I’ve been living in a happy bubble for the last few
months as I prepared for the July 1st release of my debut, DARK PARADISE. The contract negotiations between my publisher, Hachette Book Group, and
Amazon were barely a blip on my radar.
I should have paid more attention to the
news about Amazon discouraging customers from buying Hachette titles and
delaying shipment of some books, as reported in the New York Times by David Streitfeld.
If I had, I would’ve known that many popular Hachette
authors like Malcolm Gladwell,
Stephen Colbert, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling,
writing as Robert Galbraith, and others have been affected by these tactics.
Maybe I wouldn’t have been blindsided on Thursday
night when I went on Amazon and searched by title for DARK PARADISE, and discovered it’s
missing.
The only way to find DARK PARADISE is to search by author, ANGIE SANDRO.
Not that it does a potential buyer any good, since my novel is currently UNAVAILABLE! Amazon even removed my beautiful covers.
I’ve had a few days for this to sink in, and I’m
still writing this post with a rage cloud hovering over my head. I despise bullies! Amazon's actions made me feel helpless and spat upon. I may be just a little voice in this fight, but I will YELL as loud as I can until I'm heard.
I always root for the underdog, and I'm not the only author whose publication dreams are being stomped on.
Hell, I don't even have it the worst out of the Grand Central/Forever authors debuting in July and August.
Lia Riley's novels, UPSIDE DOWN and SIDE SWIPED, are missing. As in, the only thing remaining on Amazon is her author profile.
Eliza Freed still has her gorgeous covers, but her novels, FORGIVE ME, REDEEM ME, and SAVE ME, are also unavailable. How random is it that three authors have been slammed in three different ways?
It was an eye-opener for me to realize how often I purchase books on Amazon. I would check my author ranking on Amazon and do a little dance every time I had a pre-order listed. My mindset in this regard has changed.
I linked the novels listed in this post to Barnes & Noble, but there are a lot of stores out there supporting Hachette authors. Books-A-Million and Zola Books are offering 30% off Hachette titles.
Also check out THE BOOK WHEEL #ReadHachette campaign to support your favorite Hachette authors.
I said earlier that my voice is small, but it is amazing what can happen if we all yell together. My thanks to everyone who has supported me by pre-ordering DARK PARADISE through other vendors. I appreciate your words of encouragement by tweet, email, and FB like. You've turned a stressful time into one of hope.
Thank you!
Jeeze, I hate it bullies! And Amazon seems to be the worst. I'm going to make a concerted effort to not buy things from them in the future.
ReplyDeleteI hope this gets worked out soon! It has got to suck to go through everything it takes to write and publish a book and then to have something petty like this happen.
Keep calm and carry on, this should work itself out eventually...
Thank you, Emily. Writing this post allowed me to put the issue in perspective. I'm sure it will resolve eventually. Carrying on. :)
DeleteHugs, hugs, hugs! I'll buy your book from SOMEWHERE. I don't need Amazon to do it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandhya. ((Hugs, back))
DeleteThis is horrible! It's kind of like someone punishing a child to get at the parents. Low and dispicable. Thank goodness there are other sources of book distribution.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Joyce! This is how I felt when I found out what happened. It felt like I was being personally attacked, even though I hadn't done anything wrong. This wasn't a logical response, but at the time I wasn't able to see the situation clearly. I'm okay now. .
DeleteThat's awful, I'm so sorry! I read http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/amazon-v-hachette-dont-believe-the-spin/ yesterday and I went from totally clear to confused. My take away is this - B&N sucks too, we have to stop giving them our business as well. (In addition to the S&S issues they created, the customer service I received from B&N re: a crappy Nook I got was so awful I had to report them to the Better Business Bureau and then wait a month for a totally unsatisfactory reply.)
ReplyDeleteIndies! There's one called Schuler that has $1 media mail shipping, I've heard. I'm all over it for my next purchases.
Sarah, thank you for this article. It's the first I've read to really go into detail about what is going on. The comment section is particularly interesting. I wrote this post as I saw the situation at the time. There was very little information about what was going on which contributed to my confusion. I'm now interested in seeing how this situation will resolve itself. I have a local bookseller I go to, and I'll check out Schuler.
DeleteIt is so confusing! It's so upsetting b/c I can't buy nearly as many books when I pay full price. I hope everything gets resolved quickly!
DeleteAs a consumer, I feel the same way. I read a book a day in high school, way back when they were around $3.99 a book. But the prices rise each year. Now, we have to be even more selective about what we buy. That's one reason why I bought. I could feed my reading addiction without going broke.
DeleteI agree, it's very confusing when looking at it from a publisher/author standpoint and I'm not business savvy at all. Reading the article and comments helped to clarify some of the issues inherent to the dispute. But I need to do a lot more research. It's helpful to be able to see both sides of an issue.