Sub-Saharan Independent Publisher v. The Whole World

It is suddenly a world of landing pages and click funnels; new releases are simply invisible in amongst the bestsellers. Browsers cannot find your book accidentally unless it already has several five-star reviews to its name. And your family and friends are tired of you asking them for reviews. To get your Kindle eBook noticed in amongst the millions of other titles is harder than ever before. Is it even possible to take on the USA from outside it? Can you publish or self-publish in Sub-Saharan Africa and expect success if you're not affiliated to Penguin South Africa? Shouldn't we all just give up?
Here I'm reminded of an eminent Professor at the University of Botswana who reminded me that poetry's purpose, like folk music's, is to scare the establishment, to change governments. In times of revolution it is our words that give the multitudes a voice. That is why I don't give up, and why I refuse to write the kind of book that apparently sells millions of copies - be it a romance novel complete with picture of topless man and his sweaty six-pack, or a self-help book about how to publish your book on Amazon. I mean seriously? Are Amazon championing the little guy here, or simply pyramid-peddling fool's gold?
As an independent publisher in Botswana it's sometimes pretty daunting to take on the whole world and the might of the established bestsellers at the same time but if we keep supporting each other we can do it!! We are busy improving our Kindle eBook products across the whole range, to incorporate new covers, searchable tables of contents and a Black Crake Books page for readers to stay in touch and receive special offers plus new, unpublished free materials. In the meantime it is only through reader reviews, sharing posts, tagging friends, recommending books to friends, that our titles slowly migrate from invisible to visible-and-trending. My recommendation? Tezcatlipoca's Dream - well worth a look.