Sometimes, I think I might be a little psychic—and not always in a good way.
Earlier this summer, I chose our topics for the fourth quarter of 2025. Marketing dread is something I’ve been thinking about for a while as I hear friends and colleagues gripe about how much they do NOT like that aspect of publishing, so that fit for October. Planning for a new year was also a natural fit for December. But as I mulled over what to discuss in November, what popped into my mind was one word: disaster.
Authors see this far too often. Some of us may call ourselves indie pubbed—and we are—but most of us are still dependent on other businesses and platforms. How often have you discussed with other indie authors the dreaded what-if scenario: what if Amazon decides to eliminate their book business? What if Facebook is no longer a viable option for interacting with readers? What if ads go away?
We may claim that we’re sufficiently diversified—we don’t have all of our eggs in any one basket—to survive a surprise shift in the industry, but even so, something like losing our Amazon account (a far more likely occurrence than KDP simply ceasing to exist) would impact our business and our bottom line. Look at how even a relatively small change in Facebook ads—the removal of some key author target options by Meta—has affected the viability of that product. No matter how independent we may think we are, we still have areas of vulnerability.
Even—maybe especially—yours truly. (Head’s up, this is the psychic part.) I was an early adopter of the “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” strategy. I was always wide, which was helpful when another author claimed my series title infringed on her copyright and Amazon removed that series without investigating the validity of said claim. Still, I took a chance this year and moved two of my longer series into Kindle Unlimited. While this move didn’t cause the books to sell like gangbusters, it did increase my KDP income by a decent amount (for me).
Enough that when KDP kicked me out of Kindle Unlimited late this summer, it hurt my bottom line.
Disaster? Maybe not, but certainly not the kind of thing that helps a career, either.
So, how do we handle marketing when something has gone wrong?
First, we usually have resources when it comes to trying to reverse whatever has happened. All of the ebook vendors offer contact options, and if you attend the annual NINC conference, you will likely have the opportunity to make solid contacts to utilize in case of a professional emergency. We all like to think we’re immune to bad things happening, but it’s never a bad idea to keep an email or phone number on hand for dire situations.
Assuming that any appeals are denied—or that a problem can’t be easily fixed—it’s important to remember that no matter what happens, we retain a certain amount of agency over our books and our choices. We have options, even if they might not be the ones we prefer.
For example, if Meta closes your Facebook advertising account, you can shift to focus your efforts and budget on Amazon ads or even try BookBub ads—or consider moving in a completely different direction and funnel your ad money toward paid newsletter opportunities like the BookBub Featured Deal, Written Word Media products, or any of the many others available to authors.
You might discover that eliminating the cost (both financial and time/effort) of advertising is actually a positive; sometimes, keeping more money is better for our bottom lines than spending more. (Of course, each situation is different, and your mileage may vary.)
Losing access to your established readers when Facebook closes your account or takes down your professional page is arguably worse than being cut off from our ability to find new ones via ads. Happily, if you’ve been wise about cultivating a strong and active newsletter audience, you can still reach most of your fans. If you haven’t done so already, now is a great time to pop over to your Facebook group, your author page, and your other social media accounts (especially Instagram and TikTok) and urge your followers there to subscribe to your newsletter. Make sure that sign-up link is in your bio, too!
All of the above scenarios are unfortunate, but not necessarily disastrous. What can be harder to navigate is the loss of a selling account on one of the main vendor sites. While this rarely happens on wide retailers, we probably all know someone who’s experienced that doom-like email from KDP, stating crisply that due to a violation of Amazon’s terms of service, the seller account has been permanently closed.
If you make the majority of your money by selling your books on Amazon, you’re entitled to panic and do anything you can to reverse the situation when the company decides to cut off that ability to earn. But sometimes, the matter is simply beyond your control.
What do you do after you accept that?
The first and most important task is to make certain that your catalog of books is available somewhere. If you’ve been exclusive to Amazon for most of your author career, you might have to get up to speed on uploading your books elsewhere. The best option might be to use an aggregator like Draft2Digital or PublishDrive to quickly and easily add your books to retailers like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and Apple Books. If you already have a direct website store, adding your Kindle Unlimited titles there is essential.
Next, spread the word. Your regular devoted readers need to know why they can’t find you on Amazon anymore, and those who are new to your work want to be able to continue binging your books! Send a newsletter in which you explain where they can buy your books now. The same goes for social media updates about your new normal. Post on all of your regular socials and share the new links. You might even consider asking your author friends to share your news so that any crossover readers stay in the loop.
While it’s tempting to spill the whole story about your account shutdown to gain the sympathy and indignation of your fans, there’s no need to go into details on why you’re no longer on Amazon. Make sure you don’t sound bitter or angry, as that could be off-putting to readers. Instead, consider making lemonade out of lemons by celebrating your new wide status with a giveaway or a fun contest. Invite readers to your direct store and offer them special editions or bonus content.
Bad things happen in every professional field. Try as we might, it’s the rare author who can avoid at least a little heartache in this business. But pitfalls and speed bumps don’t have to spell disaster. With some thought and intention, we can all navigate changes—and come out the other side with even more success!
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Tawdra Kandle has penned more than 150 swoony, unputdownable romances that turn everyday life up to extra-spicy. Her stories hook readers with characters who feel like friends—and heat that’ll fog up your e-reader.