An update on itch.io and Alex's books
Hey, friends!
Alex here, with a frustrating update. As you might've seen, itch.io - the retailer I've been using to sell PDF and ePub files direct - has suddenly clamped down on content they host after complaints from their payment processor.
As a result, my books are currently “deindexed” from search, aka shadowbanned: the links to them work, and (for the moment) you can still purchase them, but you have to find them, and my profile on the site, directly. No more showing up in search results, or appearing in tags.
(You might remember a similar issue with Gumroad, where creators like myself were given 24 hours to either remove their content or have their whole account banned. You can read itchio's version of events here, but let me just say that, while the main blame clearly goes on their payment processor, the way itchio handled this is pretty dire.)
So, where does that leave my ebooks? For the moment, you can still purchase them at itchio and still download existing purchases from your library page. There's the very real possibility, however, that either or both of those things could change (it won't surprise you to hear that I'm not expecting itchio to give much notice of that, either). I'd definitely recommend downloading a local copy of any books you've bought through itchio, both mine and anyone else's.
(If you’re in the U.S., the ACLU has a petition targeting one of the biggest payment processors over its discriminatory polices.)
I've already had people ask which is the best retailer to buy my ebooks from, to get me the best revenue split, and I'm so appreciative of you for thinking about that. Honestly, that's one of the most frustrating aspects of this current debacle: itchio had, until now, been the best deal for writers like me.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do next, so for now I'll just say that I'm grateful for any purchase, through any store. The links are on each book page (along with samples) at my site. I understand times are tough for a lot of people, and buying a book can feel like a luxury that's difficult to justify. Please know that I still get excited each and every time someone buys a copy of my writing.
In happier news, we're now up to chapter 14 of "Riley's Basement" - which you can read free. If you're looking for respite from the weird world we find ourselves in, I hope it can provide a little distraction!
Thank you, as always, for your support.
-Alex