Support for Indie Authors discussion
Archived Author Help
>
The CreateSpace member’s titles are NOT included in the New Releases section on Amazon
date
newest »
newest »
What? Really?! No wonder... >.> Thanks for letting us know.
Also, no one can find my book by just clicking on categories. I tried (and I know what I want to find!).No way!
I am quite positive my categories and keywords are all right. The only possible way is to write the complete title of the book.
How somebody can write the name of something he/she does not know it exists?
You can try. It really is a challenge!
Who will find my book without writing the complete title of it will get my mobi file as a present.
I wonder how many supermen/superwomen will succeed.
Here is the title:
Alexander Pig Goes Camping (Book 1.)
Alexander Pig Goes Camping (Book 2.)
Something to help you: children’s literature, adventure, action, mystery, monster.
But don’t cheet! The real challage is to find this book without writing the title.
Are you talking about paperback books set up through Createspace or Kindle books that were formatted by Createspace? Because each has its own separate ranking system and a paperback may not show up immediately.
Sorry for the wrong title of Book 2.Here is the right one:
Alexander Pig and the Terrifying Hedgehog-napper
Ummm... Sorry to disagree, but my Createspace book was included in new releases.Maybe because it is genre scifi.
It is why I had sales before I new it was available.
Thank you Christina, I mean both books. I set up my paperback through CS and my Kindle book through KDP. I can’t find neither of them.
Martin, thank you for your answer. I don’t know, I don’t understand it. But the info that The CreateSpace member’s titles are NOT included in the New Releases section on Amazon is from CreateSpace. I did not make it up.
Mine is scifi too, but I didn't see it. :/
Thank you Laura. This does not seem right to me. I still hope everything can be explained. But now I am feeling cheeted.
Createspace is owned by Amazon otherwise quite separate. A print edition published thru Createspace will be ranked independently of the Kindle edition, although reviews are shared. It can take 5 days or more for the print edition to appear on Amazon. It can take longer for the print edition to appear on the Kindle edition's product page. Once it took over 2 weeks, and once I had to contact Amazon because the print edition and the Kindle editions weren't. Amazon fixed that within 24 hours.
When you say you can't find your books, I take you mean by going to the New Releases page and looking in your categories? Or by searching your keywords?
For what it's worth we've never found our books (which are sci-fi) that way either. I have no idea where on Amazon they show up. But readers do find them, especially the first three days after release. So they are showing up somewhere.
That's probably not much help.
On the new release question, it possible you are both right. Createspace maintains it's own store, and when a member's book is released in that store, that has nothing to do with Amazon.
But when Amazon picks the book up and lists on Amazon, I think it does go into Amazon's new release queue at that time -- but that is independent of Createspace. I'm wondering if Createspace didn't understand your question correctly. I've often had to ask my question twice to get them properly understood.
I get a lot of emails from Amazon telling me to buy my own books, for what it's worth.
Thank you Owen and Charles,When I said I could not find my books I ment the New Releases page, also looking into categories, also searching keywords. I tried everything, nothing worked, apart from writing the complete title.
Book 1. was released June 23.
Book 2. was released June 21.
Yes, Charles, I also read in some marketing books that it really is a good idea to buy your own books.
Ah! I understand. You're basically just searching to find your book without specifically searching your book. It's there, but understand that there are so many books being released every day that unless you are selling massive amounts of books, you are going to need a lot of patience to find your book on the new release 30 or 90 day lists. Last time I even checked that was on a released about a year and a half ago and it was on release day. In my very specific categories, my book showed up on the first page. In general, I had to wade back nearly 50 pages and again, that was on the release day.
Try a few filters, like genre, rating, sorting by price,or anything else they offer. You'll find it, it just may take some time.
I actually received an ad from them recommending I buy my own book. I thought it was silly at first, but then I figured someone else probably received the same recommendations, so I was rather joyful about it.
Iffix wrote: "I actually received an ad from them recommending I buy my own book. I thought it was silly at first, but then I figured someone else probably received the same recommendations, so I was rather joyf..."Do you check your title listing often? If you do it's likely that Amazon sent you that email because the system determined you were interested in it based on the number of times you've gone to that page. Those recommendation emails are auto-generated based on your browsing and buying patterns on the site.
Hello Iffix, but how many would I have to buy so it would have some effect?Gavin, yes, I check it once or twice a day.
You'll get the same email even after you purchase your own book because all Amazon is taking into account is how often you look at your page.
Guess what? My book is in the new releases section NOW! I appologize to Amazon and thank you all for this discussion. I am so happy, wow!
Christina wrote: "You'll get the same email even after you purchase your own book because all Amazon is taking into account is how often you look at your page."The sense of palpable relief and joy almost makes all those hours of worry seem worthwhile... almost :)
Christina wrote: "You'll get the same email even after you purchase your own book because all Amazon is taking into account is how often you look at your page."I've never gotten an email from Amazon (nor has me co-author). Is there some setting for this? I've been curious if and how Amazon is notifying readers of our books.
Depends. How often do you obsess over your rank? When I was looking at my book pages constantly, I would get an ad from them about once a week. I haven't had one in a while. As for other marketing emails, I get recommendation emails based on purchases and sometimes my books show up here as well. I get asked to recommend other books for people who have read books that I have read (including my own and yes, I've recommended the next in series a few times). And I get asked to review books I have purchased and yes, I have gotten this email for my own books. I'm tempted at times to say, "Well, you asked!" ;)
Victoria wrote: "In all honesty folks, unless we're bring in top sales, Amazon doesn't care about us self-published authors and aren't really interested in helping us unless we're willing to sign up for their market..."I understand that many people feel that way, but one should not discount the visibility Amazon gives new books. Statistically, it dwarfs all forms of gaining visibility that almost all new authors can employ combined. So yes, Amazon does want to help us sell our books. And certainly, we should help each other. But also we need to realistic about how the market works.
Until you mentioned it, I was unaware that Amazon even had paid marketing service, beyond their PPC program. I can’t find anything else on their site. Do you have a more info on what they offer?
Wow... really? That doesn't sound good at all. I know that over time, advertising gets increasingly less and less effective, yet I wonder just how to get the information out without the help of large companies. I've tried a few different methods, but ultimately you depend on social media and the shining light of others who have already established a fanbase.
My book showed up yesterday . . . maybe it was because I forgot that I had the title writen up there . . . The joy did not last long.Victoria, I absolutely agree with this:
In all honesty folks, unless we're bring in top sales, Amazon doesn't care about us self-published authors and aren't really interested in helping us unless we're willing to sign up for their marketing services, which are quite costly. Bottom line is, it's up to us to help each other get known.
Before this turns into yet another thread knocking Amazon,just keep in mind that Amazon is a distributor that allows all to distribute with them at no cost. That they offer indies the ability to advertise is just a bonus should you choose to utilize the service. They aren't giving preferential treatment to bigger names because they are bigger, but because they are paying for visibility. This is not exclusive to Amazon nor the online market. The same thing happens everywhere. Companies pay for premium shelf space. Amazon does plenty of secondary marketing with the 'Also Bought' sections and allowing for very customized searches. We do need to stick together, which is why Ann created this group, but we really do much better when we focus on the positive.
You are right Christine. I see your point. Anyone can pay for the visibility. And the truth is that it works like this everywhere. Yes, I appreciate "Also Bought" section too.
I can't knock Amazon too much because it's the prime reason I got back into writing after an absence of over 20 years. In addition to two short-story collections of new and previously published work, I now have two novels out there that didn't exist before, and only because Amazon made it possible to ignore the traditional gatekeepers, who made you wait sometimes for years. The opportunity to avoid the traffic jam at the publishers and get my work out as soon as it was finished was too good to pass up. And Amazon's simple process, clearly explained, made it easy. For all our complaining, publishing is no longer a problem, and that's one less thing to worry about.
Hi Ken, sure without Amazon my two books would never get published. I would never have a book of my own in my bookshelf.
I am a newbie here. I learnt a very interesting info yesteday: The CreateSpace member’s titles are NOT included in the New Releases section on Amazon.
I was shocked.
I asked CS if they could explain me why. Guess what?
They replied that I should ask Amazon. Guess what? Amazon replied I should ask CS.
Very interesting.