Planning to Publish? URGENT INFO
Read this first! You want to know, believe me. (not 500 wds)22 total reviews
Comment from PoemsOfDD
Oh my gosh Dawn, sounds like you are having a real nightmare of a time with your book and the processes involved in its sale. Just when you think all the hard work is over it turns into a nightmare that you didn't see coming. I hope it all sorts itself out soon as you don't need that sort of stress. Good luck my dear - I have my fingers crossed for you. ~DD
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Oh my gosh Dawn, sounds like you are having a real nightmare of a time with your book and the processes involved in its sale. Just when you think all the hard work is over it turns into a nightmare that you didn't see coming. I hope it all sorts itself out soon as you don't need that sort of stress. Good luck my dear - I have my fingers crossed for you. ~DD
Comment Written 13-Feb-2018
Comment from apky
Gosh, doesn't it make you want to return to good old honest bookshops around town? But - spilt milk. So my question is, did you at least have the sales to this ThriftBook people from Amazon verified in some way?
Thanks for letting us know this.
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Gosh, doesn't it make you want to return to good old honest bookshops around town? But - spilt milk. So my question is, did you at least have the sales to this ThriftBook people from Amazon verified in some way?
Thanks for letting us know this.
Comment Written 13-Feb-2018
Comment from CD Richards
Sad as it is, I don't think this practice is all that uncommon in the business world. The usual response from legitimate ticket sellers to concerts, sporting events etc when the scalpers buy up stock and sell at multiples of the going price is - "we have no control". Of course, they could if they had the inclination. But if they don't lose out of it, what do they care? I imagine the same goes for Amazon. Is that a disgraceful way to treat people who write and publish through them? Yep. Could it severely hurt your reputation and future sales? Yep. Does Amazon give a rat's ass? Nope.
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Sad as it is, I don't think this practice is all that uncommon in the business world. The usual response from legitimate ticket sellers to concerts, sporting events etc when the scalpers buy up stock and sell at multiples of the going price is - "we have no control". Of course, they could if they had the inclination. But if they don't lose out of it, what do they care? I imagine the same goes for Amazon. Is that a disgraceful way to treat people who write and publish through them? Yep. Could it severely hurt your reputation and future sales? Yep. Does Amazon give a rat's ass? Nope.
Comment Written 13-Feb-2018
Comment from WalkerMan
This information is both useful to know and very disturbing.
It is true that Amazon cannot control those other companies. Amazon claims they have the LOWEST available price on a book; and, if they see (or it is reported to them) that a lower price exists, they lower their price to that or less. Thus, anyone foolish enough not to check Amazon's price before buying a book will waste money, and that should NOT affect your sales at Amazon.
However, if you pull your book off Amazon, and another seller has obtained a copy, then that seller is free to claim it is rare and/or "out of print" and charge a higher price based on likely demand. Yet, anyone actually purchasing such a book from a seller who does not really have it ought to be in trouble with that buyer, for that is both false advertising and theft.
If such a seller has actually reproduced the book to sell at any price, that is Copyright violation, which carries a huge fine on each unit sold. In that situation, find an attorney willing to take your case on a contingency basis (he or she collects a fee ONLY if your case is won), as the fines are so large that there will be plenty to cover the fee. Sometimes this is enough to put the offender out of business, so they may offer to settle the case out of court for far more than your royalties would have been. You may be more likely to collect then, as judgments won against a bankrupt offender may never be collected.
If you publish through CreateSpace (owned by Amazon) and want to open your book for sales to libraries and bookstores, the List Price that YOU set must be higher to allow for the bulk discount those places get from Amazon. For novels and most books of poetry, the difference is not enough to kill sales at Amazon. However, for my own literary art book, barely selling at present Amazon List Price of $47.00, opening that new channel would bump the List Price to at least $75.00, totally killing sales to individual buyers at Amazon -- and even dropping my royalties to a fraction of what they are now per book at $47.00!
What is not clear to me from your post is whether or not Amazon itself arbitrarily raised YOUR List Price originally set at $6.99 without telling you. If you published through CreateSpace, YOU are supposed to control the List Price. Amazon does sell books from unaffiliated bookstores at whatever price those stores charge; but if your book is priced at $6.99 at Amazon itself, a buyer would be stupid to pay $100.00 (or even half that) from another bookstore selling through Amazon. You cannot control a buyer's folly.
If you had the Libraries and Bookstores sales channel open at CreateSpace BEFORE you pulled the book off Amazon, then any such store could sell copies they already have in stock at a price of their choosing. Whatever royalties you got from Amazon's prior sales to that store are all you get, per the rules set forth at CreateSpace, as you get paid per copy printed in that case.
We can discuss this further via PM if you like. I'm here most days, at least briefly.
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This information is both useful to know and very disturbing.
It is true that Amazon cannot control those other companies. Amazon claims they have the LOWEST available price on a book; and, if they see (or it is reported to them) that a lower price exists, they lower their price to that or less. Thus, anyone foolish enough not to check Amazon's price before buying a book will waste money, and that should NOT affect your sales at Amazon.
However, if you pull your book off Amazon, and another seller has obtained a copy, then that seller is free to claim it is rare and/or "out of print" and charge a higher price based on likely demand. Yet, anyone actually purchasing such a book from a seller who does not really have it ought to be in trouble with that buyer, for that is both false advertising and theft.
If such a seller has actually reproduced the book to sell at any price, that is Copyright violation, which carries a huge fine on each unit sold. In that situation, find an attorney willing to take your case on a contingency basis (he or she collects a fee ONLY if your case is won), as the fines are so large that there will be plenty to cover the fee. Sometimes this is enough to put the offender out of business, so they may offer to settle the case out of court for far more than your royalties would have been. You may be more likely to collect then, as judgments won against a bankrupt offender may never be collected.
If you publish through CreateSpace (owned by Amazon) and want to open your book for sales to libraries and bookstores, the List Price that YOU set must be higher to allow for the bulk discount those places get from Amazon. For novels and most books of poetry, the difference is not enough to kill sales at Amazon. However, for my own literary art book, barely selling at present Amazon List Price of $47.00, opening that new channel would bump the List Price to at least $75.00, totally killing sales to individual buyers at Amazon -- and even dropping my royalties to a fraction of what they are now per book at $47.00!
What is not clear to me from your post is whether or not Amazon itself arbitrarily raised YOUR List Price originally set at $6.99 without telling you. If you published through CreateSpace, YOU are supposed to control the List Price. Amazon does sell books from unaffiliated bookstores at whatever price those stores charge; but if your book is priced at $6.99 at Amazon itself, a buyer would be stupid to pay $100.00 (or even half that) from another bookstore selling through Amazon. You cannot control a buyer's folly.
If you had the Libraries and Bookstores sales channel open at CreateSpace BEFORE you pulled the book off Amazon, then any such store could sell copies they already have in stock at a price of their choosing. Whatever royalties you got from Amazon's prior sales to that store are all you get, per the rules set forth at CreateSpace, as you get paid per copy printed in that case.
We can discuss this further via PM if you like. I'm here most days, at least briefly.
Comment Written 13-Feb-2018
Comment from Joan E.
Thank you for the warning and sharing your communication with the third-party seller. In some ways, it has gotten more complicated to do business online. Maybe, this will allow old-fashioned retail stores to survive. Wishful thinking... Here's to a better experience with your new book- Joan
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Thank you for the warning and sharing your communication with the third-party seller. In some ways, it has gotten more complicated to do business online. Maybe, this will allow old-fashioned retail stores to survive. Wishful thinking... Here's to a better experience with your new book- Joan
Comment Written 13-Feb-2018
Comment from dejohnsrld (Debbie)
Hmm, very interesting. I suppose they do lack control. Maybe I'll start purchasing books and selling them at outrageous prices. The extra income would be nice. Are you still planning to publish with Amazon? Take care, my friend~Debbie
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Hmm, very interesting. I suppose they do lack control. Maybe I'll start purchasing books and selling them at outrageous prices. The extra income would be nice. Are you still planning to publish with Amazon? Take care, my friend~Debbie
Comment Written 12-Feb-2018
Comment from GWinterwin
Yes Dawn I have had the same problem. One company was selling my book for over 700.00. I could not believe it. I contacted them and they said it was a typing error. I looked again and they had not changed it. I now know why my books aren't selling. Sorry my friend, hopefully they will do what is right.
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Yes Dawn I have had the same problem. One company was selling my book for over 700.00. I could not believe it. I contacted them and they said it was a typing error. I looked again and they had not changed it. I now know why my books aren't selling. Sorry my friend, hopefully they will do what is right.
Comment Written 12-Feb-2018
Comment from barbara.wilkey
Thank you for sharing this with us. I am publishing with Amazon/Createspace, but so far have not had any issues. I am now really worried. I hope I haven't made a mistake.
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Thank you for sharing this with us. I am publishing with Amazon/Createspace, but so far have not had any issues. I am now really worried. I hope I haven't made a mistake.
Comment Written 12-Feb-2018
Comment from writerjen
Sorry Dawn that you're going through this. Did you self publish the book? I'm sure this is discouraging especially since the cost is driving away buyers.
Jane Friedman, author and teacher, has lots of information on book publishing/ self publishing/ ebooks, etc. You could probably contact her jane@janefriedman.com she's experienced and seems eager to help authors. Just a thought....good luck.
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2018
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Sorry Dawn that you're going through this. Did you self publish the book? I'm sure this is discouraging especially since the cost is driving away buyers.
Jane Friedman, author and teacher, has lots of information on book publishing/ self publishing/ ebooks, etc. You could probably contact her jane@janefriedman.com she's experienced and seems eager to help authors. Just a thought....good luck.
Comment Written 12-Feb-2018
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2018
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Thanks very much - unfortunately Amazon is THE market. Yet... Amazon doesn't even bother to check if that third party actually has a book to ship if someone is foolish enough to buy it at the outrageous price.
Comment from royowen
It seems to me that they are talking a mechanica response, rather than helping neither the reader nor the writer. I guess that's the problem with dealing with what essentially a robotic digitally driven organisation, they are going the same way, as giant conglomerates tend to go...down, then somebody comes along with a better, and so on. Thanks for posting Dawn, blessings, Roy
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2018
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It seems to me that they are talking a mechanica response, rather than helping neither the reader nor the writer. I guess that's the problem with dealing with what essentially a robotic digitally driven organisation, they are going the same way, as giant conglomerates tend to go...down, then somebody comes along with a better, and so on. Thanks for posting Dawn, blessings, Roy
Comment Written 12-Feb-2018
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2018
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Yep - they don't even bother to find out if the third party actually has a book to ship if someone is foolish enough to buy. They just don't care.
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It seems that way.
