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Tag Archives: Amazon
Amazon kills fast-shipping offer for niche paperbacks
Amazon today dropped its decade-long practice of offering overnight shipping on most niche paperbacks. In a new warning displayed on its Web site, the online bookseller is warning shoppers that most of these titles will take an extra day or two of “processing” time. The warning applies to the vast majority of paperbacks manufactured via [...]
Amazon's BookSurge increases author royalties
Amazon’s self-publishing unit, BookSurge, announced Monday it would increase author “royalties” from 25 percent to 35 percent. The announcement came in an afternoon e-mail to the company’s customers and prospects: As a company focused on providing customers with the best possible publishing experience, we are pleased to announce that we are passing on cost savings [...]
Amazon book reviews can be tough love
Asking a lot of people to review your book on Amazon is a double-edged sword. Don’t even try it unless you’ve got a darned good book, or you’ll get slammed. But having a crummy book isn’t the only reason you might get nasty reviews. People might just hate your guts. I’ve studied many thousands of [...]
Tags vs. Categories: Which Amazon feature is more useful?
Which Amazon features are the most effective in encouraging consumers to buy books? Many people say it’s book reviews and Search Inside the Book. In a recent discussion, one publisher asserted that Search Inside is obviously Amazon’s most effective feature. It allows browsers to mimick the same thing they enjoy doing at a real bookstore [...]
Q&A: Do online book reviews really help publicize my book?
QUESTION: I read your guide to getting reviews by the top Amazon reviewers. I immediately contacted the top 30 reviewers who I thought might have an interest in my book. A Top 10 and a Top 20 reviewer each requested a copy, which I find very encouraging. My question: How do reviews from top Amazon [...]
Q&A: What's the difference between Amazon Advantage and regular seller accounts?
QUESTION: I’m an independent publisher. What’s the difference between Amazon’s Advantage program and selling books on Marketplace using a Pro-Merchant account? I know that with the Advantage program, Amazon lists publishers’ books for free and charges 55 percent commission. Pro-Merchant sellers pay only 15 percent commission plus a $39.99 monthly fee. Why, then, would anyone [...]
Q&A: How effective is Amazon's ClickRiver for marketing books?
QUESTION: What’s your take on ClickRiver, Amazon’s new pay-per-click advertising network? Will this be a viable method for advertising books? ANSWER: I opened a ClickRiver beta account a couple of weeks ago and have been diddling with it. First, the good news: It’s much easier to use than Google Adwords. The interface is clean and [...]
Authors shun BookSense affiliate links in favor of Amazon
Here’s an honest look at why so many authors and booksellers feature Amazon Associate links on their book’s Web page, rather than promoting independent bookstores via BookSense. (And this holds true for authors who detest Amazon and would prefer to champion local stores, given a good option.) It all boils down to economics, writes Kate [...]
eBay takes a page from Amazon — Recommendations
The No. 1 driver of book sales on Amazon is keyword searches — buyers looking for a title or author name. But Amazon’s crown jewel is recommendations. It’s the No. 2 driver of book sales, and it can literally create demand for a book where none existed. Right behind Amazon’s recommendations is its customer review [...]
Amazon: Don’t let Kindle fans trash your book reviews – Techcrunch