find any readers. The ones that disagree with you won’t like your books (because, you guessed it, your politics are already embedded in your book), and those readers that agree with you won’t know that they do.

Talk about what matters to you.

There are crap things happening in America – and just because I live on the other side of the world doesn’t mean I should ignore them. Australia and America are, technically, allies. American soldiers have a presence here. The way that billionaires are running, and imo ruining, America matters to me too.

There is a movement coming out of America to boycott the billionaires who back Trump and his fascist regime. One of the businesses that has been called out is Amazon, which has consequences for authors. Now this is created a lot of discussion in author spaces, with many indie authors clinging to KU and bemoaning their loss of income through an Amazon boycott. I get it, that sucks, especially if an author has come to rely on KU income, but there are options.

If a reader boycotts Amazon as a matter of personal principle, I stand beside them.

Kindle Unlimited (KU) – Amazon’s reader subscription service – has been great for indie authors for a long time. Amazon’s self-publishing platform has allowed authors, particularly marginalised authors, to professionally publish their books without the gatekeeping issues that hound traditional publishing. It’s important to acknowledge this history, while still paying attention to current politics.

But KU requires a book to be exclusive to KU, which is hugely restrictive for an author. I’ve always balanced this by having some books in KU and some books widely distributed. Not having all my books in one basket has always been important to me, and it’s meant that I’ve spent my marketing time across many book purchasing platforms. I do feel for authors who have all their books in KU, as they now face the uncertainty of wide distribution.

I will always stand by readers, and I will not beg readers to put their politics aside and “boycott Amazon except the part that hurts me as an author” as some authors have been saying.

Boycott billionaires who want to change the laws to hurt women, hurt queer people, and remove people’s rights. Boycott them, and if that costs me income, it’s worth it.