In general, if a bookstore fails to sell all the books it bought from a publisher, it can send back the unsold copies and get a refund. The publisher has to eat the loss. They have to draw a mark on the bottom of the book , like so:. And they should definitely not show up as the default way to buy the book. So in the short-term, buying third-party can save you money with no trade-off. Publishing is a low-margin industry where the vast majority of authors, editors, and other workers make very little money.
Book piracy makes it that much harder for anyone to make a living creating books. What to do? I just recently started buying books off Amazon. Typically I'd buy in store, but figured I'd give it a try. I purchased 2 books, both arrived with minor damage, started a chat with customer service, they sent a replacement order, but these books again arrived damaged. One of the books even has a vertical intent of some kind that continues through multiple pages.
Is this normal when buying books online? Should I just keep the books as they are, or do another replacement? Same here, bought a book from Amazon and same thing, came damaged. They just threw it into a large box with no packaging material to keep it from moving around. It accounts for approximately 70 percent of through-the-register sales.
It's not something authors can or should use to compare their sales against, though it can be a good general gauge for how well your book is performing. Amazon is more author-friendly than they are publisher-friendly. This means that if you're an author, you're likely to get great customer service from Amazon, especially on the KDP side of the company. However, Amazon seems not to understand the limitations authors who are publishing with publishing houses face where their data is concerned.
I've witnessed them make suggestions and recommendations to authors that simply cannot be accommodated by the author's publishing house. This can be frustrating to authors and publishers , but Amazon is its own organism, not too concerned about needing to understand how other systems work because its own is so dominant. They have an Amazon-centric view of the book world, and expect authors to conform to how Amazon does things. The note here for you, authors, is to take advantage of this by using and exploiting Amazon's resources, but work with your publisher; don't work around them.
And don't for one second buy into the idea that Amazon is "it. I'm sure there are things missing from my list, and I'd love to hear what you think all authors should know about Amazon -- the good and the bad -- given your own publishing experience. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism.
Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. But act fast , because while some price cuts seem to be almost permanent, others revert within days or even hours.
Print price cuts are not the same as when it signs you up to a Kindle Monthly Deal or Kindle Daily Deal, for which you are asked to agree set dates and terms in advance — and which you may, if you wish, turn down. A price cut in your home territory, or the Amazon retail site in which you make the most sales, which may or may not be the same , will not necessarily be replicated on all its stores. Therefore when you alert your readers to special offers, specify which store sites are running it.
Bottom line: Amazon reduced your print book price? Now, get on and tell the world! Debbie Young writes warm, funny feel-good fiction, including the Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries series, which begins with the bestselling "Best Murder in Show". Founder and director of the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, she is a frequent speaker at other literary events. Find out more about Debbie's writing life on her author website www. I was recently looking for KDP Low Content publishing resources and came across your article, it was very helpful.
It would be great if you linked to it from your article:. I decided to go and buy all I could but the price had gone up to nearly twice my selected price.
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