Suddenly my novel is free on Amazon (anyone know why?)

[Sue]

My novel WAS IT A RAT I SAW is available on Amazon Kindle and usually lists for $2.99. Suddenly Amazon has made it free. The sales report says it is matching a competitor's free promotion. I do have the book available numerous other places - but there are currently no promotions. Does anyone know why this has happened? How long it will last? I am pleased to see so many downloads yet it feels weird (at best) to have no knowledge or control of this process.

I know I can make inquiry to Amazon about this, but expect to get more clear and enlightening answers here. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

[Edward]

Your coupon still works on Smashwords to lower the price to 0.00. Maybe that's it.

[Sue]

Hmm. Maybe. Although I've not seen this Amazon price drop occur during other giveaways-through-coupons. Perhaps I wasn't paying attention (or Amazon wasn't).

[Edward]

It may take them a while. The thing is, you could have a permanent coupon, making the book free all the time, so I'd imagine they'd have to view that as a sale price they need to match.

Just speculating. I could be wrong. Someone else probably knows more about this.

[Storm]

What an unethical thing for Amazon to do! Not surprised, but really. Shocking!

[Kathryn]

check your name in the search part on your internet provider, you may be a victim of piracy...

[Marcy]

Storm wrote: "What an unethical thing for Amazon to do! Not surprised, but really. Shocking!"

I don't consider Amazon prone to unethical practices. Why do you?

[Beau]

If someone reports it to Amazon as "I found it cheaper elsewhere, they'll match the price. It maybe that someone reported the coupon price.

[Sue]

Kathryn wrote: "check your name in the search part on your internet provider, you may be a victim of piracy..."

??? Could you elaborate on what you mean?

[Pamela]

Sue, I would check with Amazon's Author Central. Get it from the horse's mouth.

[Kathryn]

I had all my books given away by someone who downloaded my books from amazon. A piracy site, if your books are on another site even if you did not put then on there then amazon will match the price

[Pamela]

Hopefully, it's nothing that sinister.

[Kathryn]

you can get them removed if they are...contact the person who posted and threaten them with the breach of copyrights act ...don't worry if you have not paid for copyright they are still yours in layman's terms. Contact the site and contact Amazon even though they will not help they can offer advice if you still can't get them off

[Sue]

Kathryn wrote: "I had all my books given away by someone who downloaded my books from amazon. A piracy site, if your books are on another site even if you did not put then on there then amazon will match the price"

sheesh. okay I just googled the title and my name and found nothing untoward. How does one find a piracy site, anyway?

[Mellie]

Sue did you query Author Central direct? Surely it would be better to just ask them and have a concrete answer as to why it is free? :)

[Sue]

A.W. wrote: "Sue did you query Author Central direct? Surely it would be better to just ask them and have a concrete answer as to why it is free? :)"
Yes I have sent an email and will hear back in a few days. I posted this query because I thought some Goodreaders might have experience beyond what I will hear from the official party line.

[Sue]

For anyone still curious, here is the official word: Sony-US currently offers RAT for free, thus Amazon matched the price by making it free. When I first published RAT via Smashwords - before I brought it to Amazon - I made the book free, briefly. Smashwords distributes to Sony-US, and apparently Sony-US did not get the update when the price changed. So now I have contacted Smashwords to get the Sony-US price corrected. When that happens, then I can go back to Amazon to end their promotion.