Draft2Digital Introduces Activation and Maintenance Fees for AuthorAccounts

[X Equestris]

I found out about this from an email and thought I’d share. D2D is introducing a $20 account activation fee for new accounts and a $12 maintenance fee for accounts earning less than $100 in royalties per year.

Here’s the link to their official announcement:

Understanding D2D's Activation and Maintenance Fees - Draft2Digital | Blog

A brief explanation of D2D's activation and maintenance fees, which accounts are subject to them, and what this means for you.

draft2digital.com

 

[Set2Stun]

Good gravy. I haven't received an email about this, so maybe I'm grandfathered in? If they do inform me of this, I'll just close my account. As I've said elsewhere, I wish I didn't go wide anyway, and should've gone exclusive with the Bezo Boy.

 

[X Equestris]

My understanding is everyone who already has an account (and maybe those who create accounts before the fees are implemented in May?) is grandfathered in and don’t need to worry about the activation fee. Everybody who makes less than $100 annually is subject to the maintenance fee, though.

I’m curious how this will work out for them. The activation fee wouldn’t be so bad on its own, and might actually stand a chance of achieving their goal of cutting down on “slop accounts”, since a lot of those are based in countries where $20 would be a substantial expense. But when you add in the maintenance fee…

Anyone who’s consistently making $100 a year in royalties from their books is already more successful than most. I feel like the fees will drive a lot of new or semi-successful authors off D2D. It might even drive some in the more volume-driven genres towards AI in an effort to generate more sales and clear the threshold.