Theodore’s Comments (group member since Apr 01, 2017)

Theodore’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Eldon wrote: "I don't see how this will effect most of us...unless you're close to the top 20.

And as for driving indies away, why would they do that? Who else can they convince to stock their shelves with free..."<

Yes, free books...the bane of our existence.

Sandy wrote: "Just my opinion - too many people confuse 'series' with 'serial.' What you describe, standalones which can be read in any order, are a series. Those which are NOT standalones and should/must be rea..."

Excellent point! I remember the serials we used to see in the movie theaters when I was a kid...you always wanted to come back the following Saturday to see what happened to the hero. Like you, there's no way I'd buy into one of those today.

Alex wrote: "Carole wrote: "Now they are doing something with the rankings- How do you think it will effect us?

https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/18/ama...-..."

In the long run it could hurt Amazon by driving the indies away. Why even bother writing or publishing with them when the deck is so stacked against you by the largest retailer?

Erin wrote: "It seems that according to some of my reviews I have mistakenly given the impression that my Blaque Beauty novellas are a series and not a collection. In a book world heavy on series it is my fault..."

I have the same issue with my Det. Louis Martelli, NYPD, series. The books really are NOT a series in the sense they must be read in order. The fact is, they can be enjoyed in any order, and I say so on my Website.



The beauty of billing your books as a series, however, is that Amazon will let you group them as such on their site and will feature the series as a separate Webpage. Under these circumstances, a reader viewing one of the books in your series will be tipped off to the fact there are others. Take a look here, for example:

https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Detect...

Do you see the series being touted with its own Webpage? There's a separate "series" page for both Kindle and paperback.

Carole wrote: "Great interview!!"

Thanks, Carole. Much appreciated. (;>)

Erica wrote: "Very nice interview!"

Thanks, Erica.

Kay wrote: "Shared :) Great interview, Theodore!"

Thanks, Kay. I appreciate the kind words.

Ted

Just a short note to let you know Karen Ingalls has an interview with me running this week on her wonderful blog, Mind, Pen, and Spirit



http://kareningalls.blogspot.com/

May 15-21, 2017

Carole wrote: "All I know is that everyone is being affected now. All the traditional guys are complaining. I spoke to someone at Ingram and they are angry too. No one can say where these retailers are getting th..."

BTW, if anything, the legacy houses should be bringing suit. They are the ones with the deep pockets. If all they're going to do is whine, belch, and moan, then it can't be that serious (yet).

Carole wrote: "All I know is that everyone is being affected now. All the traditional guys are complaining. I spoke to someone at Ingram and they are angry too. No one can say where these retailers are getting th..."

I sell few if any paperbacks...almost all of my sales are Kindle editions. The biggest problem I have now is selling my children's illustrated storybooks, which really should be read in paperback. Here, the minimum price CS allows me to charge is $11, which means to make anything at all, I've had to set the price at $11.99. You just can't make a buck (literally!) these days.

Carole wrote: "Told you something smelled at Amazon

https://www.authorsguild.org/industry..."

Of all the comments, I found this the most interesting:

Dr. Roy A. Teel Jr. PhD • 4 days ago
I have read several articles related to these new tactics by Amazon in the book publishing industry. What I don't understand is this strange panic among publishers traditional and self-published authors. A book sale is a book sale, meaning no one can get our books for free and then re-sell them unless, as this article points out these are review copies supplied to individuals or other reviewers and are being sold off after one, they review the titles or two, have an overstock and just get rid of titles for profit which is a violation of federal copyright law and actionable by publishers and authors. I no longer supply hardcover or paperback versions of my books to reviewers only protected files in mobi and epub.

As this article points out it is very, very unlikely that this is a situation of reviewers selling copies.I do know that it happens and is a common practice of most reviewers I have been told this by many people I know in the review industry. Now as I see it the real issue is buying and selling titles. When I sell a book in any form that book is the property of the person who purchased the book.While I retain the copyright, the buyer can do with the titles what they please. Lets look at the cost of a POD titles hardcover and paperback to a re-seller like Amazon or BN.

The industry standard discount to a re-seller or retail store is between 50-55%. I sell my hardcovers and paperback books in POD through Ingram's LSI. Now I retail my hardcover titles for $29.95 US and Paperback books for $14.95 US and I offer a 50% discount. so for a hardcover title the retailer pays $15 then I must offset the POD costs for that title and after POD fees to LSI my royalty averages $3 a book add a dollar for paperback.I do not allow returns of my titles as LSI has made it clear to me that to do so could bankrupt me, and with 24 titles in print current and backlist and another fifteen going to print, making a title returnable is very, very risky. Also the fact that on average there is a 30% return rate on books any royalties earned would be wiped out with that return rate and I would acutely have to write a check to LSI for returns, even if I have those returns mailed back to me for warehousing and resale. So when we look at the REAL costs associated with book sales and how little royalties we earn there is no insensitive by retailers to steal my martial. Amazon doesn't want to whorehouse any books, they want POD and if they can't get them fast enough their are plenty of companies who can, and as pointed out a re-seller of my books can purchase the book for $15 discount it to $0.01 and then charge lets say $6 shipping if you take into account that retailers like Amazon and BN already discount hard and soft cover books many times deeply, there is still a profit to be made even at $6 a book with shipping and other fees that most re-sellers tack on to a product.

These other retailers that Amazon is allowing to fulfill orders for my titles still have to purchase them and I have shown in black and white that their out of pocket costs are minimal and I get my royalty. As an author and publisher I am only entitled to a royalty on the sale of a single copy of each book. That book can be sold a hundred times after the initial sale and I have absolutely no legal claim for any further royalties off my title, it is now in the public domain and is owned by the buyer. Is the behavior of Amazon immoral? Yes, is it illegal, NO, can Amazon allow used copies of my titles to be sold on their site and cut my royalty, yes, can I do anything about it, no. Is Amazon in violation of the Sherman-Anti Trust act? Yes Amazon is a monopoly and is moving farther and farther in their actions to push the limits of the Sherman-Act. However, until people stop complaining about what Amazon is doing and legal action is brought to break up Amazon (which will eventually happen) Talking about it is a waste of time.

The beginning of a solution to Amazon is having the Guild, AWP, PEN, and the big five publishers as well as larger independent publishers and authors bring a lawsuit in federal court against Jeff Bezos and Amazon for violations of the Sherman-Act, Until such action is taken we can complain and try to figure out the next way Amazon is going to rip us all off but talking without action has never gotten anyone anywhere and will not effect change in the way business is conducted, MCI brought an anti trust case against Ma Bell in the 70's and by the early 80's Ma was broken up and allowed for more competition in the phone market place. People do forget or don't know that the two largest players in the telephone markets are really the same companies broken up in the 80's Ma Bell aka, AT&T and Verizon aka GTE (General Telephone Electric Corporation) still have the lions share of the market though their are smaller competitors who have been bought up by these two giants and while they look on the surface to be in competition they are in fact a part of one of these two companies can you say monopoly anyone?
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Okay...this is me, again (Ted)

What I don't understand is that how, within hours (literally) of my new books being available on Amazon, "new" or "used" copies are available from secondary sources. I suspect these are retail booksellers who are purchasing books at a discount under Amazon's Expanded Distribution Program and then, undercutting the retail price on Amazon, B&N, etc. Some even my be masquerading as churches and libraries using fake credentials. Who knows?

Carole wrote: "You have to be patient. Bullying may not be an issue with homeschoolers- but your book in Spanish may appeal."

I did mention that a Spanish edition of the book was available, and that a French edition was in preparation.

As the doctor said to the short man who complained about his height: "You'll just have to be a little patient!"

That would be me.

Carole wrote: "She's a great person and has incredible reach."

By the way, I contacted four or five home-school sites you recommended last weekend, but so far, none replied. I tried to pitch my illustrated children's storybook on bullying (as well as mentioning the other stories in the series), but again, there apparently is no interest. I know I'm impatient to a fault, but still, that's the story.

Carole wrote: "I love her. She's very sweet. She is doing a blog tour with Oh Susannah this week and it got a few great reviews and two days on the tour the book made it to the top ten."

Carole, I want to thank you again for recommending Bianca! She is so easy to work with. In fact, I just engaged her to do a second interview for my YA novel The Hypnotist, which was written under a pen name. Doing that interview as 'Alyssa Devine' should be a real hoot!

Wolfen wrote: "Most sites don't doesn't distinguish among page contents, but if you look at their TOS, the TOS will state that users retain the rights to their content. On Amazon (bolding and italics by me):

"If..."

LOL We must have found and posted the material at precisely the same time. Yes, you were correct...the reviewer retains the copyright.

So, to the question: can you post an entire review to a Website. Yes...with the reviewer's permission.

Wolfen wrote: "Amazon does not hold the copyright to any reviews that are not written by their editorial staff -- they are copyrighted to the people who posted them. They are granting Amazon permission to have it..."

Just found this:

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2012/0...

I stand corrected. Amazon does not claim the copyright on your reviews. You may use them as you wish:

"REVIEWS, COMMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND OTHER CONTENT

"Visitors may post reviews, comments, photos, and other content; send e-cards and other communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of "spam." You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of a card or other content. Amazon reserves the right (but not the obligation) to remove or edit such content, but does not regularly review posted content.

"If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Amazon for all claims resulting from content you supply. Amazon has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content. Amazon takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party."

The point is, anyone posting a review "owns" the copyright, and so, posting a reviewer's entire review on a Website would require their permission. As for excerpts, I believe this falls under the "fair use" doctrine.

I don't know about posting reviews in their entirety...Amazon will most likely claim the copyright. However, you certainly can post excerpts.

Carole wrote: "I didn't Ted. I have to admit I was livid- but didn't follow through. Busy few weeks, moving all my stuff to Ingram. I did however complain to Createspace."

Roger, that! I've found a number of abuses on Amazon by secondary sellers (e.g., related to pricing, and so forth), and have been successful in having their offerings removed from my book pages. But it's a never-ending battle. Amazon, itself, needs to be doing more.

Carole wrote: "Me too. And I want to say- I ordered my own books. It took close to three weeks to get them. They were out of date copies , but listed as new. I had pulled it out of production and changed the cove..."

I hope you returned it as unsatisfactory. Amazon always stands behind the products it sells. (;>)

Carole wrote: "She is a bit more expensive than some of the other sites- but if they are picking her her to do books like Dragons Like Tacos- Bianca's the Creme de la Creme. Her site is interactive and the real d..."

Carole, thanks so much for recommending Bianca. I'm in the process of setting up an Author Showcase Premium presentation with her for my illustrated children's storybook, Pepe Builds a Nest. Am really looking forward to completing the interview. If all goes well, will do a similar presentation for my YA novel.

PS She had some nice things to say about you! (;>)