Being an indie author means being the owner of a small business. I choose the people I partner with. I choose which companies I interact with and in which way.
But what happens when things go wrong?
I want to run my business in the most ethical way possible. And that means being choosy about who I support. There are compromises to be made – because none of us operate in isolation. For example, consider Amazon. For all sorts of reasons, I’d love to cut them completely out of my business model. Most indie authors make 80% or more of their author income from Amazon. Because I put my focus on direct sales, it’s more like 25% for me. But I can’t afford to completely shut them out.
Then there are the various other freelancers and companies I do business with. Cover designers, illustrators, editors, proofreaders, copywriters, beta readers, narrators, other authors, etc. These are people I choose to work with. I have a whole page on my website dedicated to promoting them. Because I like them and I want them to succeed.
When I choose a freelancer or company to do business with, I like to think I do my due diligence. I read through their website, I stalk them on social media. I look to ensure their values align with mine. I check their reviews from other clients. I do small tester jobs to ensure our ways of working align.
But you know what I’ve not been doing up to this point? Checking for criminal records.
This week I discovered that one of the freelancers I’ve had a longstanding relationship with has been in and out of prison over the last decade. Their crimes are bad. Imagine the worst things someone could be convicted of. And, yeah, it’s like that.
I’m a big believer in consequences over punishment. Rehabilitation over imprisonment. Restitution over subjugation. But human society doesn’t practise rehabilitation or restitution. And as for consequences… Well, an important consequence is that I don’t want to do business with abusers.
The individual I’m referring to has worked on about a dozen of my books and stories. I’ve already removed their name from my website. Removing their name and links from my books is going to take time. But it’s something I need to do. I couldn’t live with myself if, knowing what I know now, someone found the name in one of my books and decided to work with them on the basis of my ‘recommendation’.
I’ve got my work cut out for me over the next few weeks, stripping my books and social media of this person’s presence. To give you an indication of the scale of the change, the name is mentioned in two places in each of about a dozen books.
Each book generates three different files: Amazon ebook, ebook for other retailers and my website, and PDF for paperbacks.
Once the new files have been created, they need to be re-uploaded. Each book gets uploaded in five different places using one (or in one case all three) of the files created in the previous step. The upload process is laborious and time-consuming. Each upload requires about five screens to review and click through.
In summary, twelve books times five uploads times five screens to review equals a lot of work. And it’s the kind of work that requires precisely the kind of executive function I struggle with.
It’s important. I need to do this in order to maintain trust with you, my reader. I need to do this in order to satisfy my conscience. But I’m not looking forward to it.
There is zero doubt in my mind that, yes, it’s the same person, and, no, there’s no chance it was a misunderstanding. I’ve got the receipts.
Lastly, you’ll notice I’m not naming the person or their crime. That’s a conscious choice. If you’re an indie author and you want to be sure you’re not in bed with the same person, email me. If you’re just a nosy bitch, email me.
