Dear Readers,


You may have heard of this ongoing war between my publisher (Orbit) and Amazon.


Basically, Amazon is being greedy, trying to punish a publisher who refuses to cave in pricing negotiations. The people who get hurt when elephants dance are always the little guys, in this case, us authors.


I no longer have a “normal” job — post 65, I found that the work I was doing was a bit beyond me physically: the tropical rainforest is a tough place. In addition I started to have some skeletal issues that tend to plague the aged… Now, of course, I am no longer living in Malaysia anyway. So my only income is my writing.


And let’s face it, Amazon.com has become more and more important for selling books. Bookchains — having wrecked the independents with their price cutting and other tactics — are now collapsing under their mismanagement and misunderstanding of the industry. So what Amazon does has become more and more vital to authors and publishers. Amazon knows that, and they are using that knowledge to further their greed, indifferent to how the small guy suffers. (At the moment, Amazon.co.uk –at least as far as my books are concerned — does not seem to have joined in the war.)


What can you, the reader do?


Buy your books elsewhere.


Here are a few alternatives:


WORLDWIDE for HAVENSTAR
Paperback or hardback: Buy from Indiebooks
eBook can be bought through:
Smashwords, which includes a Kindle version
Kobo,
Barnes & Noble;


AUSTRALIA (for other titles of mine)
Fishpond
Booktopia
Dymocks stores  
Click on the links for a list of my paperback books available at any of the above


Or try Independent bookshops such as:
Galaxy in Sydney
Stefen’s in Perth
Pulpfiction in Brisbane


In USA
Buy any of my books (listed here) from BARNES &NOBLE
Independent bookstores such as Borderlands San Francisco


In UK
Try Waterstones.