Aftermath of the Amazon and small publishers' spat
The internet is still buzzing with anti-Amazon sentiments following alleged strong arm tactics to coerce print-on-demand publishers to use Amazon's in house pod printer BookSurge. The penalty for not using them would be the loss of the "Buy" button on the Amazon site.
When all this blew up, The Horsepower Whisperer was not available from Amazon in the US. Its status in the UK remained unchanged - it was available and qualified for free delivery if the order was over £15.
As of today, The Horsepower Whisperer is shown as available through both branches of Amazon on either side of the pond.
I know this because I checked. What prompted me to check was an e-mail from Amazon as a valued customer, recommending Dan Poynter's self-publishing manual.
So on Amazon my book is represented better than it was. But many small presses and self-publishers do not want to kiss and make up with Amazon.
On balance I reckon Amazon is a good thing. It encourages customers to search out similar writers to those they already enjoy. It's a champion of the long tail of the distribution curve.
Sometimes its terms and conditions change without apparent reason. I'm left wondering if this business over "Buy now" buttons is something similar. For instance, I had a search fee of one penny for a while but this disappeared as inexplicably as it had arrived.
When I had those problems with my cover images a couple of months ago they were all sorted out. Eventually.
So I will continue to use Amazon as the keystones for my marketing campaign, especially as other distribution channels seem a bit iffy. It's a colossus and some of us get squashed when it moves. It could be that Europe has stricter anti-trust laws than the states. In Britain we have the Monopolies and Mergers Commission - but we only have the one.
This might explain why Amazon has not insisted I use BookSurge instead of Lightning Source. Or it could be that I such a small scale operation they can't be arsed. If they try it on as soon as I'm a millionaire you'll be the first to hear about it.
Meanwhile, in the states, small presses and self-publishers have not forgiven Amazon. They are developing other marketing strategies. I'll see what they come up with.
I think noses may have been cut off to spite the faces of babies being thrown out with the the bathwater.
When all this blew up, The Horsepower Whisperer was not available from Amazon in the US. Its status in the UK remained unchanged - it was available and qualified for free delivery if the order was over £15.
As of today, The Horsepower Whisperer is shown as available through both branches of Amazon on either side of the pond.
I know this because I checked. What prompted me to check was an e-mail from Amazon as a valued customer, recommending Dan Poynter's self-publishing manual.
So on Amazon my book is represented better than it was. But many small presses and self-publishers do not want to kiss and make up with Amazon.
On balance I reckon Amazon is a good thing. It encourages customers to search out similar writers to those they already enjoy. It's a champion of the long tail of the distribution curve.
Sometimes its terms and conditions change without apparent reason. I'm left wondering if this business over "Buy now" buttons is something similar. For instance, I had a search fee of one penny for a while but this disappeared as inexplicably as it had arrived.
When I had those problems with my cover images a couple of months ago they were all sorted out. Eventually.
So I will continue to use Amazon as the keystones for my marketing campaign, especially as other distribution channels seem a bit iffy. It's a colossus and some of us get squashed when it moves. It could be that Europe has stricter anti-trust laws than the states. In Britain we have the Monopolies and Mergers Commission - but we only have the one.
This might explain why Amazon has not insisted I use BookSurge instead of Lightning Source. Or it could be that I such a small scale operation they can't be arsed. If they try it on as soon as I'm a millionaire you'll be the first to hear about it.
Meanwhile, in the states, small presses and self-publishers have not forgiven Amazon. They are developing other marketing strategies. I'll see what they come up with.
I think noses may have been cut off to spite the faces of babies being thrown out with the the bathwater.
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