Is it time to ditch Amazon?

[lynnmosher]

Interesting article. Great link farther down. New place to sell books. Bookshop.org Check it out.

With social media fragmenting, I’m bringing back my old “You Tell Me” Wednesday discussions to try to get good old fashioned blog conversations going. If you’re reading in a feed reader or via email, please click through to the post to leave a public comment and join the discussion!

I grew up in the middle of nowhere in a town without a bookstore in the pre-Internet cave-dwelling era, and, as a result, have largely appreciated Amazon as an innovator for bringing books to the hinterlands. As a kid, I would have killed to have had every book in the world at my disposal, rather than whatever was carried at the tiny B. Dalton mall bookstore thirty miles away.

I also was an early ebook adopter and have never looked back. I simply love having access to an entire library on my iPhone or iPad, and have built quite a collection via my Kindle app.

But lately…. yeeeesh.

Cracks in my esteem for Bezos Inc. started with the cesspool that is Amazon-owned Goodreads, with its unmoderated mobs and non-developed product. Those cracks only widened with just how much AI slop and pirated junk is allowed to be sold on Amazon. And now you have Jeff Bezos taking a golden sledgehammer to the editorial direction of the vaunted Washington Post and cozying up to the Trumps.

Leaving Amazon behind as a book consumer is relatively easy. There’s now a wonderful site, Bookshop.org, that ships books and even has a great new e-book app, and every sale supports independent bookstores. Because Bookshop.org distributes from Ingram, rather than via third parties, you can have confidence you’re getting the real thing. I already now link directly to Bookshop with book links rather than to Amazon.

But as an author… it’s very hard to leave Amazon. I have self-published my books (even the ones that were originally traditionally published) and the vast, vast majority of my sales come via Amazon. Even if I were willing to forego a real revenue stream that supports my life, I’m torn between meeting book consumers where they are and cutting off my support for a monstrosity I increasingly loathe.

What’s your current relationship status with Amazon? Are you going strong, pared back, or gone cold turkey? How do you think it through?

 

[Hucklebarry]

I'm not boycotting per se, but I am trying to shop as much local as my time and budget allows. My issues against Amazon are:

Reviews are rigged. I can say that without the obligatory, "I think". I have had 100% factual reviews taken down claiming a TOS violation that had zero emotion or bias in them. You can also easily find 3rd party companies that can promise review removal which lines up with the reviews I have seen removed.

They knowingly sell pirated products. I've seen this with both movies and books. WIth movies they will sell TV series that aren't released yet in box sets. With books, i bought a gift for someone (book I already owned) and it was a photochopy of the original book (colors were greyscale, and font was light). It wasn't a re-release or 2nd edition... it was sold as the genuine product. People will report products, fill up the comments sections and the fake products will remain.

Their open boxes are not inspected. I bought a camera that came with the wrong camera and battery in the box. It was obvious that someone bought 2 cameras (one high end the other low end) and swapped the packaging to return and get the high amount refunded. You now have to convince Amazon that you were not the one that did the switching.

I bought a product that was massively falsely advertised. Pictures and descriptions were completely fabricated. This was a Christmas present so the return period had passed by the time it was opened. When I went to leave a review, the product page was taken down. Howeve,r a new product page for the exact same item was up. Amazon would not let me leave a review or warn anyone because I hadn't purchased this "version" of the product, even though it was identical. They have policies and procedures set up to protect scammers and thieves.

Stopping here although I could go on and sadly, these are all first-hand experiences. The pros are cheap, convenient, I benefit from Amazon points, and as for KDP, I'm not sure how else to market/sell when I can't 'win' at the social media game.

I would also add that I don't typically consider a company's political beliefs since they added that as one of their concerns. Tim Hawkins did a bit about companies that advertised as Christian that made no sense. I.E. Christian plumbers. His comment was roughly that he wanted the water to go down the drain, but it was currently coming up the drain. "if you can make it go down, I don't care if you are a Christian or not". I don't care who people vote for, but I like them a little bit more when they keep their votes to themselves and just try to do life the best they can.

For me, buying Christian books makes sense to buy from a Christian book reseller like christianbooks.com. I buy from them when I can, but their very expensive shipping often negates their 40-60% off pricing and still makes Amazon cheaper. I try and create a list to wait out their rare free shipping events.

I think for me, I now have to conisder that Amazon is no longer a retail store but a market of vendors that have associated risks to engage with them.

 

[lynnmosher]

Wow! That's a pretty good list there of events. I agree with you, Hucklebarry. Amazon has come a long way down the slippery slope and has almost hit bottom. It's such a shame they have chosen to do this.

 

[Lynae Fisher]

I have pretty much decided that I WILL NOT EVER publish with amazon. Period. If that means I can only share my writing with friend and family, so be it, but I will not support what I believe is such a destructive force. I prefer to shop local as well, though it is not always possible.

Checking out that website you suggested...

 

[Jeff Potts]

First, I'm no fan of Amazon. However, complaining that Bezos is sucking up to the Trumps is a little beyond the pale, ESPECIALLY when no one had an issue with Bezos sucking up to the slimy likes of Obama, Biden, and the Clintons.

As for the Washington Post, that thing was a rag before Bezos bought it, was a rag after he bought it, and will still be a rag AFTER he's fired the editorial staff.

Now, as for Amazon: if I could eliminate Amazon from my list of booksellers, I would in a heartbeat. Of all of them, they are the one seller I've had the most issues with. Aven now, even though my recent audiobook was submitted to Audible on January 13th, IT IS STILL NOT LISTED. The last time I checked, it's sitting in QA, which is a laugh. Steve - my narrator - uses the tool from ACX to validate his files. The book is less than 7 hours long. This is almost comical if it wasn't so infuriating. I can't run ads with an Audible link. Thanks Amazon!

The last two books, I spent weeks getting support to fix things like making sure everything is listed on the same page (a bad habit Barnes & Noble has now acquired). This time around, for the first time since I listed my first book, everything went smooth...well...except the audiobook.

The last book, Amazon was sending readers notifications that their book was going to be delayed...sometimes after the reader already received the book. This actually happened to a person I work with.

Amazon ads are a joke. I don't even bother anymore. And, from what I'm hearing, people who used to have success are wondering why their ads aren't working anymore.

Their paperback quality is awful. The covers are washed-out. Their books come in with the pages all wavy. I'm hearing complaints of spines that fall apart. Even the one book that I have from an author I know, the margin wasn't sheared properly.

The thing is, I sort of know where some of these issues stem from. But I don't see Amazon resolving them any time soon.

 

[carolinamtne]

Thanks for this thread. I'm getting closer to publishing at least one of my Bible story books. I intended to go the Amazon route, as that seems to be (or seemed to be) what people do. I'm definitely rethinking that, for all the above reasons.

 

[Accord64]

What’s your current relationship status with Amazon?

Click to shrink...

It's a love/hate sort of thing... I love to hate them.

Pre-covid, my Amazon sales were being eclipsed by Rakuten Kobo., so I was fine with Amazon taking a back seat. Since then Kobo has gone flat. In fact, I haven't been able to gain any significant traction with any other retailer (Apple, B&N, Googleplay, etc.). Makes me wonder if Amazon has been able to somehow rig the market (puts on tinfoil hat).

Cracks in my esteem for Bezos Inc. started with the cesspool that is Amazon-owned Goodreads, with its unmoderated mobs and non-developed product.

Click to shrink...

Yup.

 

[lynnmosher]

It's such a shame Amazon has chosen this downhill path.

 

[Hucklebarry]

Their paperback quality is awful. The covers are washed-out. Their books come in with the pages all wavy. I'm hearing complaints of spines that fall apart. Even the one book that I have from an author I know, the margin wasn't sheared properly.

Click to shrink...

I ordered an author's proof to verify alignment and sizing, etc. The cover is so washed out it's making me rethink using a solid color over a photo.
At the end of the day, I've read some amazing (low-quality produced) books. I.E. the words were wonderful while the materials and craftsmanship were terrible. I don't allow the cover to take away from the great words. But when you factor in that Amazon is keeping 65% of each sale I feel the low quality is less forgivable (I know they say 60%, but the math is pretty simple... my royalty is only 35% of the sale).

This is what convinced me to buy my own ISBN. My understanding is that if I launch on Amazon, I am free to launch on other sites as well.