Authors & Reviewers discussion

Multiple times now I have tried to revise the categories my books are under on Amazon. I have followed their directions to a T only to get the same response: only the publisher can update/revise the categories. I then proceed to tell them I AM THE PUBLISHER. Then I hear nothing back. I did not publish through Amazon and am convinced they discriminate against non-Kindle published E-books (and possibly all non-Amazon published Indie books). Also, the rankings are higher for you on Amazon if you used their services. Amazon is by no means providing objective ranking information nor does it allow full services to all regarding publicizing our books.

I am interested in others observations and experiences. Thank you.

Not sure if they are discriminating against you--I'm thinking that's just the way they work. One of the categories my Kindle book on garage sales is listed under is health, fitness and dieting for some reason. I have no clue how it got in that category or why it's listed in it, and multiple times I tried to change it, to no avail. I finally decided not to stress over it--if anyone is taking control of their life with diet and exercise, maybe they'll also be interested in taking control of the clutter in their home by having a garage sale. ;)

Cindy, that would scare me half to death. I'm likely to give your book an undeserved one-star rating if I wanted to know more about health and fitness.

Amazon listed my JavaScript how-to (Apress) as on pre-sale, due in spring when it was released last December. So zero sales from that outlet for three months!

I appreciate the benefit of the doubt for the rather ruthless J Bezo's and Amazon but I feel they definitely discriminate against, or use "benign" neglect for non-Amazon Indie book publishers/authors.
Bezo's is well known for not pulling any punches as far as promoting Amazon goes, and himself.

Would love to hear from Amazon regarding this topic but when I send inquiries, I hear nothing back.

At least one publisher has reported that the algorithms favor books pubilshed by Amazon-owned companies. It might be as simple as putting their own books out as recommended or giving them first chance for specials. Am afraid to see what happens in the next year since Amazon now offers paperback books in direct competition to Createspace which they also own.

Virginia wrote: "Multiple times now I have tried to revise the categories my books are under on Amazon. I have followed their directions to a T only to get the same response: only the publisher can update/revise th..."

If it's an ebook, were you trying to change the categories using the kdp dashboard or through the author central dashboard? If a book goes to Amazon through someone like Smashwords or Draft2Digital, my experience has been that irregardless of what the publishing line says, the algorithm tends to say you're not the publisher.

Thank you for the post Helen.

Yes, I was trying to refine my categories and yes, every time I tried, I was told the publisher has to do it and I told them it is a self-published book. I AM the "publisher"-to no avail. What bullshit.
The first amendment is being swallowed, bullied, by Amazon that in fact now owns and runs GOODREADS! Can I do an ebook givewaway on Goodreads? Of course not, because I didn't publish through Amazon/KDP! Soon, we won't be able to do giveaways for our non-Amazon published hard copy books!

Is this post being censored by Amazon? When they took Goodreads over, I kind of lost my interest in Goodreads.

Anti-trust laws anyone? I guess not anymore.