Certain Factors Make Ordering Books On Amazon Tricky
Imagine yourself as a first time author trying to order your books on Amazon. You do an Amazon search for your recently posted book and hit enter to look at your search results. The first copy of your book you see is your newly published book listed for $999.99!
Looking a little more closely, you see the seller is another vendor you have never heard of, nor with whom you have any association with.
Living and Learning On Amazon
Believe it, or not, as the author of seven self-published books, this happened to me not once, but a number of times. In fact, the last time it happened, a friend of mine advised me Amazon was listing my book for Deceptions of the Ages for the above asking price.
A few hundred dollars above the asking price!
Is Amazon Deliberately Trying To Kill My Sales?
As we will see, there are a number of factors at work on Amazon which most authors and readers are not aware. The answer to whether or not Amazon is deliberately trying to kill my sales is more complicated than that.
Naturally, anyone seeing their book at a ridiculous amount show up in a search before their own listing is going to be suspicious.
Discovery: The Reader & The Author Are A Victim of the Amazon Marketplace
To begin, I will use my own experience and introduction to self publishing as an example. Then, I will go into detail about the $999.99 listing.
Before Createspace and KDP, there were a number of companies who offered self-publishing services. As I spoke about in my previous post: When Is It Wise To Revise Your Self-Published Book? I went with one of these companies to publish My Year In Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During The War On Terror.
As part of my package, my book was made available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a number of other distributors.
Imagine My Shock
Imagine my shock when I was searching on Amazon for my new and first book, only to find it selling for a substantially higher price.
Then, think about my further shock to find the company listing my book was the same company I had paid to publish it!
The $999.99 Edition
A few years ago, fearing the worst, I did a an Amazon search for my book. Naturally, my fears were well-founded when I saw the first result of my search. It was my book, Deceptions of the Ages: “Mormons” Freemasons & Extraterrestrials listed for $999.99.
As I sat there looking at it, I could not believe my eyes. That was the first result Amazon offered in their search. No question about it. Amazon was trying to kill my sales.
Amazon Responds
I made a call to KDP Customer Service and explained the issue. Their solution was that I should purchase the book for $999.99. After I received the book, according to Amazon, I could then make a complaint about the vendor.
Something every reader and author must understand about Amazon is that everyone has the right to buy and resell a product in an attempt to make a profit. Even an author’s book.
Instead of Amazon’s solution, I had a different idea.
Problems Ordering Books From Other Vendors
First and foremost, there are a number of editions of my books. In addition to the cover artwork, the editing, writing and content has improved over time with every new edition and addition of one of my books.
Unfortunately, Amazon does not make more money from selling you a cheaper product. They often will not provide you with a a direct link to one of my books, my merchandise or my movies.
What this means for you is that you buy an inferior product and miss out on the total experience of reading one of my books. Or, you will have to do a little work to find a link to my latest update and works.
Two Ways To Verify You Are Getting A Heinessight Original Product
If you are looking for a book, merchandise or movie by Matthew Heines, the best way to begin your journey is right here at Heinessight.com or any of the websites under the Heinessight brand. Here or there, you will find all the verified links you need to give you direct access to the experiences of a lifetime.
Whether you are clicking a verified link on Heinessight site, or trying your luck with an Amazon search, I have provided you with a fail proof method verify your purchase.
Just go to Amazon’s Look Inside The Book feature. There, you will see the latest copyright dates for each of my books.
The latest copyright date for all of my books but Heinessights: Wisdom For The Ages is going to be 2022 and 2023. Any edition you see prior to that is not the latest version and I hope you will search for the products that will offer the most enjoyable, enlightening reading experience.
Trust But Verify On Amazon
To summarize, when you are buying on Amazon, you are buying in a marketplace where anyone has the right to buy and resell your product. It is certainly not a perfect world, but it does allow talented authors the ability to compete without the resources of a major publisher.
To compete, I am using education and renovation to keep my readers interested in my own original products. I hope that my experiences are not typical. My potential plethora of publications and the length of time I have been publishing and updating, might make my situation unique.
I hope this helps you to navigate the Amazon Marketplace a little better the next time you publish or purchase. Remember, Heinessight is always 20/20.
