The M/M writing world is under a lot of stress– sales are down for a host of reasons including severe economic uncertainty and (at least for me as a reader) rereading instead of buying new books, for the comfort of the familiar stories. And we’re all trying to figure out what to do about megacorporations and community activism, which definitely impacts authors, indie or publisher-released.

I’m not going to dive deeply into the contentious question of boycotts, but to talk a bit about being a wide author in the genre and where you can find books.

Being wide for the vast majority of us doesn’t mean an author doesn’t depend on Amazon for income (85% of my income is from AZ) but that our books are also on alternative sites for those who chose to get their books elsewhere. It’s a choice that may or may not pay off financially (sometimes yes, sometimes very much no), and it’s both fun and challenging to put out a wide story, involving much more planning and posting and keeping track of releases.

One thing being wide does make possible is having perma-free books. Amazon does not allow authors to post free books. The only way for them to be free is to post them somewhere else (Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble) and then to ask Amazon to price match to free. Every permafree book is a wide book.

As a side note, Amazon often switches permafree books back to the original price randomly, in some country or other, and does not inform the author. If you know a book should be free, and find it for sale for money on your AZ national site, contact the author. We usually have no idea it has changed and we can try to petition Amazon to match the freebie again (although they are allowed to refuse.) Or readers can look for the book wide – it should be somewhere.

I have a bunch of permafree books (Unacceptable Risk, Marked by Death, The Rebuilding Year, Into Deep Waters, Nor Iron Bars a Cage, Like the Taste of Summer, The Family We’re Born With, and more.) Amazon periodically removes the freebie here and there in particular countries – if you see that, please let me know.

Freebies aside, going wide allows a home for some topics that Amazon is touchy about. (A lot of the more taboo stories are found wide, especially on Smashwords and authors’ own sites.) So if those are your jam, check around. (Do note: Smashwords has an erotica filter, “Filtering” in the bar top right corner on the home screen, that you will have to turn to “include all” to find these.)

Going wide also allows for some different sale-price options – Smashwords has several annual sales. With Smashwords’ better royalty share, we can sometimes put books on sale without really losing money. Note that KU also has short term sale options – just different ones.

Authors who sell their books on their own websites benefit the most from purchases made there – they may get from 30 to 70% more money per book than on any vendors. (And even more so for audio. Audible takes a big chunk of audio sales income as royalties.)

If you are just exploring the idea of wide book purchasing, remember that you can send epubs to your @Kindle and side-load them on many but not all e-readers and tablets, if you get them from those vendors who send you an actual copy (eg. publishers, authors, Smashwords.)

So where can you buy ebooks and audio?
A partial list includes:

Author websites – Saxon James has kindly been putting together a database of authors who sell directly – https://queerromancelist.com/ – there are others who are not on this list, but it does take checking.

Smashwords – the website and its search isn’t great, and your easiest way to find books is by searching the author,- although you can look through all “Gay” books – https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/home/1315/any/any

Advantages there are more money to authors, more topics allowed, and you own the book you buy and can (should) download it. But this is definitely home to a smaller subset of authors.

Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Books – these retailers work a lot like Amazon (although with their own interface quirks – and the ability to download the ebooks to keep permanently may vary.) Note, you can have multiple reading apps on the same tablet or reading device. I have several with my various collections.

And there are other options, and of course Libraries (<3 Libraries), Everand, etc.

I am not encouraging anyone to give up buying books on Amazon – there are a lot of wonderful, favorite authors who are exclusively there by contract (and frankly, I get a certain kick out of buying progressive content and pushing it up the Amazon lists.) I don’t want those authors to lose their livelihood. But you do what you feel is right.

If you’re going to buy a wide author, and are interested in supporting competition for monopoly, and in some cases, giving the author more money, consider looking around at where else their books are sold. We all win, when there is robust economic competition. Even those who are only on one platform win. It’s easier to be taken advantage of when there is nowhere else to go. So sustaining wide is a win for those who choose to explore it. But Amazon is still the focus of the MM book buying and selling options. IMO there is room to do both.

And if you’re not buying anything, just hunkering down and rereading, (or using your library) I totally get where you’re coming from. Here’s hoping for good news one day that will have us all running out to buy all the M/M things, everywhere.

Regardless of where you buy or rent or borrow, or reread, reading queer romance is an act of hope and joy and comfort, and resistance.

– Kaje Harper
March 2025