Anyway, I had a little run-in with Amazon this week, but I'm actually excited about it because it forced me to climb out of my comfortable box (er, not literally, but that time might be coming) and consider new publishing possibilities. I have no idea how this will turn out, but one thing I've learned is you can't be afraid to try new things when it comes to your publishing career. Sometimes you have to take that leap of faith.Here's the situation. I got one of those nastygrams from "Logan" at Amazon alerting me that Antico Veleno (Terreno Pericoloso Vol. 2) (Italian Edition) (ID: B00M4P6WBA) is listed on Amazon.it at EUR 2.99 and at EUR 2.89 on Lafeltrinelli-IT!
And of course the penalty for this is DEATH!!!!!!
Okay, no. But the penalty is you have to lower the Amazon price or raise the other price so that Amazon is never higher than a competitor OR potentially face the penultimate punishment which is Amazon can remove all your titles.
The problem is that I never listed a title at Lafeltrinelli-IT and can't control their pricing -- in fact, I'm not even sure it's a real site. It could be a pirate site or a portal to other vendors or who knows what. Again, I don't have an account there, which leaves me with the sole option of lowering the Amazon price.
Now you might think to yourself, it's only a dime, what's the big deal? But it's a little more complicated because first of all, well, the ruthless arrogance of Amazon is pretty damned offensive. It never fails to appall me. Secondly, that drop knocks the royalty rate from 70% to 35%. And thirdly, Amazon already charges something called a delivery fee, which lowers author earnings roughly about 4% on average.
(And yeah, again, it's just a few cents at a time, but stop for a second. Imagine if your employer arbitrarily decided to give you an ANY % pay decrease simply as a cost of doing business?)
But that IS the cost of doing business at Amazon and we (me) don't tend to really think about it, but 4% is still real live money and I'm still a real live writer trying to earn a real live living off my work.
Therefore I tried to, you know, communicate with the
The long and the short of it is yes. That is exactly what Amazon is telling me. Price match or face the consequences this is a recording.
Which seems kind of...well, at the very least unjust, doesn't it?
So I was in the process of escalating the argument (knowing full well it was an utter waste of time and energy) when I suddenly thought hold your horses. Because...other vendors sell to foreign lands...I sell a surprising number of Italian titles through Kobo and I've been meaning to escalate my presence and promo efforts at iBooks (which sells to 51 countries versus Amazon's measly 12) and these other companies don't charge "delivery fees" and do pay higher royalties in most cases, and I hate Amazon's monopoly of publishing (including their insistence on exclusivity), so here is a way to begin to loosen Amazon's stranglehold on my own career, without seriously endangering my finances.
And the more I think about this, the more excited I am.
What if I just remove my self-published foreign language digital titles from Amazon?
YOU CAN'T FIRE ME. I QUIT!
But seriously. I'm sure I'll take a financial hit and there will be a big learning curve--and it will be inconvenient to my existing readers--but there are potential long term benefits that WAY out weigh the short term losses.
And to me this is what being a successful entrepreneur is all about. You have to be willing to leave the path. You have to be willing to take risks. And you have to be willing to put your money where your mouth is, i.e. invest in new strategies.
So that was my week. How was yours?
Josh, I know absolutely nothing about the publishing business, except that I benefit by it...meaning I get to enjoy the fruits of your, and other author's, labor. That said, if I benefit, I'm pretty certain you should too. Plus, I just love your, 'let's go for it!' attitude. I wish you good fortune, whichever way this goes!
ReplyDeleteI mean, how wrong could it go? (GULP) :-D :-D :-D
DeleteOooh that's awesome!! GOOD FOR YOU!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so tired of the like-it-or-lump-it attitude from Amazon's customer service automatons. And I'm tired of my own participation in building a monster that will ultimately swallow us all. So this is something small I can do that won't wreck me in the short term and could have very positive ramifications in the long term. And a publishing career is all about the long term.
DeleteIf anyone can outwit, outlast and outplay the zon, my money is on you, girlfriend. You are fearless. Well, maybe not fearless, but you're willing to take those risks, and sometimes they pay off. Good luck. You got this!
ReplyDeleteWell, somehow -- mostly thanks to a little help from my friends -- I stumble my way to safety. :-D
DeleteYou rock, girl!
ReplyDeleteIt's utterly unfair how little authors earn from their sales and how much Amozon takes. Robbery. Make your decisions to Your best interests and by the way I buy at Kobo. They treating you well?
Gerda
I've got no beef with Kobo. I hope they continue to expand and improve and turn into another serious competitor for Amazon -- and the great thing about Kobo is they do take the non-English speaking markets seriously. So thumbs up to Kobo.
DeleteGo for it! I'm not familiar with iBooks. Scratch that, I am now! Had no idea Amazon had a price matching stipulation. I do know they are horrible at troubleshooting on behalf of authors. Boo on the pirate site.
ReplyDeleteIf it even is a pirate site. Who knows? Not me. Not Amazon.
DeleteThe thing is, all these booksellers have aps so that you can read on whatever device you like. You don't need an ipad to read an ibook any more than you need a kindle to read a mobi file.
Hi there. I'm italian - even though I read in English and simply HATE how they translated the titles of your books, Josh. And I'm talking only about the titles... I'm sorry - but I just wanted you to know that La Feltrinelli is a REAL big bookstore chain in Italy. So, no pirate. ;-) Cris
DeleteThanks for letting me know, Cris -- about the piracy, I mean! ;-D Or the not piracy. All I can think is that Kobo must funnel into the site, which is fine with me! What authors need is *more* exposure. Exclusivity is the worst possible thing for an author, and yet I see these dumbasses (pardon my Italian) jumping into Kindle Unlimited because it makes them money in the short term.
DeleteWell, no one ever said authors were great business people. ;-D
Well, I'd say go for it! I mean, when you really think about it, there are so many positive aspects to that. I think it's a good idea to try it with your foreign translations. And I'm pretty sure it'll pay off in long term. I can only imagine how frustrating and infuriating Amazon's policies are for you authors — and so UNFAIR! I would be furious if someone kept treating my art (my living!) that way.
ReplyDeleteAnd anyway, I like the little (?!) rebel living inside you! Thumbs up for leaps like this — big and small. You go, gal! ;-)
:-D
DeleteWhat I've decided to do is every time Amazon brings up their price matching, I will remove the title from Amazon's sales channel. Whatever else happens, Amazon is not going to profit out of the exchange.
And as I update my backlist (which I'm in the process of doing) I remove my titles from India, Japan and Brazil -- where Amazon only pays 35% royalties unless you're exclusive -- so that the titles can only be purchased through Kobo or iBooks.
I hate to inconvenience readers, but the long term consequences of Amazon's overreach will be a lot more inconvenient for all of us.
I think, that's always good not to place the whole money on one horse. And I am wholeheartedly against absolute monopoly. I use a kindle, because it is so easy, but I can learn to use other possibilities, if easy is the synonym for exploitation.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Why on earth would I want to help build a monopoly that can be ultimately used to reduce my options in publishing?
DeleteGo for it, Josh! The zon is getting too big for its britches. If you publish with other eBook sellers, there's always apps. I think most of them offer mobi and pdf formats. Hugs, Judy S
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, my iBook sales are already increasing--and I've really not done more than remind readers that Amazon -- despite its seductive ease of use -- is maneuvering us all to a point of fewer options. And ultimately a price much higher than anybody was anticipating.
DeleteTake that big leap. You'll never know if you don't do it. I hardly shop at Amazon for ebooks anymore. I mainly buy from Kobo, AR, or the pub the writer is publishing from. So I'm glad you are moving away from Amazon. Please the only request for ebooks at Kobo, no DRM. I had to return a really excellent author's title because it won't open in my reader to read it. Totally sucks. Anyway, all the best in your new endeavor and adventure. You won't need it because you are the best at what you do. Have a great summer. 8-)
ReplyDeleteHey there, Sarian! I do try to keep the DRM off my titles. There were a few early titles where I applied it -- mostly because it always feels a bit counterintuitive to not actively discourage piracy. But DRM is not about piracy, it's about exclusivity. I get it. ;-)
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ReplyDeleteI have a Kobe account, and can certainly buy iBooks as well. Go for it. If enough authors do things like this, Amazon will be forced to reconsider their policy.
ReplyDeleteYou would hope, right?
DeleteBut the truth is most authors are unable to look beyond the short term. KU makes me money now, so I'll worry about tomorrow when I get there!
*snort*
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ReplyDeleteAs long as you stay with Barnes and Noble, I'm good. I have the majority of your work on BN and a few through iBooks...I'm not a fan of Kindle. Good luck with whatever you decide; and stick it to the big guy!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am happy to hear there's still someone using Nook! B&N breaks my heart. They were beautifully positioned to give Amazon a run for their money, but they just couldn't get it together. I continue to publish on Nook, despite declining sales, because I'm really hoping for a comeback there.
DeleteNo wonder Bezoes? is a billionaire....what a racket!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for looking @ to other sources for publication, your fans will always follow...altho I gotta say I do like options such as PB's & PDF's!
Rdafan7
Absolutely! And I will continue to make sure I give my readers plenty of options -- including Amazon when and where it makes sense.
DeleteOh, and speaking of print, I'm putting a lot of the OP novellas back in print.
Many european countries have laws, that a book must have an equal price in all stores. Amazon acutally hates those laws, because usually it does not work in their favor!
ReplyDeleteMy BIL and I were talking about this the other day. How many countries legislate protections for their artists (and even regular old tax-paying citizens) that we simply do not. Capitalism doesn't have to be the Law of the Jungle. We've chosen to interpret it that way by doing things like passing laws where a corporations sole and only concern can be profits for shareholders. If that isn't irresponsible and contrary to the long term health of any nation, I don't know what is.
Delete