It's Alive! - And Amazon is a Gorilla

Ok, I can now search Treasure: Raised By Wolves, Volume Three and have the paperback version of the book show up on Amazon - along with Two - count 'em (on my screen anyway) - listings for the Kindle version. I talked to Lightning Source this morning, they assured me this was about the normal amount of time it takes for a book to clear both systems and show up on Amazon - and it seems in keeping with my prior books - and lo and behold - it's only the 14th. So I will be updating the website today with the links.

And they are using the ISBN 10 version for the listing as opposed to the ISBN 13 version that everyone in the book industry was supposed to switch to... Normally, I'm the champion of anyone that wants to buck the status quo and thumb their nose at authority figures - but not when they become the new authority figure with a vengeance. sigh...

Which ties into...
I don't have any answers on the lack of discount thing, but I have a supposition. Amazon is getting the full wholesale discount; but according to my LSI rep, she's heard other LSI clients saying that their books aren't receiving any kind of discount on Amazon either - and it's all been recent (as in since the 800 lb gorilla stunt...). Essentially, I, as a publisher, give Amazon a 55% discount off my retail price. On my prior books, Amazon then gives the consumer up to a 35% discount. They pocket the 20% difference - that's where their money comes from. (BTW - Treasure's list price would have been under $20 if they had dicounted it the same as the other RBW books - that was a big factor in my deciding it was ok to raise the price.)

Well, when they don't offer the end consumer that 35% or so discount, they're taking the entire 55% for their coffers, just like most brick & mortar stores are forced to do due to operating expenses. It is perfectly within in Amazon's rights to do so, but it's not in keeping with the precedent they've set in the past. Most of their success - at least the first decade or so - was due to their business model which was all about demand-side (my choice of word, I think there's a better marketing or economic term I just can't remember at the moment.) procurement of inventory (they didn't warehouse anything - or only small amounts of it and they ordered from the publishers when retail buyers ordered from them - or keeping the exact amount on hand they sold last month etc...) Now, they seem to be switching their business model. In the public statement they issued about why they want the POD publishers to use Booksurge, they cited lowered transportation costs (they have actually played the "it's better for the environment" card... lol), and better shipping speed for the consumer - all based upon the idea of Amazon producing the books in house, or warehousing them. And they now have a much bigger warehouse and distribution infrastructure than they did say ten years ago.

So... I'm going to contact them and ask... But, I think I will receive a BS response full of PR boilerplate, and it will look like it was written by a computer. I think the answer is that Amazon is really big and they are now very confident in their position as biggest game in town, the most widely known brand in town, etc, so much so they don't have to discount to compete with all the other people selling books online anymore. And, they have gotten so big they perhaps can't afford to discount like they used to because they've changed their overhead situation. So one of their measures could be to phase out discounting new releases from small indie houses that have their books printed by what Amazon now considers a rival service...

Or... it's all a glitch in the system that Amazon will quickly and apologetically correct once they are made aware of it... And my evil empire rhetoric is completely unwarranted. We shall see.

I am torn as to what the end result of this will be. If it's going to cost you guys the same amount wherever you go on line, I am inclined to say that you should order the books from smaller entities - gay bookstores and other indie stores - and help keep them in business so that Amazon has some freaking competition and there is more variety in the world. However, that reduces my sales numbers with Amazon, and gives Alien Perspective less inherent marketing support from Amazon, which very likely will negatively influence the number of future readers I have if most people are still going to Amazon for their book buying info. Which of course buys into Amazon being a monopoly and thus able to get away with whatever they want. It's a conundrum.

On a related note - Any of you perusing the Amazon page for Treasure will note that several Amazon stores already offer Treasure "new or used" at a discount. That would be new. Those would be other online stores who will order directly from Ingram/LSI if you were to place an order with them. But that's all part of that conundrum above.

I think it would rule if Ingram/LSI simply went head to head with Amazon. But that kind of e-commerce infrastructure would be a heady investment. And you still have the Amazon as brand name - like Kleenex is for tissues - issue to deal with.

We will see how the future unfolds.

On other notes.
Ceridwen - from previous posts comments - give it a while and it should hit the rest of Amazon's international databases. And if you still have difficulty ordering it, e-mail me and I'll figure out how much shipping would be and you can send me an international money order or something.